????根據(jù)我的經(jīng)驗(yàn),，一個(gè)架構(gòu)良好、極具影響力的合作伙伴關(guān)系勝過(guò)100個(gè)平庸的分銷合作,。分銷伙伴關(guān)系需要花費(fèi)巨大的努力方能產(chǎn)生效果。同時(shí)擁有眾多分銷伙伴根本就不切實(shí)際,，正是因?yàn)檫@個(gè)原因,，選擇合適的分銷伙伴、精心打造合作關(guān)系才是最為重要的,。過(guò)去8年間,，Opsware公司只有一個(gè)重要的分銷伙伴，但它對(duì)公司產(chǎn)生了非常大的積極影響,。

該找一個(gè)分銷伙伴了

????2005年初,，當(dāng)時(shí)成立僅3年的Opsware公司開(kāi)始步入良性發(fā)展軌道。我們剛剛完成了對(duì)Rendition Networks公司的收購(gòu),，這項(xiàng)耗資3,300萬(wàn)美元的收購(gòu)案為我們帶來(lái)了一個(gè)輕量級(jí),、但功能強(qiáng)大的網(wǎng)絡(luò)自動(dòng)化軟件產(chǎn)品，我們將其命名為Opsware NAS（網(wǎng)絡(luò)自動(dòng)化系統(tǒng)）,。NAS使得我們?cè)谠擃I(lǐng)域占得了一席之地,，并迅速地為新客戶創(chuàng)造出價(jià)值，爾后說(shuō)服它們購(gòu)買我們公司另一項(xiàng)級(jí)別更高,、同時(shí)也更加昂貴的產(chǎn)品：服務(wù)器自動(dòng)化系統(tǒng)SAS,。NAS的銷售合同一般價(jià)值11.5萬(wàn)美元，銷售周期需要1個(gè)月,，安裝需要幾個(gè)星期,，而SAS的銷售合同一般價(jià)值76.5萬(wàn)美元，銷售需1年時(shí)間,，安裝調(diào)試需6到12個(gè)月）,。

????對(duì)于我們來(lái)說(shuō)，積極推廣和銷售NAS是一個(gè)明智之舉,，但我們當(dāng)時(shí)面臨著一項(xiàng)挑戰(zhàn)：我們的直銷團(tuán)隊(duì)規(guī)模很小,，只能覆蓋美國(guó)和英國(guó)市場(chǎng)，而且缺乏跟網(wǎng)絡(luò)買家的業(yè)務(wù)關(guān)系,。我們需要一個(gè)擁有買家關(guān)系和銷售團(tuán)隊(duì)覆蓋全球（這些都是我們欠缺的）的大型合作伙伴,。

合適的合作伙伴

????顯而易見(jiàn)，合適的合作伙伴是思科公司,，而合適的產(chǎn)品則是NAS,。

????得益于我們?cè)趹?zhàn)略性商業(yè)拓展方面的投資,，自O(shè)psware公司成立之日起，我們就一直拜訪思科公司,，其中既包括最高管理層,，也包括處于中層的數(shù)據(jù)中心經(jīng)理。現(xiàn)在,，我們終于可以開(kāi)始跟思科談生意了,。盡管思科公司在路由器和交換機(jī)硬件市場(chǎng)占據(jù)著主導(dǎo)地位，但我們從客戶那里得知,，思科管理軟件對(duì)其自身設(shè)備的管理能力讓人不敢恭維,，對(duì)客戶網(wǎng)絡(luò)系統(tǒng)中其他公司、比如瞻博網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司（Juniper）的設(shè)備則根本就發(fā)揮不了任何作用,。而我們的產(chǎn)品不僅在市場(chǎng)處于領(lǐng)先地位,，還能跨平臺(tái)應(yīng)用。完成對(duì)Rendition Networks公司的收購(gòu)之后幾天,，我們就拜會(huì)了思科公司負(fù)責(zé)管理軟件的高級(jí)副總裁,，向他提供了他的客戶們需要的解決方案。

明確任務(wù)

????籌劃一份極具影響力的協(xié)定之前,，首先得搞清楚你想從中獲得什么,。我們事前花費(fèi)了大量時(shí)間讓公司內(nèi)部明確我們通過(guò)這次合作所要達(dá)成的目的，并就這一問(wèn)題在公司上下達(dá)成了共識(shí),。我們的主要目標(biāo)如下：

????? 思科公司真心致力于推廣,，并以對(duì)我們具有吸引力的利潤(rùn)率銷售大量的NAS產(chǎn)品。

????? Opsware公司有權(quán)面向Cisco NAS 的所有客戶推銷 Opsware SAS ,。

????? Cisco NAS產(chǎn)品需注明Opsware 公司的標(biāo)識(shí),。

????? 最小幅度的產(chǎn)品調(diào)整，單一的代碼庫(kù),。

????? 思科方面必須保證足夠大的銷售額,，這樣我們才能投入資源，支持思科實(shí)現(xiàn)銷售目標(biāo),。

????In my experience, one well-constructed, high-impact partnership is better than a hundred run-of-the-mill arrangements. Distribution partnerships take an enormous effort to make work. It's just not realistic to have many of them, which is why picking the right one and constructing it intelligently is fundamental. At Opsware, we only had one significant distribution relationship over eight years, but it had a massively positive impact on the company.

Time to find a partner

????It was early 2005, and things were starting to go pretty well for three-year-old Opsware. We had just closed our $33 million acquisition of Rendition Networks, giving us a lightweight but powerful network automation software product that we christened Opsware NAS (Network Automation System). NAS would allow us to penetrate and rapidly deliver value to new accounts, then upsell them to our considerably heavier and more expensive Server Automation System. (Our average NAS deal size was $115k, took a month to sell and a couple of weeks to deploy, whereas SAS deals averaged $765k and could take a year to sell and six to twelve months to deploy.)

????It made sense to market and sell NAS as aggressively as possible—but we faced a challenge: Our direct sales force was small, only covered US and UK, and had few relationships with network buyers. We needed a big partner with the buyer relationships and global coverage we lacked.

The right partner

????The right partner was obvious: Cisco. So was the product: NAS.

????Thanks to our investment in strategic BD (see Part I and Part II of this series), we'd been calling on Cisco since the founding of Opsware, from the C-suite to mid-level data center managers. Now we finally had something to talk about. For all its pre-eminence in router and switch hardware, we knew from customers that Cisco's management software capability was weak for its own devices and non-existent for, say, Juniper devices in the customer's network. We had the market-leading, cross-platform product. Within days of closing the acquisition, we visited the Cisco SVP responsible for management software and offered him the solution his customers were demanding.

Mission clarity

????Before you can construct a high-impact deal, you have to be crystal-clear on what you want to achieve. We spent a substantial amount of time up front to achieve internal clarity and consensus across the company on what we wanted from a partnership. These were our main objectives:

????? A real commitment by Cisco to market and sell a lot of NAS product, at an attractive margin to us.

????? Opsware's right to target every Cisco NAS customer for an Opsware SAS sale.

????? Opsware branding on the Cisco NAS product.

????? Minimal product changes and a single code base.

????? Enough assurance of financial potential to allow us to invest in the support Cisco would need to succeed.