October 22, 2024 • 39 mins
What does it take to revolutionize business processes through automation and strategic partnerships?
In this IAMCP Profiles in Partnership episode, Anthony Carrano and Rudy Rodriguez engage with Adam Shapiro, the dynamic CEO of Autopilot. Adam reveals how his company is at the forefront of innovation, transforming finance, HR, and sales with tailor-made automation solutions.
Throughout this episode, Anthony, Rudy, and Adam explore:
- The Transformative Power of Automation: Adam discusses how Autopilot's cutting-edge accounts payable app harnesses AI to streamline invoice processing, drastically reducing errors and saving valuable time for businesses. Discover how automation is a tool and a game-changer for operational efficiency.
- The Importance of Strategic Partnerships: Adam emphasizes the pivotal role partnerships play in scaling Autopilot's success. He highlights how platforms like the Microsoft Teams Store have been instrumental in generating leads and expanding their reach, illustrating the value of collaboration in the tech industry.
- A Unique Success Story: Hear about Autopilot's impressive journey to becoming the ninth company worldwide to develop a Copilot app. Adam shares insights on overcoming challenges and the strategic decisions that led to this achievement, showcasing their commitment to innovation.
- Advice for Aspiring Partners: Drawing from his extensive experience, Adam offers invaluable advice for companies looking to build strong partnerships. He discusses the importance of aligning goals, understanding partner capabilities, and leveraging collective strengths to drive mutual success.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to harness the power of automation and strategic alliances to enhance business growth and efficiency. Adam’s insights and experiences will inspire you to rethink your approach to partnerships and embrace the future of automation.
Listener Links / Resources
International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners
Partners:
Connect with Adam Shapiro: LinkedIn
Learn more about:
- Autopilot Workflow Solutions: Autopilot
- Greenlight Solutions: Greenlight
Check out these amazing apps:
- Autopilot for Microsoft Teams: Autopilot for Microsoft Teams
- Accounts Payable AI App (Teams and Copilot: Accounts Payable AI App
- Customer Onboarding App: Customer Onboarding App
- Vendor Onboarding App: Vendor Onboarding App
- Employee Onboarding App: Employee Onboarding App
Read the case study: Talksure Customer Success Story: Case Study
Show Hosts:
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Anthony Carrano (00:05):
Welcome to the IAMCP profiles and partnership.
The podcast that showcases howMicrosoft partners and IAMCP
members boost their business bycollaborating with other members
and partners. I'm your co host,Anthony Carrano. And in each
episode, I'll be talking to someof the most innovative and
successful partners in theMicrosoft ecosystem. The
International Association ofMicrosoft Channel Partners,
(00:27):
otherwise known as IAMCP, is acommunity of Microsoft partners
who help each other grow andthrive.
Members can find and connectwith other partners locally and
globally and access exclusiveresources and opportunities.
Whether you're looking for newcustomers, new markets, or new
solutions, IAMCP can help youachieve those goals. We'll hear
their stories, learn from theirexperiences, and discover the
(00:50):
best practices and strategiesthey use to increase customer
loyalty and grow revenues.Whether you're a new partner or
an established one, you'll findvaluable insights and
inspiration in this podcast. Wehope you enjoy this podcast and
find it useful and inspiring.
If you do, please subscribe,rate, and review us on your
favorite podcast platform. Anddon't forget to follow us on
(01:11):
social media and connect with uson our website,
www.profilesinpartnership.com,where you can find more
information, resources, andopportunities to partner for
success. Thank you forlistening, and now let's get
started with today's episode.Before we dive into our
interview, let me ask you aquestion. As a Microsoft partner
(01:32):
and a member of the IAMCP, howdo you find and develop partner
relationships that'll help yougrow your business?
Finding the right partner can bechallenging, but can also be
rewarding. In fact, according toa recent study by IDC, Microsoft
partners who collaborate withother partners generate almost 2
and a half times more revenuegrowth than those who don't.
That's a huge difference, and itshows the power of partnering.
(01:56):
So how do you leverage theMicrosoft Partner Network,
IAMCP, and other resources tosupport your partnerships? And
how do you ensure success foryour customer?
These are some of the questionswe'll explore in this podcast
with the help of our guest, arecent global and EMEA P2P award
finalist who is also an expertin partnering. He'll share
(02:16):
stories, challenges, andsuccesses and give you practical
tips and advice on how topartner for success. Are you
ready to join us on thisjourney? Then stay tuned because
we have a great show for youtoday. Our guest is Adam
Shapiro, the CEO at AutopilotWorkflow Solutions, an award
winning ISV and Microsoftpartner with expertise in the
(02:37):
delivery of automated workflowsolutions.
Autopilot has achieved amazingresults such as the one in the
story you're about to hear intheir partnership with
Greenlight Solutions, aSharePoint and Power Platform
company whose client needed anautomated accounts payable
workflow solution integratedwith their new Dynamics
implementation. Let's hear whathe has to say. Welcome, Adam, to
(03:02):
the podcast today. Reallyappreciate you joining us. Let's
start off.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself and your role in the
company.
Adam Shapiro (03:08):
Anthony, great, great to be here. Thank you for
the the opportunity. So, I mean,I guess a little bit of history.
I got into the IT industryduring the dotcom era in the
late nineties, and a group I waslooking after a team of
developers, and 3 developerscame across to me and said,
(03:29):
business can't be thisdifficult. Let's start our own
business.
So we started PilotFish Digitalin 2,000 and 1, which was a a
business focused in webdevelopment, custom dev, and
SharePoint SharePointdevelopment. And we ran that
business until 2014, so we had anice nice long road there. But
(03:51):
we found that we were customdeveloping workflows on top of
SharePoint and other solutions.So in 2014, we thought, right,
let's try and build an annuityincome business, and that's when
Autopilot was born. I'm basedin, Cape Town in, South Africa
(04:11):
and been in the IAMCP for 3years now.
Anthony Carrano (04:16):
Oh, fantastic. And, what prompted you to join
IAMCP?
Adam Shapiro (04:21):
I saw a link on on LinkedIn, for them, and I just
thought this is an amazingopportunity to to be with people
in that same in the same mindspace, in the in the Microsoft
space, not only in the Microsoftspace, but partnering in the in
the Microsoft space. And it'sbeen a a huge part of my life.
(04:42):
I've met people from all overthe world. I've come to learn
about different events,different learnings, met with
huge number of partners,advisers.
Anthony Carrano (04:53):
Tell us a little bit more about your
company's area of, expertise andyour specializations.
Adam Shapiro (05:00):
So Autopilot is an an automation company. So we
automate internal process flowwithin within businesses. That's
primarily in the in the financespace, but we also work in HR,
sales. Our strength iscustomizing automation for for
(05:20):
organizations. And then thesecond part of the business is
in the onboarding space.
So assisting companies toonboard new vendors, new
employees, or new customers. Sowe really streamline that that
process. And one of our keyfeatures is that we integrate
fully into into Teams. So Mhmm.While you're it's in the same
(05:44):
place that you're having ameeting, you can then be
approving your tasks and and soon.
Anthony Carrano (05:51):
That's fantastic. Now, Adam, I look.
You're holding out on us, andyou're being way too humble
here. Tell us a little bit,like, I you know, I know you you
guys were, you know, listed asthe 9th company worldwide to
develop a copilot app. Tell us alittle bit, more about that.
Adam Shapiro (06:11):
Yeah. That was a a highlight of our our business.
So we've built, again, withinTeams, we've built an accounts
payable app, which uses AI toread invoice data and then route
it to the relevant people and soon with that built in audit
(06:31):
trail. And so we had that as aTeams app, and then we were
early adopters of Copilot. Andas you said, we were the 9th
company to to develop a standalone Copilot app, and we were
really humbled to be be, shownup on the on the screen and
(06:52):
highlighted by Satya Nadella atthe Ignite conference in Seattle
in November last year.
So it was definitely a highlightof our business life.
Anthony Carrano (07:02):
That's awesome. That's now where can people go
to find out more, informationabout that app?
