October 8, 2024 • 41 mins
What does it take to forge impactful partnerships and achieve excellent outcomes in the tech industry?
In this IAMCP Profiles in Partnership episode, Anthony Carrano and Rudy Rodriguez sit down with Natasha Reynolds, Head of Partnerships at SOCO. Natasha dives deep into the nuances of building robust partnerships and the importance of each party staying in their designated swim lanes to drive success.
Throughout this episode, Anthony, Rudy, and Natasha explore:
- The Power of Strategic Partnerships: Natasha shares how SOCO leverages P2P partnerships to create mutually beneficial scenarios for clients and partners. Discover her insights on why building strong, trust-based relationships is essential and how focusing on each partner's strengths leads to better outcomes.
- A Case Study in Action: Natasha details a compelling case study where SOCO partnered with an MSSP to help a wildlife hospital migrate its database to the cloud using Microsoft Power Platform. Learn about the challenges faced, the collaborative strategies employed, and the significant improvements in operational efficiency and reporting that resulted from this project.
- The Role of IAMCP in Driving Success: Natasha highlights how IAMCP has supported SOCO in promoting diversity and inclusion within the tech sector. Hear how the resources and frameworks provided by IAMCP have been instrumental in advancing SOCO’s internal initiatives and overall business growth.
- Advice for Effective Partnering: Natasha offers valuable advice for companies looking to build successful partnerships. She emphasizes the importance of understanding each partner’s capabilities, identifying gaps, and strategically leveraging collective strengths to achieve outstanding results.
This episode provides actionable insights into successful partnership strategies and the critical role of collaboration in achieving client success. Natasha’s experiences and advice will inspire you to refine your approach to partnerships and harness the full potential of your professional relationships.
Listener Links / Resources
International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners
Partners:
Connect with Natasha Reynolds on LinkedIn
Learn more about SOCO: https://soco.com.au/
SOCO: Overview | LinkedIn
Show Hosts:
Anthony Carrano LinkedIn, Managing Partner at Dunamis Marketing
Rudy Rodriguez LinkedIn, Managing Partner at Dunamis Marketing
Mark as Played
Transcript
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 parties. 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
(00:26):
International Association ofMicrosoft Channel Partners,
otherwise known as IAMCP, is acommunity of Microsoft partners
who help each other grow andthrive.
Members can finally connect withother partners locally and
globally and access exclusiveresources and opportunities.
Whether you're looking for newcustomers, new markets, or new
solutions, IAMCP can help youachieve your goals. We'll hear
(00:49):
their stories, learn from theirexperiences, and discover the
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
(01:10):
favorite podcast platform. Anddon't forget to follow us on
social media and connect with uson our website,
www.profilesinpartnership.com,where you can find more
information, resources, andopportunities to partner for
success. Success. Thank you forlistening, and now let's get
started with today's episode.But before we dive into our
(01:31):
interview, let me ask you aquestion.
How do you leverage yourmembership in the IAMCP to find
and develop partnerrelationships that'll help you
grow your business. Finding theright partner can be
challenging, but it can also berewarding. In fact, according to
a recent study by IDC, Microsoftpartners who collaborate with
other partners generate almost 2and a half times more revenue
(01:53):
growth than those who don't.That's a huge difference, and it
shows the power of partnering.So how do you leverage the
Microsoft Partner Network,IAMCP, and other resources to
support your partnerships?
And how do you ensure successfor your customer? These are
some of the questions we'llexplore in this podcast with the
help of our guest, a recent APACP2P award finalist who is also
(02:16):
an expert in partnering. She'llshare stories, challenges, and
successes, and give youpractical tips and advice on how
to partner for success. Are youready to join us on this
journey? Then stay tuned becausewe have a great show for you
today.
Our guest is Natasha Reynolds,the head of partnerships at
SOCO, an award winning ITconsultancy and Microsoft
(02:37):
partner with expertise in thedelivery of digital solutions,
business applications, andintegration projects. SOCO has
achieved amazing results, suchas the one in the story you're
about to hear in theirpartnership within MSSP, whose
client needed extensive datamigration, dynamics, and power
platform experience in order toscale their business. Let's hear
(02:59):
what she has to say. Welcome,Natasha, to the podcast today.
Really appreciate you joiningus.
Natasha Reynolds (03:07):
Oh, thank you very much, Anthony. It's a
pleasure to be here with you andRudy today.
Anthony Carrano (03:13):
Excellent. Excellent. Well, let's start
off. Tell us a little bit aboutyourself and your role, you
know, at the company.
Natasha Reynolds (03:19):
Yes. Sure. I'm the head of partnerships at
SOCO, and, we're one ofAustralia's leading information
technology consultancies. I workreally closely with Microsoft
and our channel partners todeliver their shared success. So
I've worked in the tech industryfor the last 20 plus years, and
(03:42):
my career journey has evolvedthrough digital governance
roles, Microsoft consulting,digital transformation in higher
education.
And for over a decade, I ran myown web dev company with offices
in Australia and the UK. So whenmy travels brought me back home
to Australia in 2017, I startedworking with SoCo and the
(04:09):
company founders as we scaledup.
Anthony Carrano (04:11):
Excellent. Excellent. And also, gotta
mention, congratulations on,being a finalist for the P2P
solution Award, there in theAPAC region. So congratulations
on that.
Natasha Reynolds (04:23):
Thank you. What an honor. We were
delighted. We we thought we hada, award contender definitely
with the project that we thepartner and ourselves
collaborated on, and it was areal pleasure to find out that
result.
Anthony Carrano (04:38):
So on that note, when did you join the
IAMCP?
Natasha Reynolds (04:41):
Yes. It was a few years ago, actually. I, was
doing some Googling, and I I'mbased in Australia, and I hadn't
actually heard of theorganization from any of my
peers. But what had happenedwas, do you recall when
Microsoft did the shift from thegold and silver competencies to
(05:03):
the new Cloud AI
partner model?
Anthony Carrano (05:06):
Oh, yeah.
Natasha Reynolds (05:07):
And yes. How could any of us forget? And part
of my responsibility was tosupport that transition. And we
had 11 of those competencies andthen were, transitioning to the
new model.
And we we ended up being one ofthe first partners that actually
(05:27):
did that and successfully gotthose designations. By the by,
we've got 4 of those now and andthat's growing. But, I I needed
some help to work out how to doit. And although Microsoft has
some really great detailedresources on on the specifics, I
(05:47):
I needed to talk to some peopleabout the nuances and the
particular challenges I wasfinding with the transition. So
I found the organisation online,joined up, and then started
going to the the online events.
Anthony Carrano (06:03):
Oh, fantastic. So what are, you know, some of
SOCO's areas of specialisation?
Natasha Reynolds (06:08):
Yes. SOCO's solutions are really varied, but
they typically align tocategories such as content and
collaboration, businessapplications, data analytics,
and finance and operations. Soour specialties really are cloud
migrations and that AI readinesspiece, SharePoint intranets and
(06:31):
document management systems,power platform workflows and
automation, and Dynamics 365CRM.
Anthony Carrano (06:41):
Wow. Wow. Now I know with there's, I mean, so
much buzz around AI. Tell tellus a little bit more about, your
AI readiness, programs and andofferings that you guys do.
