Lorin Coles, our partner at Alliancesphere, often says, “There is a difference between vibration and forward motion.” The winners in business today recognize speed is the currency of business—and using it to move in the right direction is equally critical. With apologies to Lewis Carroll, too many companies take the approach of “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will do.”
 
When it comes to building the partnerships that allow you to co-create, co-develop, and monetize complex solutions, being ready to move forward with haste takes a robust framework that lets you identify and engage with the right partners at the right time...

AUTHORS: Jan Twombly and Jeff Shuman
 

The Internet of Things (IoT) is upending partnering “best practices.” One practice is clear: no company succeeds alone. It takes an ecosystem.

This is partnering at a scale, scope, and speed unprecedented until now. It requires creativity and bold experimentation. Companies must learn quickly, iterate strategies, manage complexity, and try new models for value creation, delivery, and capture.

“We know how to partner. We’ve been doing it for 20 years.” These are deadly words when said about partnering for the Internet of Things....

AUTHORS: Jan Twombly and Jeff Shuman

In a recent appearance at the Boston College CEO Club, GE’s Jeff Immelt remarked that one of the reasons GE is moving its headquarters to Boston is that he wants to be in the “sea of ideas” driving the innovation and change that surrounds the industrial internet. In his words, he wants people “terrified and paranoid” because all the innovation and change around them could make them obsolete if they don’t evolve and grow, too.

While some may consider this an overstatement, there is enough change happening in business models, strategies, operations, and how leading companies execute for success to give us pause and ask:

Shouldn’t partnering models and practices evolve, to...