Adam Shapiro (07:08):
That's on our website. It's autopilot.co.zia
Otherwise,autopilotworkflows.com
Otherwise, we sell through theMicrosoft store. So if you go to
the Teams to the app sectionwithin Microsoft Teams, search
for Autopilot accounts payable,you'll find us there, and the
(07:31):
copilot version is there aswell.
Anthony Carrano (07:33):
I know Rudy's got a lot of questions for you
about the story, which by theway, wanted to, congratulate you
as well. I know you guys were aboth a global and an EMEA
finalist in the P2P Awards, youknow, for for ISV. So
congratulations on that. I mean,it sounds like you guys are just
doing some some amazing work.And, Rudy, I mean, I turn it
(07:54):
over to you to ask some of thosequestions about the the the
award.
Rudy Rodriguez (07:58):
Great. Well, Adam, it's great learning about
your company and and,especially, the growth of your
business there in South Africa.So in this story that you're
about to tell us is that you,submitted for the finalist or
where you were selected as afinalist, can you tell us a
little bit about the client, thesize of the company, the
(08:18):
industry that we're in, thetech, how you implemented the
technology, and the challengesthat those that organization was
facing?
Adam Shapiro (08:26):
Sure. So the the client is a company called
TalkShore. They're a financialservices company based up in
Durban on the East Coast ofSouth Africa. And they had
challenges in their theirprocurement process with,
getting approvals, invoiceapprovals done, purchase order
(08:47):
requisitions. They found theirexisting systems weren't that
user friendly.
So, you know, people had to login to different systems as
opposed to, as I mentioned, justbeing able to have single sign
on within Teams and being ableto approve approve tasks, in
that case, financial tasks.Also, the system that they
(09:09):
currently had was very rigid.Our solution, our ethos, if you
like, is to customize a solutionfor a particular client where a
lot of other vendors force youto fit into into their process.
So we, we allow we built asystem to that for them that
(09:30):
wasn't as rigid, but still had afull enterprise security, still
has the audit trail, and and allthe features of an enterprise
solution. And I guess the lastversion was perhaps the the
cost.
Our costing model is transactionbased model, which we think is
really fair. So the more youuse, the more you pay. If you
(09:52):
don't use it that much, monthmonth, you don't pay. So they
were currently on a system wherethey had a pay per user, and
they found a lot of usersweren't using the system, but
they were still having to payfor it.
Rudy Rodriguez (10:06):
So did this integrate with an ERP system of
any kind? Can you tell us alittle bit about that?
Adam Shapiro (10:11):
Sure. So it integrated with, Microsoft
Dynamics, and that was, that waskey that we used that
integration, and we used,Microsoft Power platform to to
handle that integration.
Rudy Rodriguez (10:27):
Well, that's great. That's wonderful to hear.
So how did you come about,meeting this client and and
partnering, with someone to, youknow, help build this solution?
Adam Shapiro (10:39):
So in terms of our meeting the client, our our best
referrals or our best clientsare through through referrals.
So that's exactly what happened.We we've got a another client,
based in a similar area who wehad done work for for many
years, and he moved over to toTalkShore, and he said, yeah,
(11:01):
your systems are archaic. Youneed you need autopilot in here.
So he introduced us to the tothe company, and, you know,
things things flowed from fromthere.
And, you know, it's just amazingto they're they're amazing
company to to work for. Ourbiggest challenge is clients not
(11:22):
knowing what they want or, youknow, us having to do a lot of
analysis and really dig in. Andbecause our system is so
flexible, you know, often we'llgo in and say, right. We want
the finance system, and then HRgets involved, or people don't
have time and energy to to justgive us a basic framework. And
(11:42):
that's probably the biggestchallenge in our business.
At TalkShare knew exactly whatthey wanted, and their their
head of finance knew exactly howthe process needed to be laid
out. So we could use our lowcode builder to to build the the
solution for them swiftly.
Rudy Rodriguez (12:03):
Do you work with other IAMCP partners, or how do
you how do you work with them tolet them know about the
flexibility and and capabilitiesof your product to help you
promote, promote your salesacross across the country?
Adam Shapiro (12:16):
Yeah. So we took a decision only around 10 months
ago to work directly throughpartner. We've always worked ad
hoc through partners. We hadworked ad hoc through partners,
but we found because we weredoing customer facing work, we
our product was was slipping. So10 months ago, we took a
(12:38):
decision to not deal withcustomers anymore and only deal
through through the channel.
And that allowed us to reallyenhance our product, build the
copilot solution that thatAntonya was speaking about
earlier, and really focus onenhancing the product and then
work entirely through throughpartners. So Greenlight
(13:02):
Solutions, the the partner weworked through at at TalkShore,
in fact, yeah, because they'refrom the same area as us, we've
known them for for many years.So we're both IAMCP partners,
but we don't we didn't meetthrough IMCP. But, subsequently,
we've met a number of partnersthrough through IAMCP. And it
(13:25):
works works really well, gettingto know getting to know
partners, getting a feel foreach other, and then hopefully
expanding the your relationship.
Rudy Rodriguez (13:35):
Since you're based in South Africa, is that
the only geography you work, orare you trying to expand
globally? Can you know, what arewhat are your prospects there?
Adam Shapiro (13:44):
No. We work, we work globally, both with
partners and and clients, andMicrosoft has been amazing
source of of clients for usthrough the the team store. I
mean, that's been amazing. We'vebeen in the Microsoft Azure
Marketplace and AppSource for anumber of years, and we get some
(14:07):
leads, from them. But the themain source of our leads is the,
Microsoft Teams store.
So within Teams at the bottomleft is that app section, and
people search for either forautopilot, but, generally, it's
a term like onboarding. So weget a number of international
(14:29):
leads through through theMicrosoft store, and that that
really, really helps us to boostour business.
Rudy Rodriguez (14:35):
Well, that's great. Well, since we mentioned
geography, I know Anthony'skinda chomping at the bit to ask
you something because we heard alittle story about you. So,
Anthony, why don't you ask thatquestion?
Anthony Carrano (14:46):
So I know that the, the the worldwide,
kneeboard, championships wereheld there in South Africa. And,
Adam, you you've got a littlebit of insight on that.
Adam Shapiro (14:58):
Anthony, you've certainly been doing your your
homework. Yeah. So I I startedbodyboarding when I was 6 years
old and then progressed tokneeling, and I've just stayed
there ever ever since. So I ridewhat's called a a knee board.
It's effectively surfing on onyour knees. We were honored to
(15:22):
have a world championships herein in South Africa last week. We
had a 140 competitors from allover the world coming here to
compete at one of the best wavesin the world, Jeffreys Bay, and
everything just aligned. Thewaves, the community, the
weather, everything just cametogether. And I I had a pretty
(15:45):
good run as well.
I managed to come 17th overalland 5th in my age group. So
Anthony Carrano (15:51):
Do you do that every year, or is this just kind
of a a like, I know you've beendoing knee boring since you were
younger, but in terms ofcompeting in this championship,
is that something you do everyyear, or is this just a a one
time thing?
Adam Shapiro (16:03):
No. I've been working too hard. I I didn't
compete, so they only have itevery every second year. 2 years
ago, I was in Portugal, and the2 years before that was in New
Zealand. But I I've beenfocusing on on family and and
and business, so I didn't go tothose ones.
(16:24):
It's amazing to be back in thefold, and I was with some people
I haven't seen in in 20 years.It was it was very special.
Anthony Carrano (16:34):
Wow.
Yeah. I'm gonna throw you alittle bit of a curve here, and
put you on the spot. So what canyou relate, like, time? Like,
what have you learned, like ormaybe relate between knee
boarding and then, you know,creating good partnerships? Is
there any kind of is thereanything you can relate, tie in,
or learn from, that experienceand be able to translate it to
(16:55):
to another?
Adam Shapiro (16:57):
Yeah. I've never really, thought of it that way,
but now that you mentioned it.That's, it's actually because,
obviously, knee boarding, youknow, you have to be a little
bit eccentric or maybe out thebox thinker and so on. It's not
your typical, sport or waveriding craft. People either
bodyboard or surf and, you know,so it's quite a what we like to
(17:21):
think are not unique blend ofpeople in in between there.
