The power of partnership: When 1+1=3

I started playing golf at the age of seven, and for a while, I was ambitious to make it my career before realizing I lacked one critical ingredient – talent. My love for the sport grew when I went to my first Ryder Cup in 1981 at Walton Heath Golf Course in the U.K. (for those doing the math I was very, very young…) where I watched Team Europe get soundly beaten by the US Team. And now, 40 years later, I get to go again.

This year, Pega is sponsoring the Ryder Cup – golf’s biennial international men’s team competition between the U.S. and Europe. So, what’s a software company doing in the world of golf? Believe it or not, a nearly 100-year-old golfing competition and a software company do have something in common – the power of partnership. When people work together to achieve results that far exceed individual contributions, that’s the power of partnership; that’s real success.

I’ve experienced and witnessed the power of partnership through my work in technology and golf (as a dedicated spectator and backyard professional). Some of my favorite golfing examples of this come from past Ryder Cup matches with teams like Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson from the U.S. and “the Spanish Armada” of Seve Ballesteros and José María Olazábal. But it’s not limited to the golf green or the boardroom.

At Pega, we’re proud to partner with several global leaders who team up with us to help clients get the business outcomes they need, fast.

Great partnerships transform what’s possible. That’s why we reimagined our ecosystem to put our clients’ businesses at the center of ours. When we all put our clients’ success first, we all win. We can’t do that on our own. When Pega combines the best capabilities with the best of our partners’, clients achieve break-through outcomes and a standard of engagement and support that is unparalleled in the market.

Partnerships enable us to help clients in almost every industry around the world transform operations, simplify the complexity of doing business, and build meaningful customer relationships – powerful stuff! And we take a multidimensional partnership approach that includes:

1. Our clients: We have a deep commitment to our clients and are obsessed with their success. We do not let them fail.


2. The ecosystem: Transforming the world’s biggest enterprises is a team effort. We’ve built a robust and ever-growing partner ecosystem.


3. Our employees: We collaborate, partner, and support each other; partnership also means creating a safe, respectful work environment that supports our employees and their families.

Our partnerships with global consultancy and technology firms deliver the business outcomes our clients need, fast. They also empower us to explore the world, forge new relationships, and deliver meaningful outcomes. This year, we’re proud to team up with Virtusa at the Ryder Cup to showcase the combined power of Pega + Virtusa to our joint clients. Virtusa is a great example of a global consultancy firm that teams up with Pega to deliver outstanding business outcomes.

As we emerge from COVID-19, there is an even greater emphasis on partnerships than ever before.

Many companies spent the past 18 months reacting to the pandemic, trying to retain customers and employees, racing to cut costs, reorganizing for remote work, and frankly, just trying to survive. (Meanwhile, my backyard golf skills have flourished.) Now that parts of the world are starting to re-emerge, businesses are once again thinking about growth. They need to transform immediately and want solutions that are flexible and future-proofed. They need great partners who can not only get the job done but who can do it quickly and can make their very complex challenges feel easy.

Pega’s partner program provides a community and network for businesses to connect, learn, and grow. Our partnerships enable us to explore the world, forge new relationships, and deliver meaningful outcomes.

See you on the green

I feel privileged to have the opportunity to attend this year’s Ryder Cup with team Pega! I am anxiously awaiting an exciting week watching the world’s leading golfers alongside many of our incredible clients, prospects, and partners. It promises to be a week of intense competition; on paper the US Team has the strongest team in the history of the event, but golf’s a funny old game.

And my preferred result? Well, as a Brit living in Boston, you may think that I have conflicted loyalties. Reality is, I don’t. I hope that Pega and golf are both standout winners, but above all else…

GO TEAM EUROPE!