Integrity in SUSE’s Partner Ecosystem: Building Trust Through Transparency and Open Source Values

Integrity has been instilled in me since childhood, thanks to my father’s timeless advice: “Always do the right thing.” 

This principle, while seemingly simple, serves as a powerful guide in both personal and professional realms. At SUSE, integrity aligns with our open source guiding principles, where transparency, accountability, and community collaboration are not just ideals but are woven into every line of code, every strategic decision, and every partnership we build.

Open source, by nature, requires transparency—our code, our intentions, and our commitments are visible to all. As leaders in the open-source community, our commitment to integrity transcends our technology. It influences how we approach our partnerships, our partner ecosystem, and how we fulfil our promises. Integrity isn’t merely about doing what’s easy or beneficial in the short term; it’s about doing what’s right for the collective good.

Integrity in Action: Doing What You Say, Saying What You Do

In our partnerships, integrity means doing what we say and saying what we do, always acting with positive intent. This approach creates an environment where partners feel respected, valued, and assured of our commitment. When we communicate openly, deliver on our promises, and address challenges transparently, we establish a foundation for collaboration that goes beyond contracts and transactions.

Consider our deal registration program as an example. While deal registration programs are common in partner ecosystems, what sets ours apart is our unwavering commitment to its principles. We hold firmly to the structure and standards of the program. This consistency is crucial because even a small deviation can erode trust and weaken the entire program. By staying true to our framework, we reinforce a culture of integrity, building lasting trust with our partners.

Integrity is more than just an overarching goal—it’s a daily commitment. It’s embedded in how we design initiatives, create joint solutions, and fulfil our commitments. Whether we’re working on technical integrations or crafting a go-to-market strategy, it’s essential that our actions and intentions are consistently aligned. This dedication to integrity strengthens our relationships and ensures that we’re always working with our partners in a way that’s transparent and trustworthy.

Trust is essential in any partnership, but it’s particularly critical in an open-source ecosystem where innovation and mutual success depend on collaboration.

Integrity as a Business Essential

Integrity is not just a nice to have—it’s a business necessity. If there’s anything that can be learned from the result of recent acquisitions in the vendor space, it is that the channel partnerships can be upended with very little notice. Yes market dynamics change, industries evolve. But watching events unfold over recent months has reconfirmed my conviction that, if there are changes on the horizon, having the integrity and the transparency around what those are ahead of time, so that people can manage the impact is so important. 

We believe that by honoring our commitments that we’ve made to our partners, and creating fair programs builds lasting trust. Especially when challenges arise. They could be competitive tensions (coopetition is inevitable in our world) or simply operational issues—having tough but transparent conversations is essential.  Without trust, partnerships weaken, and even the most promising business plans are at risk of failure.

Integrity – more than just an open source guiding principle

In business partnerships, integrity isn’t just a guiding principle—it’s the core of every successful partnership. Our SUSE One partner tagline, “The Power of Many. Together as One,” captures the essence of what we believe: that collective strength, driven by integrity, is the true force multiplier. Partnerships built on trust deliver more robust, impactful, and resilient solutions. When organizations collaborate with transparency and honor their commitments, they unlock the potential for exponential growth.