Natasha Reynolds (06:52):
Yes. Sure. We, we've been doing the migration
to cloud work for over a decadenow, and we we thought it was
sort of almost done and all thatwork in Australia and New
Zealand had been completed. Butwhat we're finding is that with
the emergence of AI and thepotential there, but the
(07:18):
requirements to secure yourcontent in the cloud, make sure
there's rigor around whatcontent is available and
accessible to your AI, orCopilot, tools. We're actually
doing some work now with ourcustomers to help them get ready
(07:38):
for that to really leverage AI.
So it's around that security,data readiness, and governance,
as well as the education piece.So we're running workshops and
things like that to work out theuse cases, the requirements, and
and how ready they actually areto embrace at an enterprise
(07:59):
level, the AI opportunity.
Rudy Rodriguez (08:01):
Alrighty. Well, let's get started on the story,
this great P2P story that youhave, Natasha. So in the story
that we're about to to tell inthis partner showcase, would you
please tell us a little bitabout, the client? Don't have to
give us a name, but share thesize, the industry, the
technology that was implemented,and what challenges, both you
(08:23):
and your partner faced in thisimplementation.
Natasha Reynolds (08:25):
So the client was one of the or is one of the
world's busiest wildlifehospitals. So in Australia,
we've got a really unique anddiverse wildlife, and many of
our species aren't foundanywhere else in the world.
Animals such as koalas,kangaroos, wombats, and a host
(08:49):
of other wildlife species. And,unfortunately, they're facing
some real challenges withurbanization, habitat loss, and
predation by feral animals. Sothe client is a hospital that
focuses on the treatment,rehabilitation, and release of
(09:11):
injured, sick, or orphanedwildlife, And they care for
about 14,000 patients annually,which are brought into the
hospital by the public and otherservices and are treated at no
charge and then released backinto the wild.
So a a really, interestingproject, client. It's a not for
(09:36):
profit organization. And whathappened for them was that they
found that they were they hadtheir database, their vet
database in Microsoft Access,and it wasn't scaling up and
meeting the needs of their datastorage and management
(10:00):
requirements. So the system wason premises. It was heavily
customized.
It lacked modern features, andthey were having some challenges
with that. So the system hadbecome slow. There wasn't a
centralized system. There weredelays in the reporting and a
(10:21):
lot of manual data entry, whichwas causing problems of its own
as well. So in relation to thesolution, we, conducted a
discovery and design engagementand did a deep dive into what
the current system was, whatrequirements that they had, what
(10:44):
the future might look like, andthen we delivered a detailed
report and, road map on whatthat data migration might look
like and the solution deliveryand the associated, Microsoft
licensing and aspects forconsideration.
So that I think at the time thatI put the award entry in, we had
(11:07):
completed that engagement, andit was highly successful, and
there was a commitment to moveto the next phase of the
project. Subsequently, we havedelivered the project, and it's
being used, by the staff and,terrific reports coming back in
on how efficient efficiency hasimproved.
Rudy Rodriguez (11:30):
So what specific technologies did you use? I I'm
assuming you used Azure as oneof them. So any any others that
you used, SQL Azure or Yes.Details?
Natasha Reynolds (11:42):
Yes. Well, additionally, the the solution
was built on Power Apps
Rudy Rodriguez (11:48):
Okay.
Natasha Reynolds (11:50):
Power Automate, Power Pages, and Power
BI for the reporting, interface.So a real combination of the
Power Platform and some d 365 aswell in there. So the team, that
we had work on the projectconsisted of specialists in a
(12:13):
number of those areas, and theyall brought their expertise to
to the project.
Rudy Rodriguez (12:19):
So what was the criteria that, that you I know
you worked with another partnerto get it to, get this project.
So what was the criteria thatthey used in selecting you to
come in and do this this designdocument?
Natasha Reynolds (12:35):
Yes. The partner was a long term partner
of ours that we'd had,successful collaborations with
in the past. They're an MSSP,and they were looking for a
solution provider that theycould recommend to their long
term client and trust thatsolution provider to deliver
(12:55):
results. So because SOCO has thethe relevant designations, the
Microsoft designations, andwe're an app in a day delivery
partner, we were really wellpositioned to have a deep dive
into that and, guide thecustomer on the best options and
(13:17):
solutions for migrating thatdatabase into the cloud.
Rudy Rodriguez (13:21):
So in building this partnership with them, can
you tell us a little bit aboutwhat your partnership process
looks like?
Natasha Reynolds (13:28):
Yes. Yes. For us, it can be a little different
depending on the partner and therelationship because we have
quite a number of areas ofexpertise and qualification and
a really deep pool of expertsaround Australia. I work hard to
(13:48):
make sure each partnership isfit for process. And this, this
relationship with thisparticular partner, that looked
like they brought us in.
We worked really closelytogether to meet with the client
to understand what their needswere, and then decide who had
(14:14):
which swim lanes. So forexample, the MSSP partner, they
were looking after the client'sIT services and infrastructure,
their Microsoft licensing, theirsupport. So all that was handled
really effectively from day 1,and we came in to deliver the
(14:39):
solution and build the solution.And then during the course of
the project, what happened waswe actually ran into some one
particular unexpected,challenge, which required input
from the the other partner tosupport us with, and that was
(15:02):
around the test environment andhow we handled data in the test
environment. So having that,really close relationship with
each other, collaborating, goingto meetings together as
required, but understanding eachother's swim lanes and when to
focus on what each of us weredoing and then when to actually
(15:26):
reach across and ask each otherfor assistance with a particular
area was a really key factor insuccess for this one.
Rudy Rodriguez (15:34):
It's excellent partnering techniques, and it's
it's good to see a partner whowho, practices those. Very, very
good.
Natasha Reynolds (15:42):
It's a it's a bit of an art and a craft, I
think. It takes a bit ofexperience. And, but when it
works, it really works.
Rudy Rodriguez (15:50):
Yes. It does.
Anthony Carrano (15:51):
You know, I'm gonna ask you to I mean, this is
this is really good, Natasha. Iappreciate you you sharing that.
And you've used this phrase acouple of times, about staying
in the swim lanes. Now I knowyou're, you know, you're, you
know, director of partnershipsthere, you know, at SoCo. So,
there's there's a lot, you know,with with you know, that you're
(16:11):
managing.
What are some, at a very highlevel, so, you know, advice you
would give for, partners who arelistening to this call? Just
tips on, you know, when you'reengaging, right, in a
collaborative effort to makesure that, you know, things are
that people are staying in theirswim lanes?
Natasha Reynolds (16:31):
I think it's a really important aspect of the
partner to partner relationshipbecause you do have to have
trust in each other that you'regoing to work together for
customer success, but notencroach on each other's
territories. So I'm a realbeliever in the concept of
(16:56):
coopetition and collaboration,rather than thinking of partners
in the ecosystem as competitors.Because at the end of the day,
we're all working towardssuccessful outcomes for our
customers. And if we canidentify gaps that we might have
(17:22):
and can collaborate with,complementary partners, then the
project will be more successfulat the end of the day. The the
revenue for the partners willincrease, and the client is more
likely to come back to us formore work because they'll get a
better outcome.
Rather than if a partner triesto deliver something without the
(17:44):
capability or, the availabilityof their resources at a
particular time, the outcomemight not be as good. So
partnership is really importantfor that success and and a clear
understanding of the go, no goareas. So when we set up a
partnership right at thebeginning, we say, okay. This is
(18:05):
our swim lane. This is your swimlane.
