Global Touch: A Strategic Consulting Group

For healthy and organic growth, most businesses often rely on partners and partner ecosystems for a strong percentage of their total revenues. Making the right investments in the partner ecosystem are crucial for predictable revenue and growth. Established in 1990, Global Touch is partner-focused strategy and go-to-market transformation consulting firm that helps unleash partner ecosystem success into the digital economy.

Global Touch is led by the charismatic leader, Denise Sangster. She recently became a member of the Forbes Business Council. In an interview, she told us about how 2020 panned out for the smart company. Denise also talked about Global Touch’s brand new Partner Profitability Calculator™, which promises to help tech companies determine how their partner ecosystem investments stack up. Here are the excerpts from the interview:

How does Global Touch help businesses scale?

We are a management consulting firm that focuses on growing and transforming profitable and productive partner ecosystems. Since 1990, whether working on behalf of established companies with successful track records or pioneering newcomers with out-of-the-box ideas, we never lose sight of our role as a catalyst for our clients’ success.

For the majority of technology companies, a high percentage of their revenue is generated by their partner networks. Sadly, most technology companies are relying on strategies, programs and investments that are 15 years old and most are not seeing the benefit in their results. The IT industry is well overdue for a big transformation, in how it works with, supports and invests in partner ecosystems. The stress from the pandemic is accentuating challenges as the move to the hybrid and digital computing world acclerates.

And we know these challenges too well and we have created game-changing opportunities for our clients who are investing in the moment to leverage the future. Our data-led management consulting services helps technology companies create partner success and predictable revenue by unleashing the power of partners.

In our engagements, we look over the horizon to lead our customers through conventional and creative partnerships while navigating unparalleled market dynamics and changes. We say the future starts today, and we ask our clients if they are ready.

What is one “smart” thing you have done in 2020 to help your customers’ success?

In September 2020, we launched the IT industry’s first Partner Profitability Calculator™ to help a technology company or a company relying on ecosystem partnerships to understand if their partner ecosystem investments are a “fuse to profits” or if they are a bang or bust. Our calculator was built from years of in-the-field data shaped by our proprietary intellectual property across thousands of partners around the world and provides IT companies with a snapshot of their partner programs and investment profitability impact in less than 5 minutes. It also helps a tech company determine how their partner ecosystem investments and priorities stack up with ratings in five groups: innovator (top rating) to laggard (lowest rating). So far, most technology companies that have used our calculator have found their ratings to be towards the lower end of the rating scale, meaning they need to quickly re-evaluate their partner ecosystem approach and investments to gain the results needed from partners.

Where do you envision the company in upcoming years?

This is an interesting question during a pandemic. The IT industry is unique. We always plan for disruptive innovation, but the pandemic took it to a higher level.

Everything today is about gain the most impact in a virtual economy. The future is all about identifying what’s possible, creating tools and strategies to get there, and bringing others along to join in the success. This is what I love to do, and this is what we will continue to do to add value to our clients’ businesses and their partners and customers.

The Leader Upfront

Denise Sangster, President and CEO

She is a global expert on developing profitable partner ecosystems and aligning IT companies’ roadmaps and strategies with partner success and customer outcomes. She also has extensive experience with data storytelling, customer and partner listening programs, and identifying and building disruptive innovation partnerships.

She has been a featured columnist in IT publications and frequent speaker at top IT events around the world. She recently joined the Forbes Business Council and will be contributing content to Forbes.com starting in 2021.

Denise graduated from the University of California at Berkeley where she competed in two sports: swimming and rowing. She is a big believer in continuing education and continues to take executive training at top universities around the world.

“In 2020, we developed the first Partner Profitability Calculator™ to help a technology company or a company relying on ecosystem partnerships for its revenues to understand if their partner ecosystem investments are a “fuse to profits” or if they are a bang or bust.”