Drupal Commerce Delivery Partner Program to Launch at DrupalCon Portland
The Opportunity (and why you should care about Drupal Commerce)
The eCommerce market by anyone's estimate is huge and growing fast, and implementation services represent a significant part of the total. Today, Merchants want a flexible and scalable platform that supports their unique brand, message, and user experience now, but is also agile enough to quickly take advantage of new ways of selling and future sales channels. The rapid adoption of Drupal Commerce is the result, in part, of its ability to meet these needs. But there are other factors involved.
- Rich content and strong community interaction strongly influences buying decisions, and while there are lots of great eCommerce solutions, only Drupal Commerce offers full and seamless access to the power of Drupal, allowing customers to target their customer base and differentiate themselves in the market.
- The power and maturity of Drupal has made it the top open source CMS for medium and large customers, and a large majority have eCommerce needs. Leveraging Drupal Commerce enables them to gain a greater return on their investment in Drupal technology, resources, and content.
As Commerce Guys transitions this year to more of a product orientation, integrators and agencies who sell and implement commerce solutions play a vital role in our future. As an integrator/agency, growth of your business is important. eCommerce provides one of the strongest growth strategies that you can pursue, and if you are already focused on Drupal, it is a no-brainer. If eCommerce is strategic to your future growth, Drupal Commerce offers a great opportunity to achieve your goals.
Drupal Commerce Delivery Program (an open source approach)
The Drupal Commerce Delivery Partner Program is focused on helping you build strong and successful eCommerce practices by establishing meaningful partnerships focused on joint selling and the successful delivery of Drupal Commerce projects.
The reality is that there are more bad partner programs than good ones, primarily because they are created by the software vendor, with only the software vendor's needs in mind. As we began to formulate our strategy and, most importantly, make it valuable for partners and us, we realized that the fundamentals that make open source software great could also make other parts of the business (like a partner program) great. We spoke to many integrators and agencies and concluded that it was a very valid approach. The reason is simple; openness and transparency, along with the ability for all to contribute and influence direction, drives better ideas and results in better decisions that meet the business needs of all stakeholders, ultimately allowing everyone to collaborate to grow the market and drive success.
With this in mind, Commerce Guys is excited to be launching the Drupal Commerce Delivery Partner Program at DrupalCon Portland. It is intentional that this is NOT the Commerce Guys partner program, but a Drupal Commerce community program where collectively we will shape the future of what it means to "Partner" and focus on the needs of the Drupal Commerce ecosystem. Yes, Commerce Guys will manage the program and help to channel input into a common direction, but every open source initiative requires that to be successful. However, governance, programs, policies, etc. will come from input from and decisions made by the Delivery Partner community. Near term, those decisions will center around;
- Joint business development that will reach new customers and grow our pipelines
- Proper backing, support, training, tools and resources to win and deliver successfully
- Quality standards and ways to measure quality to ensure that customer success is the highest priority
- Partner segmentation to ensure that Partners who make the biggest investment see the biggest return
- Promotion and awareness of Partners to make it easy for customers to find the right partner
How to get involved (looking for Core Contributors)
Like every successful open source project, the Delivery Partner Program is open to all but will be greatly dependent on Core Contributors who will share the following characteristics;
- eCommerce is strategic to their future
- They are committed to growing the eCommerce market around Drupal Commerce
- They are interested in working closely with Commerce Guys to develop the program
- They see value in aligning with the Drupal Commerce experts to help them be successful
How can Commerce Guys Help Me? (what we bring to the table)
Many ask us how Commerce Guys can help. As the recognized Drupal Commerce experts, our priority is to enable Delivery Partners by leveraging our skills, expertise, and knowledge around Drupal Commerce, so that you have the competency and know-how to sell and deliver successfully. Our unique products and services are complementary to you and help you to;
- Pursue and win larger, more complex projects
- Reduce your risk on a project
- Deliver on time or more reliably
- Handle complex customizations and integrations
- Provide guidance and oversight to ensure that a site is successful
- Provide higher assurance of success and greater customer confidence
- Provide ongoing support through Acquia to fix Drupal and Drupal Commerce problems quickly
Rather than think of this as a partner program to join, which is typical and an outcome of bad partner programs, ask yourself how you can use this program as a tool to grow and a resource to win.
Interested?
If any of this sounds interesting and fits with your direction and strategy for growth, we would enjoy talking with you further. Come see us at DrupalCon Portland.
Not going to Portland? Go to our Delivery Partner contact form HERE, or send me an email at [email protected].
If you missed our Delivery Partner launch webinar, view it HERE.
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