Where are the definite no goareas? We're and it might be
that a partner will say to us,we don't want you to have any
discussions with this customerin relation to licensing because
we are we own the discussions onlicensing with that customer. So
(18:27):
that that's, very clear and easything to understand. We also
clearly have a discussion aboutwhere are the areas we really
want to focus on collaborationand discuss with the customer.
So those areas, our teams, notjust our delivery teams, but if
we have any, businessdevelopment people involved or
(18:50):
the wider SOCO team involved,they'll be having, conversations
with the customer that arealigned with the strategy of the
partnership and where we seethat vision of success for the
customer.
Anthony Carrano (19:05):
What's some advice then that you would also
have is, okay, we establish, theswim lanes, the go no goes on
the front end, but you get inthe course of the project. And
sometimes, you know, people veerinto the other person's swim
lane. How how do you what haveyou found to be maybe some of
the the best ways to kinda getthem back into their swim lane?
(19:29):
You know, just you know? Andlet's just assume that they have
a very strong personality.
Natasha Reynolds (19:37):
Yep. Great question. I think the important
thing is is that it's picked upquickly. So I think if if if
you've got someone on a projectwith a strong personality, you
or in the partnershiprelationship with a strong
personality, you you will knowand be aware that you'll have to
(19:59):
have, high transparency andcommunication so that you can
pick it up early if it doeshappen. If it does happen, then,
obviously, it has to be dealtwith in an appropriate way
that's that's, suitable for thecustomer and and, and worked
(20:19):
through.
And, of course, the we do postimplementation reviews, and and
a part of that is thepartnership reviews. So how did
that go? What did we learn? Whatwent wrong? How can we avoid
that in the future?
And that is feedback to theteams as well so that we're all
on the same page.
Anthony Carrano (20:41):
One of the other things that really stood
out to me, that you were sharingis just the importance about
going to meet people. And the reand go, you know, together, you
know, in your meetings. And thereason why that stood out to me
is in the two previous episodes,the folks were just talking
about the same thing thatdespite, you know, this this
digital age where we're doingall these Teams meetings and,
(21:03):
you know, remote calls andwhatnot. Both in our prior, you
know, 2 episodes, they talkedabout the importance of, you
know, face to face, you know,with themselves and and with the
customer. So I'd like you justmaybe to unpack that a little
bit.
Natasha Reynolds (21:18):
Yes. Absolutely. I think the
relationship aspect of atechnical delivery project is
really key. At SOCO, we have theprinciple of people first,
technology second. And we havethe Microsoft specialisation in
(21:39):
adoption and change management.
So every project we do, wereally bring that understanding
to the way that we work. Soactually getting 3 the 3 parties
together, very early on to buildthat relationship, ideally in
(22:01):
person. If it can't happen inperson, the effort does need to
be made to make it happen onlineas well with team meetings and
things. But we've now got 3parties working together that
need to achieve something. Andit's really important that
those, phases of storming,norming, and performing are
(22:26):
worked through, and the firstones work through pretty
quickly.
So an understanding of whatpeople are bringing to the the
group, what people, what theirpriorities are, what their
objectives are, the way theylike to work, All those things
(22:48):
are really key to understand itand build that rapport, have
some jokes, get to know eachother, work together really
well. And Mhmm. With, yeah. Withthis example, that worked so
well that, after the discoveryphase, there was a little bit of
downtime while the funding wassourced for the delivery phase.
(23:12):
And discovery and design hadgone so well that everyone was
keen to keep this the grouptogether for the delivery phase.
And that can be one of thechallenges actually when you're
delivering projects and thatthat resource planning and being
able to maintain teams.Sometimes you can and sometimes
(23:34):
you can't depending on theother, pressures within the
business. But fortunately, inthis scenario, we were able to
keep most of the team togetherto deliver, and it really paid
off because then you're moreefficient working together over
the long term.
Anthony Carrano (23:51):
Mhmm. Mhmm. No. That's that's excellent. I
really appreciate you sharingthat perspective, you know,
Natasha.
Going back to, like, then thisstory, this kinda where it
brings me back to just, youknow, as as just as you're
sharing. How how did you and theMSSP, you know, find each other?
Natasha Reynolds (24:08):
Well, it was a few years ago now, and we were
first introduced by ourdistributor, Ingram Micro. So,
that introduction was made, Theyusually have a number of,
complementary partners that theywill introduce to each other
(24:30):
when they think there's arequirement to sort of augment
different areas. So we met backthen and then went on a journey
of do what we tend to do firstis do a an initial project
together where we sort of testthe viability and the success of
the fit of the relationship.Mhmm. And that that happened,
(24:53):
and then we moved on from there.
Anthony Carrano (24:56):
And what about, I mean, without maybe going
into, you know, detailedspecifics, but how did then did
you all come together for thisparticular, P2P project?
Natasha Reynolds (25:08):
The MSSP identified a need for The
project that was required. Sothey a number of different
options were explored from thecustomer side, and the MSSP had
a chat with us to see if wewould be interested and how we
might approach it. And they feltcomfortable to then put us
(25:31):
forward to their customer andmake the introductions to have
initial meetings and just see,if that would be successful.
And, that went well. And, duringthe journey, I actually
introduced that MSSP to theIAMCP.
(25:52):
And when we realized the whatwe're working on was was award
winning, we we decided to put inthe application.
Anthony Carrano (26:00):
Oh, that's great. That's great. And,
hopefully, they joined. If not,we gotta reach out to them.
Yeah.
Now I know you shared and kindawhat, you know, triggered a lot
of, you know, talking about the,you know, the meetings together
and the swim lanes was actuallywhen you initially talked about
some of the the challenges, thatthe customer had, like, with
their data and the testenvironment. Were there any
(26:23):
other challenges, that you hadduring the engagement? And if
so, in addition to going tomeetings together in swim lanes,
what, you know, how did you worktogether to overcome that?
Natasha Reynolds (26:36):
The other challenge that we had was that
duration aspect that Imentioned. It it wasn't
anticipated at the beginning ofthe project. So what happened
was, both of us as partners hadto just, be patient, and and the
customer as well had to becausethe the customer actually had a
(27:00):
wonderful champion. He was theproduct champion and had the
vision for, what he wanted tosee happen as as a solution. And
he had a very clearunderstanding of of what he was
looking for and was reallysupportive to the project moving
forward.
So during the downtime, therewas work between all 3 parties
(27:26):
to actually ensure that the nextphase, the delivery phase of the
project did did actually proceedand go ahead, to deliver on that
vision. So I think highcommunication and aligned goals
is probably the key attributesthere.
Anthony Carrano (27:43):
Mhmm. Mhmm. And so based on your partner
experience, how, did thisengagement, either, like, you
know, increase, the customer'sproductivity, grow revenue,
increase, you know, stakeholdersatisfaction? What were some of
the outcomes for for thecustomer?
Natasha Reynolds (28:01):
Absolutely. There was high satisfaction from
all 3 parties, so, the customerand, the 2 partners. So
everyone, we all came away keento work with each other. The the
engagement, has strengthened,the relationship between, the
(28:25):
MSSP and the customer andbetween them and ourselves. And
also now we have an ongoingsupport relationship with the
customer as well.
