Proud to be an Acquia partner

Acquia partner event

At last week’s Acquia event for its partners we found ourselves (little old Salsa) mixing with the big players...companies like Accenture, Deloitte and Ogilvy. It was a privilege to be among these top-enders of town and it was also a testament to Salsa Digital’s track record of delivering quality work on Acquia projects. (Our expertise was recently recognised when we were honoured as Acquia’s 2016 Partner of the Year in Asia-Pacific and Japan.)

The turnout at the event also showed that Acquia has a serious product and service offering that’s disrupting the market (by winning deals over traditional competitors) and now getting the attention of the big players.

Reflecting on the event the day after, I found myself thinking about:

1. How the event went for us
2. Acquia’s commitment to its partners
3. What Salsa is most excited about

How the event went for us

The short answer is: we loved it! And not just because it was at a great venue (Crown Casino in Melbourne) with great food and wine, but because it highlighted Acquia’s clear vision for the future and its commitment to its partners. It was obvious Acquia’s deadly serious about supporting partners to support growth. They also talked about some key insights and learnings from the US, including how we, as strong partners, can differentiate ourselves with strategy and optimisation.(Not to undermine Salsa’s engineering pedigree — which is what got us here with Acquia in the first place and is one of the driving forces behind our success in the digital space.)

Helping our clients create great digital customer experiences is also how we can differentiate ourselves… it’s no longer about our clients simply wanting us to build them a website.

Acquia's commitment to partners

Acquia’s commitment to its partners was clear. This was evident in how Acquia has rethought/remodelled the way they go to market and engage with partners. Acquia’s professional services team is now focused on supporting partners to win deals and deliver great work (rather than clients directly) and its sales teams are recognised for supporting partners to help win business. Importantly, this means Acquia can focus on its greatest value — IP for its open-source, cloud platform.

What Salsa's most excited about

Salsa is excited about the upcoming opportunities as an Acquia partner and continuing this journey with them. Specifically, we’re looking forward to:

• Doing more of the same but for larger clients (enterprise/corporates as well as government).
• Bringing Salsa’s ‘secret sauce’ to larger clients/projects.
• Leveraging our legacy in open-source and cloud (disruptive) and working alongside Acquia on the growth journey.

We’re also excited about Acquia’s positioning in Gartner’s list of web content management leaders, with Acquia hovering around the traditional ‘elites’ such as Sitecore and Adobe.

The event sum-up?

Well, in some ways it’s a little sad: Salsa has enjoyed having the attention and support of all/many Acquia folk…and now we have to (rightfully) share with the heavy weights because they’ve now caught on! :) However, it’s mostly exciting because we’re at the beginning of a long growth journey towards larger corporate enterprise clients, which for little old Salsa is a big deal.

We have the backing and commitment of a serious player in Acquia and we know we can differentiate ourselves as a boutique agency with loads of great design, strategy and tech skills in-house. We’re small, nimble and dedicated to our values, which represent our heart soul and deliver for Salsa clients. (Read our blog on Salsa’s values.)

Thank you Acquia for inviting us and for being part of our future.