Collaboration: The Best Idea for 2013

Business tends to be competitive – like sports. Not that competition is wrong. However, in the words of Michael Jordan, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”

One of the best trends that we see for 2013 is collaboration. You want to promote your business, brand, product, or service, determine whom you can make a power partner or where you can develop a strategic alliance.

In the 2008 report from IBM, “The new collaboration: enabling innovation, changing the workplace.” approximately 75% of CEOs cited collaboration as important to their innovation efforts. However, barely more than half said they actually practice collaboration.

While die-hard competitors compete to see who can make products that are bigger, faster, and cheaper, collaborators innovate to find solutions to problems no one knew existed.

At the time of the IBM study, global integration, participatory internet, changing workforce demographics, the virtualization of data and devices, and SaaS  (Software as a Service) were just a few of the trends predicted to have an impact in 2010. Look at us now!

In 2013, each of these trends has a role in increased collaboration. Whether collaboration is between coworkers or with your customers, suppliers, clients, or even with your competitors, collaboration creates a stronger business model. Additionally, it can lead to innovation and discovery.

So what is collaboration all about? The 2010 Solutions for Small Business.com report suggests collaboration:

  • Accelerates group processes
  • Improves the quality of processes
  • Facilitates parallel processes
  • Manages evolving expectations

Collaboration allows you to market your brand by forming the right relationships. Here’s a great example. It tells the story of a web designer who contacted a local print shop with 300 clients and offered to provide a “Web Division.” Within two weeks, the web designer increased his client base with zero investment.

If you’re ready to collaborate with the right strategic alliances, we’re ready to help. 3rd Eagle has 30 years of experience in sales, marketing, strategic alliances and management. We show you how to structure, launch, and manage your strategic alliances to complement your corporate strategy, shorten your sales cycle, increase revenue, and add customers. Contact us for further information today.

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