So from the business side ofthings and the partnership side,
there were a lot of benefitsthere. For the customer with the
solution, it it was designed toimprove their efficiency and the
(28:51):
quality of the outcomes fortheir hospital patients. And
that was the focus rather thangrowing revenue because they
were not for profit. The focuswas the experience and the
demonstrable outcomes for forthe animals and for the vets
(29:12):
working with the animals. Sowe've already seen it hasn't
been launched that long, butwe've already seen an immediate
uplift in the quality, and thereporting metrics and the and
the timing of currency of dataso they can inform decisions.
And we're looking forward tomonitoring the success, over the
(29:37):
next year or 2.
Anthony Carrano (29:38):
Now this next question, I kinda would like you
to answer with you're gonna haveit's 2 hats. So, like, the first
hat, answer it as, you know, inyour role as, you know, your
head of partnerships for SOCO.The second part is maybe if you
can take a step back and answerit as how has, you know, SOCO as
a as a company, as within itsculture and approach. So So if
(29:59):
you can answer it, you know,both ways, put you on the spot
there. And that is, you know, asa result of this this this, you
know, engagement, what did, whatdid y'all learn that's enabled,
the organization, SoCo, to justto improve, like, specifically,
like, with partnering in thefuture?
Natasha Reynolds (30:20):
Okay. Well, if I answer that with my hat on as
head of partnerships, that'sokay. What did I learn? I
learned that a long termrelationship with another
partner really pays off. So inthe early days of building those
(30:40):
partnerships and relationships,there's the overheads of
understanding how each otherworks, what each other wants to
gain from the relationship, andand getting that going and
building the trust.
But when you invest the time todo that and make the right
strategic alliances, then thatwill pay off in with this
(31:05):
example that they approached usto collaborate on this project,
which turned out to be reallysuccessful. So that was a a key
learning, which I, in theory, Iknew, but it's really good to
see it demonstrated.
Anthony Carrano (31:22):
Mhmm. Is there anything in like, from the way
the the rest of the company, youknow, whether it's your
consultants, the folks that areon, you know, the discovery
teams or the delivery teams?Because I know and I'm I'm
asking you that. I I usuallydon't ask people, that, but I'm
asking you that because you guysdo the post implementation
(31:43):
reviews, which I think isfantastic. So, maybe you could
share something that doesn'tgive away too much of the secret
sauce, you know, for there.
Natasha Reynolds (31:55):
Well, those post implementation reviews have
been something that we've donesince the company first started.
It's a key aspect of of oursuccess. And when it comes to
partnerships, there's the 3different organisations,
bringing to and experiencingdifferent things on that
(32:17):
journey. So at the every step ofthe way, we're always checking
in to make sure we're on chartrack, we're we're going to
deliver what's expected, itdoesn't get too bumpy. If it
gets bumpy, it's dealt with in away that has a good outcome for
the customer.
(32:38):
And then afterwards, sittingdown, having a look at what we
learned, what went really well,and what maybe didn't go so well
and we could improve with theengagement next time. I I think
reflection, it sometimes it'sreally hard to spend the time
after a project is done to sitdown and reflect on on what the
(33:05):
journey was like and be honest,you know, we we have a principle
internally of radical candor.So, you know, we want to be
honest with ourselves about howit went and how we can improve,
rather than, you know, everyonepatting themselves on the back
(33:25):
because it was delivered on timeand to budget. There there will
always be examples where you canimprove, and it's not about
pointing the finger at atanyone, It it's about, working
together for for the commongood.
Anthony Carrano (33:41):
That's great. And, one of the things I've got
just 2 more questions, and and,Natasha, this this has been
fantastic. Really appreciate youspending time with us, today
here in this episode. The so Ihad 2 more questions. 1 is, you
know, you're as a, you know,relatively, you know, newer
member of IMCP, what all haveyou gotten from IAMCP, you know,
(34:04):
just being a member?
Natasha Reynolds (34:06):
Mhmm. It's been a really great experience
for me, professionally because Ithere are some gaps in the
ecosystem that, that IAMCPsupports and fills. So, for
(34:29):
example, I we we were doing somereally key work within our
organization in the area ofdiversity and inclusion. And the
resources that are availablethrough IAMCP, such as the
diversity and inclusionaccelerator website and the
(34:52):
Gavriella Schuster, becomeallies framework, they became
key things that we adoptedinternally to improve the
business and to help us scale upin our journey. And I didn't
know where else to go for thoseMhmm.
(35:14):
That support and thoseframeworks, And it's proved
really beneficial for us to beable to tap into that knowledge
and expertise and that peernetwork to to understand those
things. So even though, theorganization is emerging in
Australia, that's growing now,and it's still the resources
(35:41):
that are provided online and therecordings that are available
afterwards have been reallyhelpful for me in practice.
Anthony Carrano (35:49):
Excellent. Excellent. You know, in and last
question. Like, in closing, whatadvice would you give to
companies, regarding partnering?And I know that might seem like
silly for me to ask thatconcerning you've already just
spent given, like, a ton ofgreat advice already.
But, if there's maybe, like, youknow, 1 or 2 key things to kinda
(36:13):
keep in mind, what would theybe?
Natasha Reynolds (36:16):
I'd say number 1 is to remember that a good
partnership results in greateroutcomes than the sum of its
parts. So when you get when youget the mix right, it comes
together and there's greatoutcomes for the customers. So
just just understand that. Workhard to get the partnership
(36:39):
right and to really leverage,the capabilities and the skills
of of all of those people. Wetalked about knowing your swim
lane and just being strategicabout your partnerships and
identify gaps and strengths andthen leverage them.
That's really key to successfulpartnership.
Anthony Carrano (37:02):
Excellent. Excellent. So how, so how can
folks, find out more about you?
Natasha Reynolds (37:08):
Well, please go to our website,
www.soco.com.au Please visitthat. Have a look at what we do.
Reach out to us. You can reachme individually on LinkedIn.
(37:29):
So I am Natasha Reynolds onLinkedIn. Feel free to connect.
Send me a message. Let's have achat about what your partnership
needs are or if you have anyquestions about what we've
talked about on the podcasttoday.
Anthony Carrano (37:44):
Now don't hold out on us. I know you talked
earlier about, having workshops,helping companies with their AI
readiness. How can folks findout more about those?
Natasha Reynolds (37:53):
Oh, absolutely. So with that a AI
readiness piece, we are offeringworkshops to, organisations to
talk through, use cases, thetotal cost of ownership, how to
secure their content to makesure that they are ready to
(38:14):
enterprise wide, embrace the AIopportunity. So we'd love to,
work with people listening tothe podcast on that, and they
can, I think if I give you alink, Anthony, could you pop it
in the, show notes for me?
Anthony Carrano (38:30):
Absolutely. Absolutely. It'll be in the show
notes below.
Natasha Reynolds (38:34):
Alright. Thanks.
Anthony Carrano (38:35):
Well, excellent. Natasha, really
appreciate your time. This thiswas fantastic. Thank you for
being a guest today.
Natasha Reynolds (38:43):
It was a real pleasure. I really appreciate
the invitation and theopportunity to talk through,
partnerships and the role thatIAMCP has played in my journey
in that space. Thanks a lot, andthanks to Rudy as well.
