@Remco @Julian maybe one of you would have any insights on this? 

Hi Anita!  Maybe other folks in the community will have more specific experiences and suggestions to share, but from my perspective, the way I’d start to think about including partners in the community would be similar to how I’d consider any new audience segment.  So I’d be starting with asking myself questions like these, for example:

• What is in it for them?  What would they be looking to gain from the community?  Would it be for learning and developing expertise, for networking and meeting new prospective clients, solving problems that they have or something else?  Based on that, how can the community best meet those needs?
• Do they have distinct needs that would require some adjustment to the community structure or taxonomy?  Would they need a private category or group to discuss things that are only relevant for them?  Or content that is geared specifically towards them?  
• Are there any ground rules that you feel should apply specifically to this audience?  Are you comfortable, for example, with them actively pursuing new clients among community members within the community?  Or would you want to set some boundaries there?
• What behaviours would you want to most incentivise among this audience?  Partners are likely to be very knowledgeable - you can consider the value of driving P2P engagement with them and offering them some formal recognition in return.  
• Should it be visible to other community members that these are partners?  You can consider a custom rank or set of ranks for them, to make it very clear.

I realise that these are questions rather than specific best practices.  But without having more context, this is at least how I would start.  Would love to hear if others in the community have thoughts and suggestions.