And I would say our partners aresimilar in a in a in a similar
context, maybe not as quirky andso on, but we really go to great
lengths to choose the bestpartners that have got a a
really good good fit for us, andfor our organization. So they
(17:46):
need to be like, we spend a lotof time training up our partners
and so on, and, like, there's nopoint in spending, investing all
this time if they're not gonna,you know, be in involved. So we
spend time with our partners andmake sure that they're committed
and that we share the same samevalues. And then, they're also
(18:07):
in a, you know, in a similarindustry type. And, you know,
obviously, then the time zonesas well is a is a crucial one to
make sure that, you know, wecould each partner depends on on
on their time zone as well.
Anthony Carrano (18:23):
Mhmm. Mhmm. Do you, so on that note, I mean, do
you have a set of criteria that,you you have for selecting a
partner?
Adam Shapiro (18:34):
Yeah. So the first one is that they in our in our
industry, when I say in ourindustry, they are building
automation solutions for forcompanies. Our strength, if you
like, is the fact that we've gota a low code solution that
encompasses things likeverification, encompasses
(18:59):
digital signatures throughDocuSign, and as the integration
into into Microsoft. And if theycustom deving or using other
tools to build solutions likethis, we've got, you know, that
that solution for them. So theone thing is that they they need
to be in in that gambit, if youlike.
(19:20):
Second thing, there must be mostof our partners are interested
in expanding their annuityincome of their business. A lot
of partners, they're systemintegrators, and they're selling
ours. And our model allows themto do that, but then also get
the annuity income so they caneffectively run a annuity income
(19:41):
business, a SAS business, or getthat revenue as a SAS business
without building their ownproduct. Because to be honest,
like, one of the biggestlearnings that we had so I
mentioned we moved fromPilotFish, which was a services
business, to a product business.And we're building amazing
(20:04):
services.
We're building products for for,for our clients. So we thought,
well, it can't be that difficultto then build a product for our
own on our own, that, you know,it's been 10 years of and it was
really tough in the beginning.So if I had to do it over, I
would definitely have the splitbetween spending money on tech
(20:25):
and spending money on marketing.We were probably in the 80 80 20
80% tech money and 20%marketing. And if I had to do it
again, I would definitely go5050 at least.
I I jolt adage of having thebest product out there, but if
no one knows about it, it's notworth much.
Anthony Carrano (20:47):
Well, you know, as a as a as a partner in a
marketing agency, I would sayyes and amen to that. So
Adam Shapiro (20:56):
You're not just the people who you really really
should use.
Anthony Carrano (21:00):
That, everybody needs to know and take what Adam
just said to heart. That'sfantastic. I actually there was
something that you mentioned,and, that you you talked about,
like, with SIs who wanna expandtheir into annuity income. I'm
gonna get back to the story,because it's, you know, some
questions about the story, but II thought that was that was
(21:23):
really fascinating. And justmaybe if you can just, you know,
briefly tell a little bit moreabout that, because there might
be some partners listening whowould be interested in that, to
be able to expand, you know,their revenue base that way.
Adam Shapiro (21:36):
Sure. So, I mean, I suppose it is the buzzword of
making money while you sleep andsitting on the beach and the
money rolls in and, you know, itdefinitely hasn't been the case
for for us. But people do wantannuity income. And our model,
we like to see it as a as a winwin scenario. So we provide the
(21:57):
the product, the training, theplatform, and then our our
partners get the majority of theconsulting fees.
So they're still getting theirtheir services income, but then
get 20% of the annuity income.And that's a way of them
building up their theirbusiness, as I said, without
(22:18):
really having to build a productand having all the pitfalls that
that come that come with that.And we also can provide them
with a lot of leads as well sothey don't have to go out and
market the product and so on. Soit it just makes it a a lot
easier for them. And, also,having the low code builder
(22:40):
really, really helps them sothey can use junior or mid range
developers to develop theenterprise solutions because
it's a structured code base andand so on.
Anthony Carrano (22:52):
That's fantastic. Really appreciate you
sharing that. So going, youknow, back to the story and
just, you know, with your withyour partnership, you know, with
Greenlight Solutions and, youknow, working with the customer,
what, did you guys have anychallenges during the
engagement? And if so, what werethey, and how did you all work
together to overcome it?
Adam Shapiro (23:12):
To be honest, I mean, we've with this client, it
it was seamless. It's not notalways that way. But for the for
this client, it worked reallywell. You know, they they did
their due diligence on us. Like,you know, it took quite a while
for us to to get the endcontract.
(23:32):
They wanted to check everythingout. We built a proof of concept
for for them, but, subsequently,it it it really flowed really
well. As I said, they knewexactly what they wanted, and
Greenlight were amazing indelivering that, that solution.
And, you know, we could tweaktweak it and so on. We took a
(23:55):
lot of time with, testing.
Obviously, it's a financialsystem. We need to make sure
that it it works really well. Sowe've got quite a unique,
solution where we build fromscratch. So we we when we built
autopilot, we built a testenvironment into the actual
product. So we don't wireframeor do anything like that.
(24:19):
We build directly into the testversion of Autopilot, which is a
great feature because a theclient can see exactly what it's
gonna be like. It's not, well,look at this wireframe and
imagine what it would be like ona screen or in a system. They're
seeing exactly what it's likewithin Autopilot with a big red
(24:40):
band across the top that saystest mode. So that that that
that's how we built the systemso we can iterate and they can
make changes visually. And then,you know, we went through that
process, did a lot of testing.
And then also the the changemanagement, they had a great
change management team becausethat's maybe the other challenge
(25:03):
of a business. Again, to the tothe similar theme that I was
speaking about earlier, greatproduct even within the
organization, but people arepeople, and sometimes they're
resistant to change and wannastick to doing it on paper or
email or whatever. But TalkShorehad an amazing, rollout plan, a
(25:25):
change management plan to ensurethat all the users bought into
the system and move forward fromfrom day 1.
Rudy Rodriguez (25:34):
Well, Adam, you're a man after my own heart.
I've been in the developmentworld for many years myself,
and, I understand the challengesthat you've gone through having
built systems like this. And andit's exciting to see and hear
the success that you've had,this client. So, can you tell us
a little bit I know youincreased customer satisfaction
because you've described that.Did this help them increase
(25:57):
their revenue or improve theircost efficiencies at at at
TalkSure as much as as I'mhearing?
Adam Shapiro (26:03):
It did, and it continues to, to do so. So, I
mean, you know, some of thethings with less time spent on
reworking. You know, itobviously saved senior managers
a lot of time that they don'thave to rework, their their
product and and their stepsalong the way. They could
(26:25):
approve tasks from mobiledevices and allow reporting. So
all of that same saves time,which then, save saves money.
The other area that that thatwe're saving time on or saving
money on is the fact that, we'renow expanding within the
organization. So, you know, westarted with the financial
(26:49):
workflows, but we're now movinginto the employee onboarding.
Yeah. They've got a 100 and youknow, 1,200 employees. So, yeah,
they're constantly expanding.
So by assisting them to onboardnew employees and choosing the
right employees, that'sdefinitely, affecting their
(27:10):
bottom line and and saving themmoney.
Rudy Rodriguez (27:13):
Yeah. Well, I was lucky enough to read the
case study, before this thisinterview, and it's an inspiring
case study. Are you using thatto help you promote your
business some more, and and,work with other partners?
Adam Shapiro (27:27):
Absolutely. It's been a, you know, it's been a
been a great case study, and wecan say you know, we can preach
how good Autopilot is from thehilltops, but, you know, when
the customer says it with suchconviction, that's that's how we
gain trust with with partnersand with with new clients. So
(27:48):
it's definitely a big big wayfor us to to promote our our
company. And in fact, we've justlaunched a a new case study
yesterday for the YMCA. We, wehandle the YMCA, and we have
done 10 years the YMCA in SouthAfrica.
And we've really, assisted them.They get a lot of donations,
(28:10):
and, obviously, those donationsneed to be carefully managed
with an audit trail. And that'sone of our biggest, wins, if you
like, that we've saved thembetween, what they said, between
30 40% of their time with theirauditors since using autopilot.