Anthony Carrano (38:58):
Excellent. Have a great one. Well, that was a
great episode. I reallyappreciate Natasha for being on,
and I felt like she shared a lotof really great things, you
know, about the power ofpartnership. I know, in
particular, the one, thing thatreally stood out to me that I I
appreciate is she talked a lotabout just the importance of
(39:20):
staying in your swim lane.
And part of that is just the theneed to, you know, have trust,
you know, in each other to worktogether for customer success
and how to best collaboratetogether within, you know, the
larger ecosystem. And part ofyou know, with when she unpacked
that, and this is the part Iappreciate, is when she was
sharing about the just theimportance to identify the gaps
(39:41):
right on the front end, youknow, the customer engagement.
But, also, once you have apartner who you trust, the just
the importance to establishingthe go, no go areas for the
partnership, I reallyappreciated how she unpacked
that.
Rudy Rodriguez (39:54):
You're absolutely right. I really
appreciated her her insightsthere. And also, I appreciated
her stating the value of beingan IAMCP member and how that's
helping her become a betterpartner, because she can turn to
IAMCP for resources, programs,and other opportunities to speak
with other partners in how tobecome better and help their
(40:18):
grow her business. So I reallyappreciated that from her.
Anthony Carrano (40:21):
You know, that's great. That actually
reminds me of one more thing.You know, as you're talking
about, especially, like, withwith what she got out of just
with being a member of IAMCP,and that's, you know, about the
value of finding and working,you know, with partners who are
IMCP members and how just howshe emphasized in this line, she
reiterated, that, you know, overand over, that I thought really
(40:42):
hit home was that goodpartnerships result in creating
better outcomes for customers. Ijust thought that's a really
good reminder, you know, for allof us moving forward.
Rudy Rodriguez (40:52):
Absolutely. Well, that's it for our podcast
today, folks. I wanna thank youfor joining us on this episode
of IAMCP profiles in partnershippowered by Dunamis Marketing. We
hope you enjoyed this podcastand find it useful and
inspiring. If you did, pleasesubscribe, rate, and review us
on your favorite podcastplatform.
And don't forget to follow us onsocial media and connect with us
(41:15):
on our website, iamcp.org, whereyou can find more information,
resources, and opportunities topartner for success. One of the
best ways to partner for successis to join IAMCP, a community of
Microsoft partners who help eachother grow and thrive. IAMCP
members can find and connectwith the with other partners
(41:35):
locally and globally and 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 our websiteiamcp.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 parties. 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
(00:26):
International Association ofMicrosoft Channel Partners,
otherwise known as IAMCP, is acommunity of Microsoft partners
who help each other grow andthrive.
Members can finally connect withother partners locally and
globally and access exclusiveresources and opportunities.
Whether you're looking for newcustomers, new markets, or new
solutions, IAMCP can help youachieve your goals. We'll hear
(00:49):
their stories, learn from theirexperiences, and discover the
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
(01:10):
favorite podcast platform. Anddon't forget to follow us on
social media and connect with uson our website,
www.profilesinpartnership.com,where you can find more
information, resources, andopportunities to partner for
success. Success. Thank you forlistening, and now let's get
started with today's episode.But before we dive into our
(01:31):
interview, let me ask you aquestion.
How do you leverage yourmembership in the IAMCP to find
and develop partnerrelationships that'll help you
grow your business. Finding theright partner can be
challenging, but it can also berewarding. In fact, according to
a recent study by IDC, Microsoftpartners who collaborate with
other partners generate almost 2and a half times more revenue
(01:53):
growth than those who don't.That's a huge difference, and it
shows the power of partnering.So how do you leverage the
Microsoft Partner Network,IAMCP, and other resources to
support your partnerships?
And how do you ensure successfor your customer? These are
some of the questions we'llexplore in this podcast with the
help of our guest, a recent APACP2P award finalist who is also
(02:16):
an expert in partnering. She'llshare stories, challenges, and
successes, and give youpractical tips and advice on how
to partner for success. Are youready to join us on this
journey? Then stay tuned becausewe have a great show for you
today.
Our guest is Natasha Reynolds,the head of partnerships at
SOCO, an award winning ITconsultancy and Microsoft
(02:37):
partner with expertise in thedelivery of digital solutions,
business applications, andintegration projects. SOCO has
achieved amazing results, suchas the one in the story you're
about to hear in theirpartnership within MSSP, whose
client needed extensive datamigration, dynamics, and power
platform experience in order toscale their business. Let's hear
(02:59):
what she has to say. Welcome,Natasha, to the podcast today.
Really appreciate you joiningus.
Natasha Reynolds (03:07):
Oh, thank you very much, Anthony. It's a
pleasure to be here with you andRudy today.
Anthony Carrano (03:13):
Excellent. Excellent. Well, let's start
off. Tell us a little bit aboutyourself and your role, you
know, at the company.
Natasha Reynolds (03:19):
Yes. Sure. I'm the head of partnerships at
SOCO, and, we're one ofAustralia's leading information
technology consultancies. I workreally closely with Microsoft
and our channel partners todeliver their shared success. So
I've worked in the tech industryfor the last 20 plus years, and
(03:42):
my career journey has evolvedthrough digital governance
roles, Microsoft consulting,digital transformation in higher
education.
And for over a decade, I ran myown web dev company with offices
in Australia and the UK. So whenmy travels brought me back home
to Australia in 2017, I startedworking with SoCo and the
(04:09):
company founders as we scaledup.
Anthony Carrano (04:11):
Excellent. Excellent. And also, gotta
mention, congratulations on,being a finalist for the P2P
solution Award, there in theAPAC region. So congratulations
on that.
Natasha Reynolds (04:23):
Thank you. What an honor. We were
delighted. We we thought we hada, award contender definitely
with the project that we thepartner and ourselves
collaborated on, and it was areal pleasure to find out that
result.
Anthony Carrano (04:38):
So on that note, when did you join the
IAMCP?
Natasha Reynolds (04:41):
Yes. It was a few years ago, actually. I, was
doing some Googling, and I I'mbased in Australia, and I hadn't
actually heard of theorganization from any of my
peers. But what had happenedwas, do you recall when
Microsoft did the shift from thegold and silver competencies to
(05:03):
the new Cloud AI
partner model?
Anthony Carrano (05:06):
Oh, yeah.
Natasha Reynolds (05:07):
And yes. How could any of us forget? And part
of my responsibility was tosupport that transition. And we
had 11 of those competencies andthen were, transitioning to the
new model.
And we we ended up being one ofthe first partners that actually
(05:27):
did that and successfully gotthose designations. By the by,
we've got 4 of those now and andthat's growing. But, I I needed
some help to work out how to doit. And although Microsoft has
some really great detailedresources on on the specifics, I
(05:47):
I needed to talk to some peopleabout the nuances and the
particular challenges I wasfinding with the transition. So
I found the organisation online,joined up, and then started
going to the the online events.
Anthony Carrano (06:03):
Oh, fantastic. So what are, you know, some of
SOCO's areas of specialisation?
Natasha Reynolds (06:08):
Yes. SOCO's solutions are really varied, but
they typically align tocategories such as content and
collaboration, businessapplications, data analytics,
and finance and operations. Soour specialties really are cloud
migrations and that AI readinesspiece, SharePoint intranets and
(06:31):
document management systems,power platform workflows and
automation, and Dynamics 365CRM.
