Key Partners are the external organizations, individuals, or entities that play an essential role in the successful launch (if applicable) and ongoing operation of a business model. These partners can include suppliers, service providers, strategic alliances, or other entities that enable the business to create and deliver value. By working with key partners, businesses can leverage external resources, expertise, and capabilities that are critical to their success.

In a business model, key partners are essential for:

• Providing resources, goods, or services that are integral to the operation and value delivery of the organization
• Supporting operational and strategic functions through collaborative relationships, expertise, and capabilities
• Enhancing scalability, innovation, and competitiveness through partnerships that enable businesses to focus on core activities
• Reducing risks and costs by relying on specialized expertise, distribution networks, or other partner-driven value

This dimension of the BMC captures all essential partnerships necessary for delivering customer value and achieving organization goals. By systematically tracking contributions, partnership types, status, risks, and dependencies, organizations can ensure a clear understanding of the value that each partner brings and effectively manage these critical relationships.

**Note: Focus on identifying and managing the partnerships that have a direct impact on value creation and operational success, while avoiding unnecessary complexity in managing minor relationships.

Importantly, Key Partners offers a mechanism for identifying those key resources that are provided by external parties for your business model. This allows for direct costing of these resources to content/data, processes and CX channels.**

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Understanding Key Partners

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Your Key Partners are the external relationships that support your business operations, enhance capabilities, and deliver value through services and goods. These partnerships provide essential resources, expertise, and collaboration that strengthen your ability to serve customers and achieve your goals.

• The Key Partners dimension is fundamental to a successful business model.

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Steps

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Key Partners Steps

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Components

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There is one primary component:

• Key Partners > Key Partners Hub

And there are 4 related components:

• Organizational > People
• Risks > Risk Registry
• Risks > Mitigation Plan
• Dependencies

Key Partners Hub