So who doesn't wanna spend lessthan, you know, 30% less time
(28:34):
with your auditors? With withrespect to the auditors, it's,
it it it's been a great successfor us.
Rudy Rodriguez (28:41):
Well, that's those are great statistics and
wonderful that you you candeliver that much value for your
for your customers. So inclosing, what advice would you
give to companies like yoursregarding partnering? Obviously,
you've been successful with it.What what advice could you give
give other IAMCP members?
Adam Shapiro (29:00):
Yeah. It hasn't hasn't been an easy road. As I
said, we've been running for 10years and only committed 100% to
partnering, 10 10 months ago. Soit is all about finding that
balance between doing the workyourself and, obviously,
retaining that income and thenhanding handing over that income
(29:22):
to other partners in the hopethat you get enough partners to
to to grow the business. But forus, it was a no brainer because
we needed to enhance ourproduct, and that's our way to
scale is is through partners.
So choosing the right partner,as we've said, is absolutely
critical. One of the bestfeelings we had in the business
(29:47):
was a client, a new client, ourpartner signed up a new client,
a chicken franchise here inSouth Africa. I've got 90 stores
around the the country, and wedidn't even know about them. And
the partnered found the lead,signed up the client, built the
(30:07):
solution, and then came to usand said, right. It's all done.
You go forward. And, you know,that's obviously the the dream.
So it's getting that cash flowright, that balance between
giving up on some some revenuewith the aim of growing your
business, choosing the the theright partners, and really
(30:28):
ensuring that, as we saidearlier, that they're committed
to to working with you to togrow your business, because you
don't want that reputation to,you know, your brand reputation
can go down if they if theydon't deliver. And you don't
wanna spend too much time withpartners that that then don't
(30:49):
work with you to to to goforward. But that's, again,
that's where IMCP comes in,where generally, the the the
members there are solid, andit's a great source of,
potential partners for us.
And that's been been invaluablefor us as a business.
Anthony Carrano (31:07):
I actually have one more question if it's okay.
Just, it's not necessarilyrelated to about, like, with
partnerships and the story, butyou brought something up that I
think listeners would really,would like to hear a little more
about is you had mentioned Imean, obviously, you've got
extensive, you know, experience,you know, in the Azure
marketplace and in AppSource foryears. And you said some earlier
(31:28):
about and I wanted to ask youabout this, where you get a lot
of leads from the team store. Sosomebody who's who's got, you
know, a lot of years experiencein the, you know, the different
marketplace environments thatMicrosoft, provides, what's some
advice you would give topartners who wanna look to try
and generate leads, you know, inthese different marketplaces?
(31:49):
What'd be some some tips, someadvice, things to consider,
questions to ask?
Adam Shapiro (31:55):
Sure. So, I mean, we were, again, really early
adopters into into the Teamsmarketplace. So, you know, it
was a a smaller pool, if youlike. So we got, you know,
increased, interest throughthrough that, showing clearly
defining what your app does. Solet's say employee onboarding.
(32:17):
Does that mean recruiting? Doesit mean a new employee
submitting all their documentsand so on, or does it mean
induction once the personemployed videos? So and we have
clients who we say employeeonboarding, and we have clients
coming for all three of thoseareas. So my point is you need
(32:39):
to define clearly what what youroff your product offers. Great
visuals and so on.
Obviously, you need to get intothe Microsoft that they've got
their templates and so on. But,you know, we pride ourselves in
great UX and really, you know,striking visuals, and then
showing the benefit of beingwithin Teams. You know? Showing
(33:03):
the benefit of the fact that ifI'm on a conference call and
then pings me over there to say,right, approve this task. I can
do that from the same app asopposed to logging into a
completely separate app.
And then also relying on, youknow, the fact and Microsoft are
really stringent in terms ofallowing people into that store.
(33:27):
They really do their theirhomework and really we had some
sleepless nights and somepainful times really trying to,
get get our apps approved. Butonce you've crossed that hurdle,
then can't that's you're almostfurther down the funnel where
people know, okay. Microsofthave vetted this company that,
(33:49):
you know, that they must producegood work, and they must be
secure and so on. And then theother side is on the on the
commercial side.
I mean, Microsoft, we've got anincredible model of Microsoft
take 3% of, so, basically, ourclients can pay Microsoft
directly. And then so, a, wedon't need to be onboarded as
(34:11):
new customers, which reallyhelps with large corporates. We
don't have to go through thatwhole vendor onboarding,
scenario. Our clients can thenpay Microsoft's autopilot
appears as a line item on theirMicrosoft bill. And then
Microsoft takes 3% of that,which it's for nothing.
(34:31):
You know? Then we don't have toget involved in invoicing or
anything like like that. So it'sa it's a win win situation.
You're getting leads. You're inthe place that you want to be,
and you've got Microsofthandling the the commercial side
for you.
So it's been a, you know, winwin for us.
Anthony Carrano (34:51):
Mhmm. Mhmm. Really appreciate, you you
sharing that. I know I know ourlisteners will also they're you
know, you know, people arealways looking for ways to how
can they not only, you know, youknow, leverage, you know,
utilize partnerships to scaleyour business like like you had
mentioned, but also, bestutilize those marketplaces. So
really appreciate you sharing,that perspective.
(35:13):
We'll also include a link to,you know, the different apps, in
the show notes for those who areinterested in finding out more.
So, Adam, this this has beenfantastic. Thank you again. As
we wrap up here, how can people,connect with you and find out
more about you?
Adam Shapiro (35:30):
Sure. Through our website, autopilot
workflows.com. Otherwise, as Isaid, through through Teams, or
through LinkedIn, Adam Shapiro,South Africa.
Anthony Carrano (35:42):
Excellent. Well, Adam, have a great, day,
and, thank you again for being aguest today.
Adam Shapiro (35:49):
Wonderful. Thank you for the opportunity,
Anthony. Rudy, really appreciateit.
Anthony Carrano (35:55):
Wow. What a great episode. I really
appreciate how Adam shared hisperspective on a variety of
things, you know, even outsideof partnerships, like,
specifically, just hisexperience, from the knee
boarding championships this yearand how he related that, you
know, to partnerships and justthe importance of, you know,
finding those that are out ofthe box thinkers, the time spent
(36:17):
on training and onboarding, aswell as just the ongoing
commitment to getting the jobdone. So I thought that was just
a fun, you know, analogy and howyou're liking that as well as
what a really cool experience.How about you, Rudy?
Rudy Rodriguez (36:30):
Well, you know, I I really enjoyed the interview
with Adam. And one one thing Ireally picked up on him, that I
found really unique was thatsometimes in in your business
experience, that sometimes youhave to change your business
development strategies. And thatwas an important point that he
brought up. That about 10 monthsago, they decided that it that
(36:53):
selling direct was not the bestway to promote their product and
that it would be better sellingthrough a channel. So they've
developed their businessdevelopment strategies now to
sell through through partnersbecause, 1, they can train you
know, if they select the rightpartner, they can train them
very carefully, which allowsthat partner to position their
(37:13):
solutions integrated with thatpartner other partner solutions.
And they work much betterbecause they're able to learn
more about what a client's needsreally are. And then they're
able to build the solution thatis going to impact their
business even better. The otherthing that that brings he
brought forward with that wasnot only does a client get a
(37:37):
great solution, but they've evenfound that, by developing their
products and getting themcertified by Microsoft to be
sold in the Team Store orAppSource, they're able to now
work around one of thechallenges that a lot of
partners face when selling tothe enterprise about being an
established vendor. Microsoft isalready an established vendor,
(38:01):
and they can sell through thosestores and it eliminates that
problem. So it makes customeracquisition much easier and
simpler Mhmm.
For them as a business. So Ithought that was a unique story
from Adam. Mhmm.
Anthony Carrano (38:14):
No. And that was great. And that I I agree.
And, obviously, you know, youknow, as as partners in a
marketing agency, I reallyappreciate how he said he would,
you know, rather in the past, hespent, you know, 80% on product
development, 20% on marketing.He would go 5050, you know, as
part of his, with his go tomarket.