Anthony Carrano (06:41):
Wow. Wow. Now I know with there's, I mean, so
much buzz around AI. Tell tellus a little bit more about, your
AI readiness, programs and andofferings that you guys do.
Natasha Reynolds (06:52):
Yes. Sure. We, we've been doing the migration
to cloud work for over a decadenow, and we we thought it was
sort of almost done and all thatwork in Australia and New
Zealand had been completed. Butwhat we're finding is that with
the emergence of AI and thepotential there, but the
(07:18):
requirements to secure yourcontent in the cloud, make sure
there's rigor around whatcontent is available and
accessible to your AI, orCopilot, tools. We're actually
doing some work now with ourcustomers to help them get ready
(07:38):
for that to really leverage AI.
So it's around that security,data readiness, and governance,
as well as the education piece.So we're running workshops and
things like that to work out theuse cases, the requirements, and
and how ready they actually areto embrace at an enterprise
(07:59):
level, the AI opportunity.
Rudy Rodriguez (08:01):
Alrighty. Well, let's get started on the story,
this great P2P story that youhave, Natasha. So in the story
that we're about to to tell inthis partner showcase, would you
please tell us a little bitabout, the client? Don't have to
give us a name, but share thesize, the industry, the
technology that was implemented,and what challenges, both you
(08:23):
and your partner faced in thisimplementation.
Natasha Reynolds (08:25):
So the client was one of the or is one of the
world's busiest wildlifehospitals. So in Australia,
we've got a really unique anddiverse wildlife, and many of
our species aren't foundanywhere else in the world.
Animals such as koalas,kangaroos, wombats, and a host
(08:49):
of other wildlife species. And,unfortunately, they're facing
some real challenges withurbanization, habitat loss, and
predation by feral animals. Sothe client is a hospital that
focuses on the treatment,rehabilitation, and release of
(09:11):
injured, sick, or orphanedwildlife, And they care for
about 14,000 patients annually,which are brought into the
hospital by the public and otherservices and are treated at no
charge and then released backinto the wild.
So a a really, interestingproject, client. It's a not for
(09:36):
profit organization. And whathappened for them was that they
found that they were they hadtheir database, their vet
database in Microsoft Access,and it wasn't scaling up and
meeting the needs of their datastorage and management
(10:00):
requirements. So the system wason premises. It was heavily
customized.
It lacked modern features, andthey were having some challenges
with that. So the system hadbecome slow. There wasn't a
centralized system. There weredelays in the reporting and a
(10:21):
lot of manual data entry, whichwas causing problems of its own
as well. So in relation to thesolution, we, conducted a
discovery and design engagementand did a deep dive into what
the current system was, whatrequirements that they had, what
(10:44):
the future might look like, andthen we delivered a detailed
report and, road map on whatthat data migration might look
like and the solution deliveryand the associated, Microsoft
licensing and aspects forconsideration.
So that I think at the time thatI put the award entry in, we had
(11:07):
completed that engagement, andit was highly successful, and
there was a commitment to moveto the next phase of the
project. Subsequently, we havedelivered the project, and it's
being used, by the staff and,terrific reports coming back in
on how efficient efficiency hasimproved.
Rudy Rodriguez (11:30):
So what specific technologies did you use? I I'm
assuming you used Azure as oneof them. So any any others that
you used, SQL Azure or Yes.Details?
Natasha Reynolds (11:42):
Yes. Well, additionally, the the solution
was built on Power Apps
Rudy Rodriguez (11:48):
Okay.
Natasha Reynolds (11:50):
Power Automate, Power Pages, and Power
BI for the reporting, interface.So a real combination of the
Power Platform and some d 365 aswell in there. So the team, that
we had work on the projectconsisted of specialists in a
(12:13):
number of those areas, and theyall brought their expertise to
to the project.
Rudy Rodriguez (12:19):
So what was the criteria that, that you I know
you worked with another partnerto get it to, get this project.
So what was the criteria thatthey used in selecting you to
come in and do this this designdocument?
Natasha Reynolds (12:35):
Yes. The partner was a long term partner
of ours that we'd had,successful collaborations with
in the past. They're an MSSP,and they were looking for a
solution provider that theycould recommend to their long
term client and trust thatsolution provider to deliver
(12:55):
results. So because SOCO has thethe relevant designations, the
Microsoft designations, andwe're an app in a day delivery
partner, we were really wellpositioned to have a deep dive
into that and, guide thecustomer on the best options and
(13:17):
solutions for migrating thatdatabase into the cloud.
Rudy Rodriguez (13:21):
So in building this partnership with them, can
you tell us a little bit aboutwhat your partnership process
looks like?
Natasha Reynolds (13:28):
Yes. Yes. For us, it can be a little different
depending on the partner and therelationship because we have
quite a number of areas ofexpertise and qualification and
a really deep pool of expertsaround Australia. I work hard to
(13:48):
make sure each partnership isfit for process. And this, this
relationship with thisparticular partner, that looked
like they brought us in.
We worked really closelytogether to meet with the client
to understand what their needswere, and then decide who had
(14:14):
which swim lanes. So forexample, the MSSP partner, they
were looking after the client'sIT services and infrastructure,
their Microsoft licensing, theirsupport. So all that was handled
really effectively from day 1,and we came in to deliver the
(14:39):
solution and build the solution.And then during the course of
the project, what happened waswe actually ran into some one
particular unexpected,challenge, which required input
from the the other partner tosupport us with, and that was
(15:02):
around the test environment andhow we handled data in the test
environment. So having that,really close relationship with
each other, collaborating, goingto meetings together as
required, but understanding eachother's swim lanes and when to
focus on what each of us weredoing and then when to actually
(15:26):
reach across and ask each otherfor assistance with a particular
area was a really key factor insuccess for this one.
Rudy Rodriguez (15:34):
It's excellent partnering techniques, and it's
it's good to see a partner whowho, practices those. Very, very
good.
Natasha Reynolds (15:42):
It's a it's a bit of an art and a craft, I
think. It takes a bit ofexperience. And, but when it
works, it really works.
Rudy Rodriguez (15:50):
Yes. It does.
Anthony Carrano (15:51):
You know, I'm gonna ask you to I mean, this is
this is really good, Natasha. Iappreciate you you sharing that.
And you've used this phrase acouple of times, about staying
in the swim lanes. Now I knowyou're, you know, you're, you
know, director of partnershipsthere, you know, at SoCo. So,
there's there's a lot, you know,with with you know, that you're
(16:11):
managing.
What are some, at a very highlevel, so, you know, advice you
would give for, partners who arelistening to this call? Just
tips on, you know, when you'reengaging, right, in a
collaborative effort to makesure that, you know, things are
that people are staying in theirswim lanes?
Natasha Reynolds (16:31):
I think it's a really important aspect of the
partner to partner relationshipbecause you do have to have
trust in each other that you'regoing to work together for
customer success, but notencroach on each other's
territories. So I'm a realbeliever in the concept of
(16:56):
coopetition and collaboration,rather than thinking of partners
in the ecosystem as competitors.Because at the end of the day,
we're all working towardssuccessful outcomes for our
customers. And if we canidentify gaps that we might have
(17:22):
and can collaborate with,complementary partners, then the
project will be more successfulat the end of the day. The the
revenue for the partners willincrease, and the client is more
likely to come back to us formore work because they'll get a
better outcome.
