Client Context
ASG Technologies was a global leader in Enterprise Content Management serving 3,500 customers worldwide. The North America alliances and channels function had stalled. Partner productivity was flat, new partner recruitment had slowed, and the 2020 go-to-market roadmap required a materially larger contribution from the channel than the existing ecosystem was producing.
The Engagement
Brushton was brought in as Strategy Consultant to North America Alliances and Channels to lead partnering strategy, recruitment, and day-to-day management of the content partner network. The mandate was practical rather than theoretical. Fix what was broken, rebuild the partnership frameworks, and produce revenue inside a compressed timeline.
Approach
We ran a diagnostic on the existing partner base to separate the genuinely underperforming accounts from the structurally mismatched ones, then rebuilt the GTM strategy around a tighter set of partnership frameworks designed to produce measurable pipeline rather than logos on a slide. In parallel, we sourced and onboarded five new partners aligned directly to ASG's 2020 corporate roadmap, with specific revenue and pipeline commitments built into each engagement. One strategic partner received dedicated executive coverage and joint account planning, which produced record growth and earned them ASG Partner of the Year recognition.
Results
The revitalized partner ecosystem delivered 83% revenue growth through the redesigned GTM strategy and partnership frameworks. Quota attainment reached 116% in the first seven months of the engagement. Five new partners were recruited and onboarded against the 2020 plan, all exceeding initial ramp expectations. The strategic partner mentioned above received ASG Partner of the Year recognition.
Why This Matters
Most channel turnarounds fail because they try to recruit their way out of a structural problem. The ASG work succeeded because we fixed the existing partnerships first and only then added new ones into a framework that could actually support them.
About the Author
This case study reflects work performed during Brendan T. O'Connor's tenure at ASG Technologies as Strategy Consultant to North America Alliances and Channels. Brendan is the Founder & Principal of The Brushton Group, a strategy consultancy that helps technology companies build partner ecosystems, revenue infrastructure, and strategic alliances that drive scalable, repeatable growth.