So I I I applaud that. And thenand to your point, just with his
(38:36):
experience in getting leads, youknow, from the Azure
Marketplace, MicrosoftAppSource, you know, and Team
Store, and just how he brokedown just some really good
practical tips, you know, forcompanies who are not only
wanting to, you know, scaletheir business through
partnerships, but also utilizethese phenomenal marketplaces
provided by Microsoft.
Rudy Rodriguez (38:56):
You know, in closing, and both Anthony and I
wanna thank you for joining uson this episode of IAMCP
profiles and partnership poweredby Dunamis Marketing. We hope
you enjoyed this podcast andfind it useful and inspiring. If
you did, please subscribe, rate,and review us on your favorite
podcast platform. Don't forgetto follow us on social media and
(39:17):
connect with us on our website,iamcp.org, where you can find
more information, resources, andopportunities to partner for
success. One of the best ways topartner for success is to join
the IAMCP, a community ofMicrosoft partners who help each
other grow and thrive.
IAMCP members can find andconnect with other partners
(39:39):
locally and globally, accessexclusive resources and
opportunities. Whether you'relooking for new customers, new
markets, or new solutions, IAMCPcan help you achieve your goals.
To learn more, visit theirwebsite, iamcp.org.
Welcome to the IAMCP profiles and partnership.
The podcast that showcases howMicrosoft partners and IAMCP
members boost their business bycollaborating with other members
and partners. I'm your co host,Anthony Carrano. And in each
episode, I'll be talking to someof the most innovative and
successful partners in theMicrosoft ecosystem. The
International Association ofMicrosoft Channel Partners,
(00:27):
otherwise known as IAMCP, is acommunity of Microsoft partners
who help each other grow andthrive.
Members can find and connectwith other partners locally and
globally and access exclusiveresources and opportunities.
Whether you're looking for newcustomers, new markets, or new
solutions, IAMCP can help youachieve those goals. We'll hear
their stories, learn from theirexperiences, and discover the
(00:50):
best practices and strategiesthey use to increase customer
loyalty and grow revenues.Whether you're a new partner or
an established one, you'll findvaluable insights and
inspiration in this podcast. Wehope you enjoy this podcast and
find it useful and inspiring.
If you do, please subscribe,rate, and review us on your
favorite podcast platform. Anddon't forget to follow us on
(01:11):
social media and connect with uson our website,
www.profilesinpartnership.com,where you can find more
information, resources, andopportunities to partner for
success. Thank you forlistening, and now let's get
started with today's episode.Before we dive into our
interview, let me ask you aquestion. As a Microsoft partner
(01:32):
and a member of the IAMCP, howdo you find and develop partner
relationships that'll help yougrow your business?
Finding the right partner can bechallenging, but can also be
rewarding. In fact, according toa recent study by IDC, Microsoft
partners who collaborate withother partners generate almost 2
and a half times more revenuegrowth than those who don't.
That's a huge difference, and itshows the power of partnering.
(01:56):
So how do you leverage theMicrosoft Partner Network,
IAMCP, and other resources tosupport your partnerships? And
how do you ensure success foryour customer?
These are some of the questionswe'll explore in this podcast
with the help of our guest, arecent global and EMEA P2P award
finalist who is also an expertin partnering. He'll share
(02:16):
stories, challenges, andsuccesses and give you practical
tips and advice on how topartner for success. Are you
ready to join us on thisjourney? Then stay tuned because
we have a great show for youtoday. Our guest is Adam
Shapiro, the CEO at AutopilotWorkflow Solutions, an award
winning ISV and Microsoftpartner with expertise in the
(02:37):
delivery of automated workflowsolutions.
Autopilot has achieved amazingresults such as the one in the
story you're about to hear intheir partnership with
Greenlight Solutions, aSharePoint and Power Platform
company whose client needed anautomated accounts payable
workflow solution integratedwith their new Dynamics
implementation. Let's hear whathe has to say. Welcome, Adam, to
(03:02):
the podcast today. Reallyappreciate you joining us. Let's
start off.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself and your role in the
company.
Adam Shapiro (03:08):
Anthony, great, great to be here. Thank you for
the the opportunity. So, I mean,I guess a little bit of history.
I got into the IT industryduring the dotcom era in the
late nineties, and a group I waslooking after a team of
developers, and 3 developerscame across to me and said,
(03:29):
business can't be thisdifficult. Let's start our own
business.
So we started PilotFish Digitalin 2,000 and 1, which was a a
business focused in webdevelopment, custom dev, and
SharePoint SharePointdevelopment. And we ran that
business until 2014, so we had anice nice long road there. But
(03:51):
we found that we were customdeveloping workflows on top of
SharePoint and other solutions.So in 2014, we thought, right,
let's try and build an annuityincome business, and that's when
Autopilot was born. I'm basedin, Cape Town in, South Africa
(04:11):
and been in the IAMCP for 3years now.
Anthony Carrano (04:16):
Oh, fantastic. And, what prompted you to join
IAMCP?
Adam Shapiro (04:21):
I saw a link on on LinkedIn, for them, and I just
thought this is an amazingopportunity to to be with people
in that same in the same mindspace, in the in the Microsoft
space, not only in the Microsoftspace, but partnering in the in
the Microsoft space. And it'sbeen a a huge part of my life.
(04:42):
I've met people from all overthe world. I've come to learn
about different events,different learnings, met with
huge number of partners,advisers.
Anthony Carrano (04:53):
Tell us a little bit more about your
company's area of, expertise andyour specializations.
Adam Shapiro (05:00):
So Autopilot is an an automation company. So we
automate internal process flowwithin within businesses. That's
primarily in the in the financespace, but we also work in HR,
sales. Our strength iscustomizing automation for for
(05:20):
organizations. And then thesecond part of the business is
in the onboarding space.
So assisting companies toonboard new vendors, new
employees, or new customers. Sowe really streamline that that
process. And one of our keyfeatures is that we integrate
fully into into Teams. So Mhmm.While you're it's in the same
(05:44):
place that you're having ameeting, you can then be
approving your tasks and and soon.
Anthony Carrano (05:51):
That's fantastic. Now, Adam, I look.
You're holding out on us, andyou're being way too humble
here. Tell us a little bit,like, I you know, I know you you
guys were, you know, listed asthe 9th company worldwide to
develop a copilot app. Tell us alittle bit, more about that.
Adam Shapiro (06:11):
Yeah. That was a a highlight of our our business.
So we've built, again, withinTeams, we've built an accounts
payable app, which uses AI toread invoice data and then route
it to the relevant people and soon with that built in audit
(06:31):
trail. And so we had that as aTeams app, and then we were
early adopters of Copilot. Andas you said, we were the 9th
company to to develop a standalone Copilot app, and we were
really humbled to be be, shownup on the on the screen and
(06:52):
highlighted by Satya Nadella atthe Ignite conference in Seattle
in November last year.
So it was definitely a highlightof our business life.
Anthony Carrano (07:02):
That's awesome. That's now where can people go
to find out more, informationabout that app?
Adam Shapiro (07:08):
That's on our website. It's autopilot.co.zia
Otherwise,autopilotworkflows.com
Otherwise, we sell through theMicrosoft store. So if you go to
the Teams to the app sectionwithin Microsoft Teams, search
for Autopilot accounts payable,you'll find us there, and the
(07:31):
copilot version is there aswell.
Anthony Carrano (07:33):
I know Rudy's got a lot of questions for you
about the story, which by theway, wanted to, congratulate you
as well. I know you guys were aboth a global and an EMEA
finalist in the P2P Awards, youknow, for for ISV. So
congratulations on that. I mean,it sounds like you guys are just
doing some some amazing work.And, Rudy, I mean, I turn it
(07:54):
over to you to ask some of thosequestions about the the the
award.
Rudy Rodriguez (07:58):
Great. Well, Adam, it's great learning about
your company and and,especially, the growth of your
business there in South Africa.So in this story that you're
about to tell us is that you,submitted for the finalist or
where you were selected as afinalist, can you tell us a
little bit about the client, thesize of the company, the
(08:18):
industry that we're in, thetech, how you implemented the
technology, and the challengesthat those that organization was
facing?
