Over the past year, we have made many changes within the walls of ANVA, as well as within our partner landscape. The ecosystem we have established around our own software solution continues to evolve continuously. Partners have joined and many new initiatives have emerged. A large number of customers now use our partner solutions and experience the added value on a daily basis. High time for a partner update, this time we talk to ANVA's partner manager Ronald, a number of partners and our mutual customers.
"In recent years, we have noticed that our customers are purchasing more and more different partner solutions," starts Ronald Rongen, partner manager at ANVA. "If you look at our strategy for the coming years, we want to leverage that more. In fact, we noticed that there were regular parties knocking on our door who wanted to become partners, but to which we could not yet give a good answer. There were also certain partners with whom we would like to start a more intensive cooperation, in order to be able to do even more for our customers together. For this reason, the management team of ANVA asked me to think about a new partner strategy to which smaller parties, such as start ups, could also connect."
The new partner strategy is divided into three grades: Premium partners, Advanced partners and Connections. Ronald envisions the new way of working as a dartboard, always putting ANVA customers at the center. Around ANVA, the partner landscape is divided into three rings. "First, from ANVA itself, we offer all kinds of functionalities. Then you meet our Premium partners, with whom we work very intensively, for example because we develop a solution together. Currently there are only a handful of them, because it takes a lot of time and energy to keep these collaborations active. Step one ring further and we are still talking about an intensive collaboration, but slightly less intense. We call these our Advanced partners. Parties with whom we can connect very nicely, but to whom we put just a little less energy. They know how to make their software connect well with ANVA and what is needed for that".
Late last year, the ANVA Developer Portal was developed. Partly because of this, many companies and/or software vendors can link their solution(s) directly to ANVA using one or more connectors. Ronald: "All these parties, Connections as we call them, can be found in the outer ring. They are certainly no less important, but are mostly not used by every ANVA customer. If a customer does want to use them, we think it is important that it is a reliable party. Therefore, just like our partners, our Connections must also meet our standards, which we test in a qualification process before officially confirming the cooperation."
The more intense a partnership is, the more we can jointly offer to our customers. For example, in our partnership with AWI (part of Inpact), we develop product engines for the insurance industry based on the protocols and standards set by the market. We also call this initiative Insurance Product Content. At the same time, we see that the number of ANVA Connections also continues to grow. In the first quarter of 2023, as many as eight new companies joined ANVA, some even initiated by ANVA customers.
"Our software has become much more open as a result of this changing strategy. It expands the possibilities of existing partnerships, but also definitely provides options outside the known paths. With our changing partner landscape, there are more and more solutions that can communicate with ANVA. The innovation is still young, gradually we will discover more and more benefits together with our customers," said Ronald.
Thinking more broadly, we would also like to outline opportunities to grow with our customers. Both nationally and beyond the Dutch borders. Because of the change in the partner program, local partners in other countries can now also connect to our software, for example in Aruba and Curaçao. "The same applies, incidentally, to a growth direction in the broadening of products. Companies or partners who already have a lot of knowledge in a niche market can help our customers on their way by connecting with ANVA, and we too learn a lot from that."
Ronald continues: "For me as partner manager, but certainly also for my colleagues in Customer Support, this also requires a change. We regularly receive questions from customers about partner solutions or from ANVA Connections or partners about the application of our connectors. In order to make and keep this scalable, we have put in place a well-running process, in which all kinds of disciplines are involved in finding the best solution. To guide our Connections and partners, we have not only put all the necessary documentation about our connectors on the ANVA Developer Portal, but we can also use our consultants for specific questions. This way everyone can get the most out of our collaboration and we know that they are securing the knowledge that is minimally needed."
As a software company, the obvious thing to do is to automate as much as possible. Therefore, our goal was certainly not to create a partner landscape that would require multiple partner managers. "Together with our product owners, customer support and marketing and communications colleagues, I thought about how we could secure as much (manual) work as possible in systems, which in turn would allow us to accelerate. A fascinating journey of discovery of about six months, from start to finish. Always with one goal in mind: satisfied customers. I am most proud of our customers who are so satisfied with the partner solution in combination with ANVA that they want to be our ambassadors. By doing so, they radiate that our solutions, coupled with those of our partners, work well."
In the coming years, as our partner landscape innovates, we want to be increasingly present throughout the insurance chain. Ronald: "Our platform must be able to serve everyone. For example, we are now investigating how we could use WhatsApp so that a consumer can make and prepare an appointment with an insurance advisor. After all, our customers are not available in person 24×7. So how cool is it that you can deploy a digital colleague and combine this with human contact?"
One thing is certain: customers always have a choice with ANVA. Our own software already offers many great features. Our partners offer services that you can link to it as a valuable addition. In this way, each customer can decide which solutions are necessary or desirable to use. "On average, our customers now purchase three to four different partner solutions. In our revamped partner program, they have even more choice. We are well aware that other software vendors can be the star in their own domain. It is not up to us to then invent that domain ourselves. We find it much more powerful to work together and learn from each other."
As a partner, is it also possible to advance to a deeper layer on the dartboard? "That is certainly possible. However, we decide who takes which deepening step when. We work with certain criteria for that. The more intensively we work together, the more that also demands of a partner. If we cooperate intensively, we want to do so according to certain standards and guidelines. After all, we do everything we can to deliver a reliable solution. An ISO certificate that our partner must have is a practical interpretation of this," Ronald explains.
The consultants within ANVA have a good idea of possible new partners which we would like to join in the future. "And also my colleagues in our customer support department have a lot of customer contact, from which new initiatives flow regularly. But of course potential partners are free to contact us themselves and find out if we are a match. Any solution with which we can reliably provide added value to our customers together is most welcome!", Ronald concludes.
