Partnerships are core to our strategy here at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence, as they are for many organisations around the world. But what does it take to build an effective partnership that adds true business value? What should organisations be aware of and what are some of the most common mistakes?
To find out the answers to these questions, we caught up with Sami Istephan, our Vice President of Global Alliances. Read his insights into how partnerships can support business growth, the challenges that can emerge, and much more.
Start by giving us an overview of your role and responsibilities
As the Head of Partnerships for Digital Intelligence, my role is to set the strategy for how we partner – advising on who, how and where we build relationships that create the greatest value.
I work closely with account teams, technical experts and business development specialists across our business units. Together, we engage directly with partners and customers to create new business opportunities. It’s a broad remit – which I really enjoy – and it means I rely on “partnering champions” across the business to help keep partnership front and centre in our approach to market growth.
My role allows me to work across the wider BAE Systems Group, to share best practice and to leverage our collective strengths. I strongly believe we are most effective when we think and act as “One BAE,” combining our skills, people, products and capabilities.
"In Defence, effective partnerships are not optional - they are essential for ensuring security, innovation and resilience."Sami Istephan, Vice President of Global Alliances, BAE Systems
Why are partnerships important for organisations generally?
In my career, I’ve seen partnering evolve from being largely transactional to becoming a strategic business discipline. Today, successful partnerships are about creating differentiation, shared value and long-term impact.
There are many reasons to partner, but organisations typically do so for two key reasons:
- Access to specialist capabilities – bringing in best-of-breed technologies or expertise, that would be costly or time-consuming to build alone
- Market access and reach – gaining presence in geographies or verticals where the organisation may not currently have the scale, skills, or relationships.
For example, Cloud and AI are reshaping our market. Rather than developing every capability ourselves, it makes more sense to partner with leading providers whose solutions we can integrate into our offer. Similarly, while BAE Systems has a large and international workforce, we are not present in every geography and vertical. Partnering with local organisations allows us to be more agile and responsive to opportunities in those markets.
Partnerships can also reduce risk. Building expertise in adjacent areas is costly and uncertain, but collaborating with partners already established in those fields allows organisations to create new business opportunities more efficiently. Often, partnerships also serve as a pathway to deeper collaborations such as joint ventures or acquisitions.
How can partnerships support business growth?
Partnerships are a vital driver of growth, complementing the investments organisations make in their people, products, systems and processes. By aligning with partners whose capabilities, markets and ambitions reinforce their own, organisations can accelerate growth in ways that would be more difficult – or time-consuming – to achieve alone.
Effective partnerships help:
- Speed up routes to market by leveraging a partner’s established presence, channels, or expertise
- Accelerate return on investment by combining capabilities rather than building everything in-house
- Balance risk by sharing investment, responsibility and expertise
The key is to understand where your core competencies lie – i.e. focusing investment on the areas that add the most value – and what is complementary and best accessed through partners. Striking that balance enables faster, smarter and more sustainable growth.
What role do partnerships play in the Defence industry specifically?
The Defence sector is a fascinating case for partnering. While it shares many characteristics of other industries, it also has unique complexities. A PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) lens helps illustrate why partnerships are so critical here.
- Political: Defence partnerships often involve governments and intergovernmental bodies. Working with organisations such as NATO, AUKUS, or Five Eyes demonstrates how political alignment underpins Defence partnerships.
- Economic: Defence spending commitments, such as the UK’s Strategic Defence Review, highlight the sector’s importance to the wider economy. Defence is a complex ecosystem of public and private sector partners, forming part of the UK’s critical national infrastructure.
- Social: Public confidence depends on the protection of systems that underpin everyday life. Our partnerships with organisations such as the NCSC and NCA help safeguard against cyber threats for the benefit of society.
- Technological: Digital innovation is at the heart of Defence. We partner with world-leading organisations, from global technology firms to specialist innovators, to integrate cutting-edge capabilities into our solutions.