Adam Shapiro (08:26):
Sure. So the the client is a company called
TalkShore. They're a financialservices company based up in
Durban on the East Coast ofSouth Africa. And they had
challenges in their theirprocurement process with,
getting approvals, invoiceapprovals done, purchase order
(08:47):
requisitions. They found theirexisting systems weren't that
user friendly.
So, you know, people had to login to different systems as
opposed to, as I mentioned, justbeing able to have single sign
on within Teams and being ableto approve approve tasks, in
that case, financial tasks.Also, the system that they
(09:09):
currently had was very rigid.Our solution, our ethos, if you
like, is to customize a solutionfor a particular client where a
lot of other vendors force youto fit into into their process.
So we, we allow we built asystem to that for them that
(09:30):
wasn't as rigid, but still had afull enterprise security, still
has the audit trail, and and allthe features of an enterprise
solution. And I guess the lastversion was perhaps the the
cost.
Our costing model is transactionbased model, which we think is
really fair. So the more youuse, the more you pay. If you
(09:52):
don't use it that much, monthmonth, you don't pay. So they
were currently on a system wherethey had a pay per user, and
they found a lot of usersweren't using the system, but
they were still having to payfor it.
Rudy Rodriguez (10:06):
So did this integrate with an ERP system of
any kind? Can you tell us alittle bit about that?
Adam Shapiro (10:11):
Sure. So it integrated with, Microsoft
Dynamics, and that was, that waskey that we used that
integration, and we used,Microsoft Power platform to to
handle that integration.
Rudy Rodriguez (10:27):
Well, that's great. That's wonderful to hear.
So how did you come about,meeting this client and and
partnering, with someone to, youknow, help build this solution?
Adam Shapiro (10:39):
So in terms of our meeting the client, our our best
referrals or our best clientsare through through referrals.
So that's exactly what happened.We we've got a another client,
based in a similar area who wehad done work for for many
years, and he moved over to toTalkShore, and he said, yeah,
(11:01):
your systems are archaic. Youneed you need autopilot in here.
So he introduced us to the tothe company, and, you know,
things things flowed from fromthere.
And, you know, it's just amazingto they're they're amazing
company to to work for. Ourbiggest challenge is clients not
(11:22):
knowing what they want or, youknow, us having to do a lot of
analysis and really dig in. Andbecause our system is so
flexible, you know, often we'llgo in and say, right. We want
the finance system, and then HRgets involved, or people don't
have time and energy to to justgive us a basic framework. And
(11:42):
that's probably the biggestchallenge in our business.
At TalkShare knew exactly whatthey wanted, and their their
head of finance knew exactly howthe process needed to be laid
out. So we could use our lowcode builder to to build the the
solution for them swiftly.
Rudy Rodriguez (12:03):
Do you work with other IAMCP partners, or how do
you how do you work with them tolet them know about the
flexibility and and capabilitiesof your product to help you
promote, promote your salesacross across the country?
Adam Shapiro (12:16):
Yeah. So we took a decision only around 10 months
ago to work directly throughpartner. We've always worked ad
hoc through partners. We hadworked ad hoc through partners,
but we found because we weredoing customer facing work, we
our product was was slipping. So10 months ago, we took a
(12:38):
decision to not deal withcustomers anymore and only deal
through through the channel.
And that allowed us to reallyenhance our product, build the
copilot solution that thatAntonya was speaking about
earlier, and really focus onenhancing the product and then
work entirely through throughpartners. So Greenlight
(13:02):
Solutions, the the partner weworked through at at TalkShore,
in fact, yeah, because they'refrom the same area as us, we've
known them for for many years.So we're both IAMCP partners,
but we don't we didn't meetthrough IMCP. But, subsequently,
we've met a number of partnersthrough through IAMCP. And it
(13:25):
works works really well, gettingto know getting to know
partners, getting a feel foreach other, and then hopefully
expanding the your relationship.
Rudy Rodriguez (13:35):
Since you're based in South Africa, is that
the only geography you work, orare you trying to expand
globally? Can you know, what arewhat are your prospects there?
Adam Shapiro (13:44):
No. We work, we work globally, both with
partners and and clients, andMicrosoft has been amazing
source of of clients for usthrough the the team store. I
mean, that's been amazing. We'vebeen in the Microsoft Azure
Marketplace and AppSource for anumber of years, and we get some
(14:07):
leads, from them. But the themain source of our leads is the,
Microsoft Teams store.
So within Teams at the bottomleft is that app section, and
people search for either forautopilot, but, generally, it's
a term like onboarding. So weget a number of international
(14:29):
leads through through theMicrosoft store, and that that
really, really helps us to boostour business.
Rudy Rodriguez (14:35):
Well, that's great. Well, since we mentioned
geography, I know Anthony'skinda chomping at the bit to ask
you something because we heard alittle story about you. So,
Anthony, why don't you ask thatquestion?
Anthony Carrano (14:46):
So I know that the, the the worldwide,
kneeboard, championships wereheld there in South Africa. And,
Adam, you you've got a littlebit of insight on that.
Adam Shapiro (14:58):
Anthony, you've certainly been doing your your
homework. Yeah. So I I startedbodyboarding when I was 6 years
old and then progressed tokneeling, and I've just stayed
there ever ever since. So I ridewhat's called a a knee board.
It's effectively surfing on onyour knees. We were honored to
(15:22):
have a world championships herein in South Africa last week. We
had a 140 competitors from allover the world coming here to
compete at one of the best wavesin the world, Jeffreys Bay, and
everything just aligned. Thewaves, the community, the
weather, everything just cametogether. And I I had a pretty
(15:45):
good run as well.
I managed to come 17th overalland 5th in my age group. So
Anthony Carrano (15:51):
Do you do that every year, or is this just kind
of a a like, I know you've beendoing knee boring since you were
younger, but in terms ofcompeting in this championship,
is that something you do everyyear, or is this just a a one
time thing?
Adam Shapiro (16:03):
No. I've been working too hard. I I didn't
compete, so they only have itevery every second year. 2 years
ago, I was in Portugal, and the2 years before that was in New
Zealand. But I I've beenfocusing on on family and and
and business, so I didn't go tothose ones.
(16:24):
It's amazing to be back in thefold, and I was with some people
I haven't seen in in 20 years.It was it was very special.
Anthony Carrano (16:34):
Wow.
Yeah. I'm gonna throw you alittle bit of a curve here, and
put you on the spot. So what canyou relate, like, time? Like,
what have you learned, like ormaybe relate between knee
boarding and then, you know,creating good partnerships? Is
there any kind of is thereanything you can relate, tie in,
or learn from, that experienceand be able to translate it to
(16:55):
to another?
Adam Shapiro (16:57):
Yeah. I've never really, thought of it that way,
but now that you mentioned it.That's, it's actually because,
obviously, knee boarding, youknow, you have to be a little
bit eccentric or maybe out thebox thinker and so on. It's not
your typical, sport or waveriding craft. People either
bodyboard or surf and, you know,so it's quite a what we like to
(17:21):
think are not unique blend ofpeople in in between there.
And I would say our partners aresimilar in a in a in a similar
context, maybe not as quirky andso on, but we really go to great
lengths to choose the bestpartners that have got a a
really good good fit for us, andfor our organization. So they
(17:46):
need to be like, we spend a lotof time training up our partners
and so on, and, like, there's nopoint in spending, investing all
this time if they're not gonna,you know, be in involved. So we
spend time with our partners andmake sure that they're committed
and that we share the same samevalues. And then, they're also
(18:07):
in a, you know, in a similarindustry type. And, you know,
obviously, then the time zonesas well is a is a crucial one to
make sure that, you know, wecould each partner depends on on
on their time zone as well.
Anthony Carrano (18:23):
Mhmm. Mhmm. Do you, so on that note, I mean, do
you have a set of criteria that,you you have for selecting a
partner?
Adam Shapiro (18:34):
Yeah. So the first one is that they in our in our
industry, when I say in ourindustry, they are building
automation solutions for forcompanies. Our strength, if you
like, is the fact that we've gota a low code solution that
encompasses things likeverification, encompasses
(18:59):
digital signatures throughDocuSign, and as the integration
into into Microsoft. And if theycustom deving or using other
tools to build solutions likethis, we've got, you know, that
that solution for them. So theone thing is that they they need
to be in in that gambit, if youlike.
