By Andy Miller, Managing Partner

As we discussed in last week's blog, at True North, one of our areas of expertise is developing and expanding our clients overall Go to Market Strategy. Our focus is to create a framework that becomes a living document with our clients go to market strategy, whether it is an early stage start-up just evolving its strategy all the way to Fortune 500 looking to expand the current framework to new geographies, verticals and alliance/strategic partners.

Our focus at True North is centered on the CX space. There are six focus areas/segments within the CX space that we find a majority of our customers engaged in: 

• Contact Center 

• Engagement Channels 

• Self Service 

• Analytics

• Employee Productivity 

• Field Service Management 

Aside from assisting our clients in the Go to Market Framework, Strategy and Implementation, our focus is also to prepare our customers for the future, and help create a vision of the every changing world of CX, including approaches on how to market to that customer base, create value propositions, buyer's journey and playbooks. 

At True North we see the future of Go to Market changing and evolving rapidly, and below are some key trends that we are sharing with our clients and prospects around Channel and Go to Market. 

Channels are a key vehicle in terms of how CX solutions are sold and delivered, and there are some key trends that when building out a channel framework/model and strategy that need to be thought through for today and for the future of our clients go to market strategy. Our Part 2 of these trends are:

1. New Channel Tech Companies are Emerging in the Ecosystem Space - The channel industry is seeing the move to channel software that supports both transactional and non-transacting type partners. From a functional perspective, support for resellers, MSP's, referral partners, ISV's and others will become a necessity. This is driving a change from traditional channels such as tiered, resale, and fulfillment to a more fluid indirect ecosystem of affiliates, advocates, alliances and referral partners. We predict marketing decision makers will shift to have partner experience on par with customer experience over the short and medium term.

2. Superconnectors provide a gateway to diverse partner ecosystems and play a key role in guiding vendors to maximize their visibility and influence in front of these new channels. By leveraging all the online resources, a brand can easily map out a channel ecosystem based on a particular buyer's role, sub industry, geography, sector, size, segment, partner business model or solution speciality. 

3. The CRO takes the channel reins - As we move into 2022, it is clear that organizations will need to break down silos and get the channel better integrated into the entire customer cycle. This means neutral compensation, strict rules of engagement and a cultural DNA and removes channel conflict. Traditionally the channel organization usually employs its own channel sales, marketing, operations and finance teams, and typically do not collaborate outside of the channel silo. The reality of today's partner obsessed world, the ability of the channel organization to succeed in its own silo is  becoming improbable. 

Let us know what your success stories around Go to Market have been in the CX space. Stay connected and make sure to follow us on LinkedIn.