In last week’s column, we wrote, Why is GoToEcosystem Necessary for B2B SaaS, Part I. We talked about how the cloud changed everything, setting the foundation for GoToEcosystem (GoToEco) by creating the imperative that SaaS companies integrate to create the end-to-end solutions that customers demand.

We also talked about how the B2B SaaS companies have had to change their GTMs, focusing on tech partners, product orgs that now care about partners, and the need for the whole organization to Co-x to drive success with the partner ecosystem.

In this article, we will talk about how the shift from GoToMarket to GoToEco has changed many of the models that B2B SaaS companies need to manage their companies.

Let’s jump in!

A new way forward, after GoToMarket

GoToEcosystem covers many fronts and introduces many models. Most important of all is that GoToEco is a new way of doing business for B2B SaaS Companies and eventually for all companies where partner and community ecosystems finally get an equal seat at the table with customers and employees.

We no longer make, sell, and market products alone, virtually everything big and necessary going forward will consist of ⅓ our customers, ⅓ our employees, and ⅓ our ecosystem.

IDC said it best late last year:

We won’t be building products alone any longer, and just as neurons that wire together fire together, SaaS companies who co-innovate will also inevitably co-market, co-sell, co-value create, and co-retain together – this is what GoToEcosystem is all about:

• New Business Models
• New Organizational Models
• New Partnering Models
• The New Operating Models

New business models

GoToEcosystem is all about new business models.

In June, we introduced a new business model concept for B2B SaaS, which we called an Ecosystem Business. Ecosystem businesses combine embedded partnering, driven by aligned programs, with the network effects created by platforms:

New organizational models

GoToEcosystem is all about new organizational models.

In May, we presented a Crossbeam Supernode presentation centered on Organizational alignment.

Allan Adler: Aligning Your Organization for Ecosystem Success | Supernode Conference 2022

That pitch was built around our concept of embedded partnering and a new Co-X approach where all parts of the business organize to strategically win together with partners. Product (through co-innovation), Marketing (through co-marketing), Sales (through co-selling), and CS (through co-retaining).

The C-Suite through the designation of an Ecosystem chief who manages across many swimlanes, not just those of the CRO.

New partnering models

GoToEcosystem is all about new partnering models.

In April, we presented a SaaS Connect Preso on the GoToEco Maturity Model. That pitch introduces the four stages of maturity in building out a B2B SaaS companies tech partner program from launch through to the creation of an Ecosystem Business.

New operating models

GoToEco is all about new operational models.

Earlier in August, in a PartnerHacker column on how to operationally scale partner ecosystems, we built a bridge connecting the GoToEco model to EcoOps - formerly called Partner Ops - because we realized that Partner ecosystem success is dependent on automating and systematizing the five elements that makeup EcoOps: Enablement, Workflows,

GoToEcosystem is the future of B2B SaaS

To net it out again, GoToEco and its associated frameworks - Ecosystem Business Models, the GoToEco Maturity Model, and EcoOps disciplines, give B2B SaaS companies a new way forward, allowing them to build and re-imagine business models, organizational models, partnering models and channel models.

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