(19:20):
Second thing, there must be mostof our partners are interested
in expanding their annuityincome of their business. A lot
of partners, they're systemintegrators, and they're selling
ours. And our model allows themto do that, but then also get
the annuity income so they caneffectively run a annuity income
(19:41):
business, a SAS business, or getthat revenue as a SAS business
without building their ownproduct. Because to be honest,
like, one of the biggestlearnings that we had so I
mentioned we moved fromPilotFish, which was a services
business, to a product business.And we're building amazing
(20:04):
services.
We're building products for for,for our clients. So we thought,
well, it can't be that difficultto then build a product for our
own on our own, that, you know,it's been 10 years of and it was
really tough in the beginning.So if I had to do it over, I
would definitely have the splitbetween spending money on tech
(20:25):
and spending money on marketing.We were probably in the 80 80 20
80% tech money and 20%marketing. And if I had to do it
again, I would definitely go5050 at least.
I I jolt adage of having thebest product out there, but if
no one knows about it, it's notworth much.
Anthony Carrano (20:47):
Well, you know, as a as a as a partner in a
marketing agency, I would sayyes and amen to that. So
Adam Shapiro (20:56):
You're not just the people who you really really
should use.
Anthony Carrano (21:00):
That, everybody needs to know and take what Adam
just said to heart. That'sfantastic. I actually there was
something that you mentioned,and, that you you talked about,
like, with SIs who wanna expandtheir into annuity income. I'm
gonna get back to the story,because it's, you know, some
questions about the story, but II thought that was that was
(21:23):
really fascinating. And justmaybe if you can just, you know,
briefly tell a little bit moreabout that, because there might
be some partners listening whowould be interested in that, to
be able to expand, you know,their revenue base that way.
Adam Shapiro (21:36):
Sure. So, I mean, I suppose it is the buzzword of
making money while you sleep andsitting on the beach and the
money rolls in and, you know, itdefinitely hasn't been the case
for for us. But people do wantannuity income. And our model,
we like to see it as a as a winwin scenario. So we provide the
(21:57):
the product, the training, theplatform, and then our our
partners get the majority of theconsulting fees.
So they're still getting theirtheir services income, but then
get 20% of the annuity income.And that's a way of them
building up their theirbusiness, as I said, without
(22:18):
really having to build a productand having all the pitfalls that
that come that come with that.And we also can provide them
with a lot of leads as well sothey don't have to go out and
market the product and so on. Soit it just makes it a a lot
easier for them. And, also,having the low code builder
(22:40):
really, really helps them sothey can use junior or mid range
developers to develop theenterprise solutions because
it's a structured code base andand so on.
Anthony Carrano (22:52):
That's fantastic. Really appreciate you
sharing that. So going, youknow, back to the story and
just, you know, with your withyour partnership, you know, with
Greenlight Solutions and, youknow, working with the customer,
what, did you guys have anychallenges during the
engagement? And if so, what werethey, and how did you all work
together to overcome it?
Adam Shapiro (23:12):
To be honest, I mean, we've with this client, it
it was seamless. It's not notalways that way. But for the for
this client, it worked reallywell. You know, they they did
their due diligence on us. Like,you know, it took quite a while
for us to to get the endcontract.
(23:32):
They wanted to check everythingout. We built a proof of concept
for for them, but, subsequently,it it it really flowed really
well. As I said, they knewexactly what they wanted, and
Greenlight were amazing indelivering that, that solution.
And, you know, we could tweaktweak it and so on. We took a
(23:55):
lot of time with, testing.
Obviously, it's a financialsystem. We need to make sure
that it it works really well. Sowe've got quite a unique,
solution where we build fromscratch. So we we when we built
autopilot, we built a testenvironment into the actual
product. So we don't wireframeor do anything like that.
(24:19):
We build directly into the testversion of Autopilot, which is a
great feature because a theclient can see exactly what it's
gonna be like. It's not, well,look at this wireframe and
imagine what it would be like ona screen or in a system. They're
seeing exactly what it's likewithin Autopilot with a big red
(24:40):
band across the top that saystest mode. So that that that
that's how we built the systemso we can iterate and they can
make changes visually. And then,you know, we went through that
process, did a lot of testing.
And then also the the changemanagement, they had a great
change management team becausethat's maybe the other challenge
(25:03):
of a business. Again, to the tothe similar theme that I was
speaking about earlier, greatproduct even within the
organization, but people arepeople, and sometimes they're
resistant to change and wannastick to doing it on paper or
email or whatever. But TalkShorehad an amazing, rollout plan, a
(25:25):
change management plan to ensurethat all the users bought into
the system and move forward fromfrom day 1.
Rudy Rodriguez (25:34):
Well, Adam, you're a man after my own heart.
I've been in the developmentworld for many years myself,
and, I understand the challengesthat you've gone through having
built systems like this. And andit's exciting to see and hear
the success that you've had,this client. So, can you tell us
a little bit I know youincreased customer satisfaction
because you've described that.Did this help them increase
(25:57):
their revenue or improve theircost efficiencies at at at
TalkSure as much as as I'mhearing?
Adam Shapiro (26:03):
It did, and it continues to, to do so. So, I
mean, you know, some of thethings with less time spent on
reworking. You know, itobviously saved senior managers
a lot of time that they don'thave to rework, their their
product and and their stepsalong the way. They could
(26:25):
approve tasks from mobiledevices and allow reporting. So
all of that same saves time,which then, save saves money.
The other area that that thatwe're saving time on or saving
money on is the fact that, we'renow expanding within the
organization. So, you know, westarted with the financial
(26:49):
workflows, but we're now movinginto the employee onboarding.
Yeah. They've got a 100 and youknow, 1,200 employees. So, yeah,
they're constantly expanding.
So by assisting them to onboardnew employees and choosing the
right employees, that'sdefinitely, affecting their
(27:10):
bottom line and and saving themmoney.
Rudy Rodriguez (27:13):
Yeah. Well, I was lucky enough to read the
case study, before this thisinterview, and it's an inspiring
case study. Are you using thatto help you promote your
business some more, and and,work with other partners?
Adam Shapiro (27:27):
Absolutely. It's been a, you know, it's been a
been a great case study, and wecan say you know, we can preach
how good Autopilot is from thehilltops, but, you know, when
the customer says it with suchconviction, that's that's how we
gain trust with with partnersand with with new clients. So
(27:48):
it's definitely a big big wayfor us to to promote our our
company. And in fact, we've justlaunched a a new case study
yesterday for the YMCA. We, wehandle the YMCA, and we have
done 10 years the YMCA in SouthAfrica.
And we've really, assisted them.They get a lot of donations,
(28:10):
and, obviously, those donationsneed to be carefully managed
with an audit trail. And that'sone of our biggest, wins, if you
like, that we've saved thembetween, what they said, between
30 40% of their time with theirauditors since using autopilot.
So who doesn't wanna spend lessthan, you know, 30% less time
(28:34):
with your auditors? With withrespect to the auditors, it's,
it it it's been a great successfor us.
Rudy Rodriguez (28:41):
Well, that's those are great statistics and
wonderful that you you candeliver that much value for your
for your customers. So inclosing, what advice would you
give to companies like yoursregarding partnering? Obviously,
you've been successful with it.What what advice could you give
give other IAMCP members?
Adam Shapiro (29:00):
Yeah. It hasn't hasn't been an easy road. As I
said, we've been running for 10years and only committed 100% to
partnering, 10 10 months ago. Soit is all about finding that
balance between doing the workyourself and, obviously,
retaining that income and thenhanding handing over that income
(29:22):
to other partners in the hopethat you get enough partners to
to to grow the business. But forus, it was a no brainer because
we needed to enhance ourproduct, and that's our way to
scale is is through partners.
So choosing the right partner,as we've said, is absolutely
critical. One of the bestfeelings we had in the business
(29:47):
was a client, a new client, ourpartner signed up a new client,
a chicken franchise here inSouth Africa. I've got 90 stores
around the the country, and wedidn't even know about them. And
the partnered found the lead,signed up the client, built the
(30:07):
solution, and then came to usand said, right. It's all done.
