Alignment in Cloud GTM Success

Last Week's Post: Executive Alignment Executive Buy-In

Introduction

The most successful ISVs have built cross-functional alignment across their teams using the Executive Buy-In garnered from the last series we discussed. We are really talking about wrangling the transformation that will occur across the business and ensuring everyone is on the same page. Some start with a tiger team, others leverage a project manager, and yet others simply issue goals and allow each to work toward the end state. This alignment spans all the teams that are impacted by Cloud GTM, including: 

• Alliances
• Channels
• Finance
• Legal
• Marketing
• Operations
• Product
• Sales

The Pitfalls of Siloed Teams

First and foremost, you risk being unable to transact, providing a poor customer experience and internal one.  If you get the first few deals wrong you are likely to face stiff internal resistance going forward and set back your  strategy success months if not years as you struggle to regain buy-in, trust and urgency.

Achieving Cross-Functional Alignment: 

Now I mentioned in the last post about my struggle with Executive buy-in but what we did well was cross-functional alignment to get marketplace up and running. 

Now we didn’t have the luxury of time, customers were asking us to take  deals through MP so we were a bit in a reactive state vs planning but the concept remains the same.

We started what we called the War Room.  It was a weekly meeting between most of the teams mentioned above. The team would review the current partnership and listing status, then discuss the sales pipeline, and work the problem for the next deal. Was it in a country we had a listing for, what marketplace was it, does that MP supports the tax, what entity did we need to use, did the rep have enablement, was the deal registered for co-sell, etc…From there we could validate or create tasks for the right product, enablement, legal terms, payment processing, rev-rec, and so on.

This worked in a pinch but  I’d recommend you setup before incoming deals and be prepared.

Departmental Contributions to Cloud GTM Success

Marketing

Contribution: Owning customer facing, cloud facing, and internal facing compelling content and narratives for  Cloud  GTM. Here are a few examples:

• Listing Content
• Co-Sell Copy
• Co-Sell Better Together Story (You + Cloud for Cloud AE)
• External Better Together Story (You +  Cloud for Customer)
• Youcompany.com/CloudProvider landing pages with links to listing

Enablement

Contribution: It’s critical that sales enablement is owned where it fits in your  company structure. This team needs to build out and deliver regularly:

• Sales on Co-Sell (Why, How, What)
• Sales on Marketplace and internally what to do
• Company wide on Cloud GTM

Finance

Contribution: Adapting revenue recognition processes to fit cloud marketplace transactions may or may not be a heavy lift. You need finance for a myriad of reasons. Some considerations they have to make would be:

• Suppressing auto-invoicing
• Changing invoicing from customer to cloud provider (even though its now just a formality)
• Handling marketplace fees

Sales

Contribution: Incentivizing sales teams aligns their efforts with Cloud GTM goals. There are a few areas sales will contribute here:

• Aligning compensation plans
• Advocating and encouraging for enablement
• Creating Ambassador teams
• Building the co-sell relationships

Operations

Contribution: Operations' ensure the backend processes support GTM strategies.

• Booking without a PO
• Booking on non-standard payment windows
• Building new reporting & modifying existing

Channels

Contribution: If you have a dedicated team, they can help in varying ways. Not everyone will have one however. Some contributions:

• Being the relationship builders and managing co-sell, etc…
• Enabling resellers on your products, listings, processes, etc…
• Being the Ambassador team or internal champions, getting the ball rolling.

Legal

Contribution: Legal ensures the formalities in the processes support GTM through:

• Updating reseller agreements
• Aligning with CP agreementsUpdating or aligning EULAs for MarketplaceEvaluating and assisting with Marketplace across borders and entities

Product

Contribution: Product is the main event if you are lucky enough to have one that is cloud native, agnostic and able to draw and report consumption for you or your end user. This team will have to work on:

• Cloud aligning product offerings
• Cloud competencies 
• Cloud certifications, and technical alignment 
• API connections and management
• Flexible product offering and deployments

There is a lot more in each of these to consider, so in a follow on new mini-series we will dive into each. Feel free to comment below on which you are most keen to hear more about.

How We Align Cross-Functionally

There are many ways we can do this and each company and person will vary so below I’ve compiled a few ways that 10 ISVs have said they used for them:

Establish a Unified Vision and Objectives

• Strategy: Advocate for the creation of a shared vision document or assign a project manager to own this process for you.
• Example: This ISV used setting a goal to increase cloud ARR by 25% unified departments towards a common target. By having this goal come from the top and having it aligned to comp plans, it landed its mark and then some.

Form Cross-Functional Teams

• Strategy: Suggest forming dedicated teams for specific GTM aspects.
• Example: A few ISVs in 2022 (when we all had more money) used a cross-departmental team to successfully launch their Cloud GTM across the company. They flew past our standard milestones and were able to achieve speed to scale. Another wasn’t as fast but having added these resources as another layer in the business ended up saving them time in the long run and saw an ROI quite quickly.

Regular Sync-Up Meetings

• Strategy: Recommend scheduling regular alignment meetings.
• Example: Most all of the ISVs had these c-level alignment gatherings. These meetings can keep teams on track with KPIs and adjust strategies as needed and that's just what they did. No one want’s another KPI but when set from the top down and leveraging the right delegation and empowerment to their teams, these  ISV’s cross-functional leadership teams made impressive progress and were able to clear the hurdles without much pain.

Collaborative Planning Process

• Strategy: I don’t think you need me to emphasize the importance of involving all relevant departments in the planning stages. But if you do, well, it’s crazy if you’d not consider doing it.
• Example: A go-to-market plan creation for a cloud GTM that involves comprehensive departmental collaboration has no downside for the business. Maybe for your Zoom window but it’s important everyone is enabled on what they will need to change, and have a voice in the process.

Wrapping It Up: The Secret Sauce to Cloud GTM Magic

Well folks, we’ve been on quite the adventure through the wild world of cross-functional alignment for Cloud GTM success. Think of it as trying to coordinate a family road trip with your in-laws, kids, and that one aunt who insists on bringing her four cats. Chaos? Maybe. Necessary for peace and progress? Absolutely.

We've seen firsthand that when teams operate in their little bubbles, it's like trying to bake a cake with each person in a different kitchen. Some end up making pancakes, and others, well, they just set off the smoke alarm. But when we got everyone in the same room (or Zoom call), we started making some gourmet progress.

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

Now, it's your turn. Dive into the trenches, gather your troops, and start breaking down those silos. Whether you form a ninja squad to tackle the challenges or simply start with getting everyone to agree on where the coffee machine should go, every little bit helps.

• Chime In: Got a funny story or a battle scar from aligning teams? Drop me a comment. I'm all ears and promise not to laugh too hard. Which part of this Cloud GTM soap opera are you dying to hear more about?
• Try the Tricks: Armed with the knowledge dropped, take a look around. Where can you start aligning your stars? Or, at least, stop them from colliding? No action is too small, especially if it avoids another email chain of doom.
• Stay Alert: I've got more tales and nuggets of wisdom coming your way in our mini-series. SW and Product Strategy are up next week!

Navigating the Cloud GTM universe with a band of misfits (a.k.a. your incredibly diverse and talented teams) isn't just about surviving the chaos; it's about thriving in it. By embracing a bit of humor, a lot of collaboration, and a dash of patience, you're not just launching into the cloud you're soaring.

Until next time...