Rather than if a partner triesto deliver something without the
(17:44):
capability or, the availabilityof their resources at a
particular time, the outcomemight not be as good. So
partnership is really importantfor that success and and a clear
understanding of the go, no goareas. So when we set up a
partnership right at thebeginning, we say, okay. This is
(18:05):
our swim lane. This is your swimlane.
Where are the definite no goareas? We're and it might be
that a partner will say to us,we don't want you to have any
discussions with this customerin relation to licensing because
we are we own the discussions onlicensing with that customer. So
(18:27):
that that's, very clear and easything to understand. We also
clearly have a discussion aboutwhere are the areas we really
want to focus on collaborationand discuss with the customer.
So those areas, our teams, notjust our delivery teams, but if
we have any, businessdevelopment people involved or
(18:50):
the wider SOCO team involved,they'll be having, conversations
with the customer that arealigned with the strategy of the
partnership and where we seethat vision of success for the
customer.
Anthony Carrano (19:05):
What's some advice then that you would also
have is, okay, we establish, theswim lanes, the go no goes on
the front end, but you get inthe course of the project. And
sometimes, you know, people veerinto the other person's swim
lane. How how do you what haveyou found to be maybe some of
the the best ways to kinda getthem back into their swim lane?
(19:29):
You know, just you know? Andlet's just assume that they have
a very strong personality.
Natasha Reynolds (19:37):
Yep. Great question. I think the important
thing is is that it's picked upquickly. So I think if if if
you've got someone on a projectwith a strong personality, you
or in the partnershiprelationship with a strong
personality, you you will knowand be aware that you'll have to
(19:59):
have, high transparency andcommunication so that you can
pick it up early if it doeshappen. If it does happen, then,
obviously, it has to be dealtwith in an appropriate way
that's that's, suitable for thecustomer and and, and worked
(20:19):
through.
And, of course, the we do postimplementation reviews, and and
a part of that is thepartnership reviews. So how did
that go? What did we learn? Whatwent wrong? How can we avoid
that in the future?
And that is feedback to theteams as well so that we're all
on the same page.
Anthony Carrano (20:41):
One of the other things that really stood
out to me, that you were sharingis just the importance about
going to meet people. And the reand go, you know, together, you
know, in your meetings. And thereason why that stood out to me
is in the two previous episodes,the folks were just talking
about the same thing thatdespite, you know, this this
digital age where we're doingall these Teams meetings and,
(21:03):
you know, remote calls andwhatnot. Both in our prior, you
know, 2 episodes, they talkedabout the importance of, you
know, face to face, you know,with themselves and and with the
customer. So I'd like you justmaybe to unpack that a little
bit.
Natasha Reynolds (21:18):
Yes. Absolutely. I think the
relationship aspect of atechnical delivery project is
really key. At SOCO, we have theprinciple of people first,
technology second. And we havethe Microsoft specialisation in
(21:39):
adoption and change management.
So every project we do, wereally bring that understanding
to the way that we work. Soactually getting 3 the 3 parties
together, very early on to buildthat relationship, ideally in
(22:01):
person. If it can't happen inperson, the effort does need to
be made to make it happen onlineas well with team meetings and
things. But we've now got 3parties working together that
need to achieve something. Andit's really important that
those, phases of storming,norming, and performing are
(22:26):
worked through, and the firstones work through pretty
quickly.
So an understanding of whatpeople are bringing to the the
group, what people, what theirpriorities are, what their
objectives are, the way theylike to work, All those things
(22:48):
are really key to understand itand build that rapport, have
some jokes, get to know eachother, work together really
well. And Mhmm. With, yeah. Withthis example, that worked so
well that, after the discoveryphase, there was a little bit of
downtime while the funding wassourced for the delivery phase.
(23:12):
And discovery and design hadgone so well that everyone was
keen to keep this the grouptogether for the delivery phase.
And that can be one of thechallenges actually when you're
delivering projects and thatthat resource planning and being
able to maintain teams.Sometimes you can and sometimes
(23:34):
you can't depending on theother, pressures within the
business. But fortunately, inthis scenario, we were able to
keep most of the team togetherto deliver, and it really paid
off because then you're moreefficient working together over
the long term.
Anthony Carrano (23:51):
Mhmm. Mhmm. No. That's that's excellent. I
really appreciate you sharingthat perspective, you know,
Natasha.
Going back to, like, then thisstory, this kinda where it
brings me back to just, youknow, as as just as you're
sharing. How how did you and theMSSP, you know, find each other?
Natasha Reynolds (24:08):
Well, it was a few years ago now, and we were
first introduced by ourdistributor, Ingram Micro. So,
that introduction was made, Theyusually have a number of,
complementary partners that theywill introduce to each other
(24:30):
when they think there's arequirement to sort of augment
different areas. So we met backthen and then went on a journey
of do what we tend to do firstis do a an initial project
together where we sort of testthe viability and the success of
the fit of the relationship.Mhmm. And that that happened,
(24:53):
and then we moved on from there.
Anthony Carrano (24:56):
And what about, I mean, without maybe going
into, you know, detailedspecifics, but how did then did
you all come together for thisparticular, P2P project?
Natasha Reynolds (25:08):
The MSSP identified a need for The
project that was required. Sothey a number of different
options were explored from thecustomer side, and the MSSP had
a chat with us to see if wewould be interested and how we
might approach it. And they feltcomfortable to then put us
(25:31):
forward to their customer andmake the introductions to have
initial meetings and just see,if that would be successful.
And, that went well. And, duringthe journey, I actually
introduced that MSSP to theIAMCP.
(25:52):
And when we realized the whatwe're working on was was award
winning, we we decided to put inthe application.
Anthony Carrano (26:00):
Oh, that's great. That's great. And,
hopefully, they joined. If not,we gotta reach out to them.
Yeah.
Now I know you shared and kindawhat, you know, triggered a lot
of, you know, talking about the,you know, the meetings together
and the swim lanes was actuallywhen you initially talked about
some of the the challenges, thatthe customer had, like, with
their data and the testenvironment. Were there any
(26:23):
other challenges, that you hadduring the engagement? And if
so, in addition to going tomeetings together in swim lanes,
what, you know, how did you worktogether to overcome that?
Natasha Reynolds (26:36):
The other challenge that we had was that
duration aspect that Imentioned. It it wasn't
anticipated at the beginning ofthe project. So what happened
was, both of us as partners hadto just, be patient, and and the
customer as well had to becausethe the customer actually had a
(27:00):
wonderful champion. He was theproduct champion and had the
vision for, what he wanted tosee happen as as a solution. And
he had a very clearunderstanding of of what he was
looking for and was reallysupportive to the project moving
forward.
So during the downtime, therewas work between all 3 parties
(27:26):
to actually ensure that the nextphase, the delivery phase of the
project did did actually proceedand go ahead, to deliver on that
vision. So I think highcommunication and aligned goals
is probably the key attributesthere.
Anthony Carrano (27:43):
Mhmm. Mhmm. And so based on your partner
experience, how, did thisengagement, either, like, you
know, increase, the customer'sproductivity, grow revenue,
increase, you know, stakeholdersatisfaction? What were some of
the outcomes for for thecustomer?
