AI: Gift Horse or Trojan Horse for Partner Managers? (ASAP Collaborative Connection Monthly)

The February Collaborative Connection Monthly tackled a question that has been on many an alliance professional’s mind, related to a topic “that has a lot of attention from today’s press and conversations,” in the words of the event’s moderator, Norma Watenpaugh, CSAP, principal of Phoenix Consulting Group: “AI: Gift Horse or Trojan Horse for Partner Managers?”
To help answer the question, Watenpaugh turned to his month’s featured guest, Will Yafi, who as founder and CEO of ecosystem enablement software vendor TIDWIT has dabbled in artificial intelligence (AI) in both his personal and professional life.
Watch the full version of the webinar here (including discussion after breakout sessions): • AI: Gift Horse or Troj...
Read more in this ASAP blog: www.strategic-alliances.org/b...
Here are also answers to some of the questions asked in the event chat that could not be answered during the event itself:
From Sharon M.:
I’m concerned with putting confidential information into something like ChatGPT. What are your thoughts on dealing with this risk?
Hi Sharon, indeed there are security risks. What needs to be applied to AI, particularly within an Enterprise space, is proper knowledge governance, so that AI gets applied within “walled gardens” and protected environments that assure privacy and accuracy.
From Bruce J.:
Are Partnering organizations hiring their own talent to help apply AI to their processes, or are they trying to leverage internal IT or analytics orgs. Historically we've seen that Partnering teams are the last to get such projects funded or prioritized.
Good question Bruce. Traditionally, partner teams have been beholden to central IT for specific functions, including more recently AI. With the emergence of partner ecosystems, the partner organization is now more independent and empowered with its own layer of tools, data, and AI.
From Brian A.:
What ROI data is available to help convince our leaders to invest in AI for partner management?
There are multiple ways that AI can generate an ROI including automation, reduction of risk, providing real time data for better forecasting and decision making. Essentially AI can help partner/alliance managers do more with less. There are many report and surveys that can be accessed online. This is an interesting study from Deloitte that you may find interesting: www2.deloitte.com/xe/en/insig... (showcasing Payback of AI in less than 1 year).
From Colette K.:
Thanks, Will for answering the question on partner selection; along the same lines, what can you say about the use of AI in predicting risks in multiple alliances (value inflection points)
AI and more specifically Machine Learning is indeed being used in many different applications such as revenue readiness (predicting, which partners are likely to be more ready to sell), MDF distribution, Enablement Voucher distribution and other such functions that help alliance/partner managers automate functions with intelligence and foresight.
From Doug:
Can you share any specific examples of how Alliance Managers are currently leveraging AI for their daily routine tasks? Can you provide specific tasks that have already been automated?
Among the examples are the ability to create or regenerate content, saving time, effort, and resources. Other cases also include partner selection analysis and analytically comparing partner performance for more targeted MDF.
From Bruce J.:
Did you use AI to help write the novel? Or was it just about AI?
Hi Bruce. I wish! 😊 No, I wrote it myself between 2015 and published it in 2019 pre-Chat GPT days and yes part of the thematic is AI-I was inclined for a while to name it Love in the Time of AI 😊, but decided on Fina, who is one of the main characters. Frankly, I am not sure if anyone has attempted to write a novel with ChatGPT-like tools or has done so. I suspect someone must have tried, although I fear the exercise may yield an easily identifiable and somewhat mundane writing style for a novel.
The book is available on Amazon if you are curious about it. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08...