You go forward. And, you know,that's obviously the the dream.
So it's getting that cash flowright, that balance between
giving up on some some revenuewith the aim of growing your
business, choosing the the theright partners, and really
(30:28):
ensuring that, as we saidearlier, that they're committed
to to working with you to togrow your business, because you
don't want that reputation to,you know, your brand reputation
can go down if they if theydon't deliver. And you don't
wanna spend too much time withpartners that that then don't
(30:49):
work with you to to to goforward. But that's, again,
that's where IMCP comes in,where generally, the the the
members there are solid, andit's a great source of,
potential partners for us.
And that's been been invaluablefor us as a business.
Anthony Carrano (31:07):
I actually have one more question if it's okay.
Just, it's not necessarilyrelated to about, like, with
partnerships and the story, butyou brought something up that I
think listeners would really,would like to hear a little more
about is you had mentioned Imean, obviously, you've got
extensive, you know, experience,you know, in the Azure
marketplace and in AppSource foryears. And you said some earlier
(31:28):
about and I wanted to ask youabout this, where you get a lot
of leads from the team store. Sosomebody who's who's got, you
know, a lot of years experiencein the, you know, the different
marketplace environments thatMicrosoft, provides, what's some
advice you would give topartners who wanna look to try
and generate leads, you know, inthese different marketplaces?
(31:49):
What'd be some some tips, someadvice, things to consider,
questions to ask?
Adam Shapiro (31:55):
Sure. So, I mean, we were, again, really early
adopters into into the Teamsmarketplace. So, you know, it
was a a smaller pool, if youlike. So we got, you know,
increased, interest throughthrough that, showing clearly
defining what your app does. Solet's say employee onboarding.
(32:17):
Does that mean recruiting? Doesit mean a new employee
submitting all their documentsand so on, or does it mean
induction once the personemployed videos? So and we have
clients who we say employeeonboarding, and we have clients
coming for all three of thoseareas. So my point is you need
(32:39):
to define clearly what what youroff your product offers. Great
visuals and so on.
Obviously, you need to get intothe Microsoft that they've got
their templates and so on. But,you know, we pride ourselves in
great UX and really, you know,striking visuals, and then
showing the benefit of beingwithin Teams. You know? Showing
(33:03):
the benefit of the fact that ifI'm on a conference call and
then pings me over there to say,right, approve this task. I can
do that from the same app asopposed to logging into a
completely separate app.
And then also relying on, youknow, the fact and Microsoft are
really stringent in terms ofallowing people into that store.
(33:27):
They really do their theirhomework and really we had some
sleepless nights and somepainful times really trying to,
get get our apps approved. Butonce you've crossed that hurdle,
then can't that's you're almostfurther down the funnel where
people know, okay. Microsofthave vetted this company that,
(33:49):
you know, that they must producegood work, and they must be
secure and so on. And then theother side is on the on the
commercial side.
I mean, Microsoft, we've got anincredible model of Microsoft
take 3% of, so, basically, ourclients can pay Microsoft
directly. And then so, a, wedon't need to be onboarded as
(34:11):
new customers, which reallyhelps with large corporates. We
don't have to go through thatwhole vendor onboarding,
scenario. Our clients can thenpay Microsoft's autopilot
appears as a line item on theirMicrosoft bill. And then
Microsoft takes 3% of that,which it's for nothing.
(34:31):
You know? Then we don't have toget involved in invoicing or
anything like like that. So it'sa it's a win win situation.
You're getting leads. You're inthe place that you want to be,
and you've got Microsofthandling the the commercial side
for you.
So it's been a, you know, winwin for us.
Anthony Carrano (34:51):
Mhmm. Mhmm. Really appreciate, you you
sharing that. I know I know ourlisteners will also they're you
know, you know, people arealways looking for ways to how
can they not only, you know, youknow, leverage, you know,
utilize partnerships to scaleyour business like like you had
mentioned, but also, bestutilize those marketplaces. So
really appreciate you sharing,that perspective.
(35:13):
We'll also include a link to,you know, the different apps, in
the show notes for those who areinterested in finding out more.
So, Adam, this this has beenfantastic. Thank you again. As
we wrap up here, how can people,connect with you and find out
more about you?
Adam Shapiro (35:30):
Sure. Through our website, autopilot
workflows.com. Otherwise, as Isaid, through through Teams, or
through LinkedIn, Adam Shapiro,South Africa.
Anthony Carrano (35:42):
Excellent. Well, Adam, have a great, day,
and, thank you again for being aguest today.
Adam Shapiro (35:49):
Wonderful. Thank you for the opportunity,
Anthony. Rudy, really appreciateit.
Anthony Carrano (35:55):
Wow. What a great episode. I really
appreciate how Adam shared hisperspective on a variety of
things, you know, even outsideof partnerships, like,
specifically, just hisexperience, from the knee
boarding championships this yearand how he related that, you
know, to partnerships and justthe importance of, you know,
finding those that are out ofthe box thinkers, the time spent
(36:17):
on training and onboarding, aswell as just the ongoing
commitment to getting the jobdone. So I thought that was just
a fun, you know, analogy and howyou're liking that as well as
what a really cool experience.How about you, Rudy?
Rudy Rodriguez (36:30):
Well, you know, I I really enjoyed the interview
with Adam. And one one thing Ireally picked up on him, that I
found really unique was thatsometimes in in your business
experience, that sometimes youhave to change your business
development strategies. And thatwas an important point that he
brought up. That about 10 monthsago, they decided that it that
(36:53):
selling direct was not the bestway to promote their product and
that it would be better sellingthrough a channel. So they've
developed their businessdevelopment strategies now to
sell through through partnersbecause, 1, they can train you
know, if they select the rightpartner, they can train them
very carefully, which allowsthat partner to position their
(37:13):
solutions integrated with thatpartner other partner solutions.
And they work much betterbecause they're able to learn
more about what a client's needsreally are. And then they're
able to build the solution thatis going to impact their
business even better. The otherthing that that brings he
brought forward with that wasnot only does a client get a
(37:37):
great solution, but they've evenfound that, by developing their
products and getting themcertified by Microsoft to be
sold in the Team Store orAppSource, they're able to now
work around one of thechallenges that a lot of
partners face when selling tothe enterprise about being an
established vendor. Microsoft isalready an established vendor,
(38:01):
and they can sell through thosestores and it eliminates that
problem. So it makes customeracquisition much easier and
simpler Mhmm.
For them as a business. So Ithought that was a unique story
from Adam. Mhmm.
Anthony Carrano (38:14):
No. And that was great. And that I I agree.
And, obviously, you know, youknow, as as partners in a
marketing agency, I reallyappreciate how he said he would,
you know, rather in the past, hespent, you know, 80% on product
development, 20% on marketing.He would go 5050, you know, as
part of his, with his go tomarket.
So I I I applaud that. And thenand to your point, just with his
(38:36):
experience in getting leads, youknow, from the Azure
Marketplace, MicrosoftAppSource, you know, and Team
Store, and just how he brokedown just some really good
practical tips, you know, forcompanies who are not only
wanting to, you know, scaletheir business through
partnerships, but also utilizethese phenomenal marketplaces
provided by Microsoft.
Rudy Rodriguez (38:56):
You know, in closing, and both Anthony and I
wanna thank you for joining uson this episode of IAMCP
profiles and partnership poweredby Dunamis Marketing. We hope
you enjoyed this podcast andfind it useful and inspiring. If
you did, please subscribe, rate,and review us on your favorite
podcast platform. Don't forgetto follow us on social media and
(39:17):
connect with us on our website,iamcp.org, where you can find
more information, resources, andopportunities to partner for
success. One of the best ways topartner for success is to join
the IAMCP, a community ofMicrosoft partners who help each
other grow and thrive.
IAMCP members can find andconnect with other partners
(39:39):
locally and globally, accessexclusive resources and
opportunities. Whether you'relooking for new customers, new
markets, or new solutions, IAMCPcan help you achieve your goals.
To learn more, visit theirwebsite, iamcp.org.
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