- Legal: Operating in a highly regulated industry, compliance with laws and directives is essential. Our partnerships with law enforcement agencies ensure our products and solutions support legal and regulatory frameworks.
- Environmental: Defence organisations must take responsibility for their environmental footprint. We seek partners who share our values in building sustainable practices while delivering on mission-critical needs.
In Defence, effective partnerships are not optional — they are essential for ensuring security, innovation and resilience.
What does BAE Systems Digital Intelligence look for in a potential partner?
I use a simple five-point model when assessing potential partners. While there are many factors, these five are core:
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Strategy: Alignment between the partner’s ambitions and our strategic priorities
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Capabilities: Complementary strengths that make both organisations stronger together
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Opportunity: Clear addressable market opportunities and a balanced view of short, medium and long-term returns
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Resources: Relevant, deployable resources to support joint activity and customer delivery
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Culture & Engagement: A willingness to collaborate, with executive support, aligned sales teams, shared best practices, and a strong commitment to ethical and compliance standards
"Partnerships can also reduce risk. Building expertise in adjacent areas is costly and uncertain, but collaborating with partners already established in those fields allows organisations to create new business opportunities more efficiently. Often, partnerships also serve as a pathway to deeper collaborations such as joint ventures or acquisitions."Sami Istephan, Vice President of Global Alliances, BAE Systems
Can partnering come with challenges?
Yes – partnerships can bring enormous value, but they also come with challenges. For example, they require balancing another organisation’s priorities with your own, which demands compromise, alignment and ongoing effort.
In my experience, challenges can be overcome when the value of the partnership clearly outweighs the effort and risk involved. While this may sound obvious, organisations sometimes lose sight of why a partnership was established in the first place and reduce their investment prematurely. Like any critical business asset, partnerships need to be actively managed and nurtured - with issues addressed quickly and transparently to maintain momentum and trust.
Enduring partnerships also evolve. Objectives may need refreshing every few years and sometimes new people need to be brought in to provide fresh energy and perspective. I see partnerships as cyclical: they begin with a shared objective, are developed and deepened over time, and, if successful, can be “spun” into new forms of collaboration.
Equally important is knowing when to step away. Not every partnership will deliver and recognising when to divest early ensures time and resources are not wasted. Strong partnering is as much about discipline and honest assessment as it is about collaboration.
What common mistakes do organisations typically make when attempting to build partnerships?
Some of the most common issues I’ve seen include:
- One-sided arrangements: Partnerships fail when they disproportionately benefit one side
- Unclear objectives: Without well-defined, shared goals, partnerships struggle to gain traction
- Lack of trust: Trust is the foundation; without it, collaboration falters
- Weak sponsorship: Effective partnerships need visible, committed executive sponsors
- No link to tangible outcomes: Partnerships should deliver measurable results, whether financial, innovative, or operational
- Poor governance: Without agreed processes for managing, reviewing and escalating, partnerships often drift
- Cultural misalignment: Even strong business cases can fail if values, behaviours, or compliance standards don’t align
- Undefined joint value proposition: Partnerships must be able to clearly articulate the customer benefit of working together
What advice would you offer to a company looking to develop/enhance its partnership strategy?
My advice is to focus less on “selling” and more on creating impact. I receive hundreds of approaches from organisations wanting to pitch products and while many of those offerings are strong, the most compelling conversations are with companies that have thought deeply about how they add value — not just to BAE Systems, but to the market as a whole.
Strong partnership strategies are built on:
- A clear understanding of the partner’s strategy and market position
- A focus on mutual value and impact, not just scale
- Patience and commitment — strong partnerships take time to build and nurture
If you create the right impact, the scale will follow.
Our size and global scale generates endless opportunities to work across diverse roles and specialisms, as well as countries and cultures. So, whatever your experience, skills or ambitions, we’re confident we’ll have a role to suit you.
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