Back in 1985, in one of my very first jobs, it was my responsibility to install a computer system for the company I was working for. As a bonus, the new system came with a new kind of office software that contained a word processor and spreadsheet. The word processor we all understood pretty quickly: it was basically an advanced version of the typewriter we were used to. However, it took a while to understand the spreadsheet and find a proper purpose for it. It was a completely new tool, thus we tried many things and misused it for everything we could think of.
Now, almost 35 years later, many organizations still misuse this advanced calculation tool for many purposes. Keeping track of alliances for instance. That’s like using a screwdriver to hammer a nail: it might get the job done, but it is far from ideal.
It is essential to keep proper track of your alliance progress. The right tool will help you face your alliance challenges and achieve your goals, it will have automated tracking and reporting too. Also, it ensures that everyone who needs to, has access to the latest version of the information available.
For finance functions there are dedicated finance systems, for sales there are dedicated CRM systems. For alliances there are dedicated, optimized, alliance management systems that can do all of the above, and more. Yet some people do still misuse a spreadsheet for it.
I’m curious, how do you keep track of your alliances?