Presented by James Sims, Global Vice President of Channel Sales, and John Faber, Global Technical Enablement Manager, Acquia
India and APAC have some of the strongest Drupal engineering talent in the world, yet international enterprise projects still tend to go to agencies in the customer’s own time zone. The gap is rarely about capability. It is about proof, positioning, and trust. Enterprise buyers in North America and Europe are not shopping for the cheapest team that can build a Drupal site. They are looking for a partner who reduces risk, brings a point of view, and has done this before in their industry.
This session is a practical look at how regional agencies close that gap and compete for international enterprise work on merit.
Go to market and enterprise sales, with James Sims. James brings the view from the channel, where he leads partner sales globally for Acquia. He covers how to decide where to play and how to win there: choosing a specialization worth owning, whether that is a vertical, a platform capability, or a delivery model, and building a story buyers can repeat. He looks at how global enterprise deals actually get sourced and won, from the role of platform vendors and larger systems integrators to the way procurement, references, and security reviews shape the shortlist. He also covers structuring partnerships that put you in the room early, and pricing and engagement models that read as confidence rather than discounting.
Technical capability and delivery maturity, with John Faber. John leads technical enablement for Acquia partners worldwide and covers what international buyers look for once you are on the shortlist. That includes the technical depth that separates a Drupal shop from a Drupal partner, such as complex multisite estates, decoupled and React based front ends, migrations, performance, and security. He covers certifications and why they matter as a trust signal during evaluation, and the delivery practices that show maturity: quality engineering, DevOps and environment discipline, documentation, support coverage across time zones, and clear governance on how work gets reviewed and shipped. He also covers how AI is raising the bar on delivery speed and consistency, and what readiness looks like for a team that wants to compete on it.
You will leave with
- A way to choose and sharpen a specialization that global enterprise buyers can recognize
- A clearer map of how international deals are sourced and which partnerships open doors
- A delivery maturity checklist covering skills, certifications, process, and coverage
- A realistic plan for landing a first or next international enterprise engagement