The Economist Intelligence unit released a report to help direct executives through the global trend for digital partnerships between organizations. Key findings in the report reveal:

• Accessing the connected customer is core to the digital-partnership strategy
• Executives embrace “strength in numbers” to manage change
• Companies have high expectations of digital partnerships, but patience is required
• Speed and specialization are set to promote growth of cross-industry ecosystems
• Traditional companies are learning how to share information, but some walls remain
• Digital natives are joining partnerships for profit, not philanthropy

According to the report, the practice of digital partnering is forcing companies to apply more discipline in their data and information sharing.