Natasha Reynolds (28:01):
Absolutely. There was high satisfaction from
all 3 parties, so, the customerand, the 2 partners. So
everyone, we all came away keento work with each other. The the
engagement, has strengthened,the relationship between, the
(28:25):
MSSP and the customer andbetween them and ourselves. And
also now we have an ongoingsupport relationship with the
customer as well.
So from the business side ofthings and the partnership side,
there were a lot of benefitsthere. For the customer with the
solution, it it was designed toimprove their efficiency and the
(28:51):
quality of the outcomes fortheir hospital patients. And
that was the focus rather thangrowing revenue because they
were not for profit. The focuswas the experience and the
demonstrable outcomes for forthe animals and for the vets
(29:12):
working with the animals. Sowe've already seen it hasn't
been launched that long, butwe've already seen an immediate
uplift in the quality, and thereporting metrics and the and
the timing of currency of dataso they can inform decisions.
And we're looking forward tomonitoring the success, over the
(29:37):
next year or 2.
Anthony Carrano (29:38):
Now this next question, I kinda would like you
to answer with you're gonna haveit's 2 hats. So, like, the first
hat, answer it as, you know, inyour role as, you know, your
head of partnerships for SOCO.The second part is maybe if you
can take a step back and answerit as how has, you know, SOCO as
a as a company, as within itsculture and approach. So So if
(29:59):
you can answer it, you know,both ways, put you on the spot
there. And that is, you know, asa result of this this this, you
know, engagement, what did, whatdid y'all learn that's enabled,
the organization, SoCo, to justto improve, like, specifically,
like, with partnering in thefuture?
Natasha Reynolds (30:20):
Okay. Well, if I answer that with my hat on as
head of partnerships, that'sokay. What did I learn? I
learned that a long termrelationship with another
partner really pays off. So inthe early days of building those
(30:40):
partnerships and relationships,there's the overheads of
understanding how each otherworks, what each other wants to
gain from the relationship, andand getting that going and
building the trust.
But when you invest the time todo that and make the right
strategic alliances, then thatwill pay off in with this
(31:05):
example that they approached usto collaborate on this project,
which turned out to be reallysuccessful. So that was a a key
learning, which I, in theory, Iknew, but it's really good to
see it demonstrated.
Anthony Carrano (31:22):
Mhmm. Is there anything in like, from the way
the the rest of the company, youknow, whether it's your
consultants, the folks that areon, you know, the discovery
teams or the delivery teams?Because I know and I'm I'm
asking you that. I I usuallydon't ask people, that, but I'm
asking you that because you guysdo the post implementation
(31:43):
reviews, which I think isfantastic. So, maybe you could
share something that doesn'tgive away too much of the secret
sauce, you know, for there.
Natasha Reynolds (31:55):
Well, those post implementation reviews have
been something that we've donesince the company first started.
It's a key aspect of of oursuccess. And when it comes to
partnerships, there's the 3different organisations,
bringing to and experiencingdifferent things on that
(32:17):
journey. So at the every step ofthe way, we're always checking
in to make sure we're on chartrack, we're we're going to
deliver what's expected, itdoesn't get too bumpy. If it
gets bumpy, it's dealt with in away that has a good outcome for
the customer.
(32:38):
And then afterwards, sittingdown, having a look at what we
learned, what went really well,and what maybe didn't go so well
and we could improve with theengagement next time. I I think
reflection, it sometimes it'sreally hard to spend the time
after a project is done to sitdown and reflect on on what the
(33:05):
journey was like and be honest,you know, we we have a principle
internally of radical candor.So, you know, we want to be
honest with ourselves about howit went and how we can improve,
rather than, you know, everyonepatting themselves on the back
(33:25):
because it was delivered on timeand to budget. There there will
always be examples where you canimprove, and it's not about
pointing the finger at atanyone, It it's about, working
together for for the commongood.
Anthony Carrano (33:41):
That's great. And, one of the things I've got
just 2 more questions, and and,Natasha, this this has been
fantastic. Really appreciate youspending time with us, today
here in this episode. The so Ihad 2 more questions. 1 is, you
know, you're as a, you know,relatively, you know, newer
member of IMCP, what all haveyou gotten from IAMCP, you know,
(34:04):
just being a member?
Natasha Reynolds (34:06):
Mhmm. It's been a really great experience
for me, professionally because Ithere are some gaps in the
ecosystem that, that IAMCPsupports and fills. So, for
(34:29):
example, I we we were doing somereally key work within our
organization in the area ofdiversity and inclusion. And the
resources that are availablethrough IAMCP, such as the
diversity and inclusionaccelerator website and the
(34:52):
Gavriella Schuster, becomeallies framework, they became
key things that we adoptedinternally to improve the
business and to help us scale upin our journey. And I didn't
know where else to go for thoseMhmm.
(35:14):
That support and thoseframeworks, And it's proved
really beneficial for us to beable to tap into that knowledge
and expertise and that peernetwork to to understand those
things. So even though, theorganization is emerging in
Australia, that's growing now,and it's still the resources
(35:41):
that are provided online and therecordings that are available
afterwards have been reallyhelpful for me in practice.
Anthony Carrano (35:49):
Excellent. Excellent. You know, in and last
question. Like, in closing, whatadvice would you give to
companies, regarding partnering?And I know that might seem like
silly for me to ask thatconcerning you've already just
spent given, like, a ton ofgreat advice already.
But, if there's maybe, like, youknow, 1 or 2 key things to kinda
(36:13):
keep in mind, what would theybe?
Natasha Reynolds (36:16):
I'd say number 1 is to remember that a good
partnership results in greateroutcomes than the sum of its
parts. So when you get when youget the mix right, it comes
together and there's greatoutcomes for the customers. So
just just understand that. Workhard to get the partnership
(36:39):
right and to really leverage,the capabilities and the skills
of of all of those people. Wetalked about knowing your swim
lane and just being strategicabout your partnerships and
identify gaps and strengths andthen leverage them.
That's really key to successfulpartnership.
Anthony Carrano (37:02):
Excellent. Excellent. So how, so how can
folks, find out more about you?
Natasha Reynolds (37:08):
Well, please go to our website,
www.soco.com.au Please visitthat. Have a look at what we do.
Reach out to us. You can reachme individually on LinkedIn.
(37:29):
So I am Natasha Reynolds onLinkedIn. Feel free to connect.
Send me a message. Let's have achat about what your partnership
needs are or if you have anyquestions about what we've
talked about on the podcasttoday.
Anthony Carrano (37:44):
Now don't hold out on us. I know you talked
earlier about, having workshops,helping companies with their AI
readiness. How can folks findout more about those?
Natasha Reynolds (37:53):
Oh, absolutely. So with that a AI
readiness piece, we are offeringworkshops to, organisations to
talk through, use cases, thetotal cost of ownership, how to
secure their content to makesure that they are ready to
(38:14):
enterprise wide, embrace the AIopportunity. So we'd love to,
work with people listening tothe podcast on that, and they
can, I think if I give you alink, Anthony, could you pop it
in the, show notes for me?
Anthony Carrano (38:30):
Absolutely. Absolutely. It'll be in the show
notes below.
Natasha Reynolds (38:34):
Alright. Thanks.
Anthony Carrano (38:35):
Well, excellent. Natasha, really
appreciate your time. This thiswas fantastic. Thank you for
being a guest today.
Natasha Reynolds (38:43):
It was a real pleasure. I really appreciate
the invitation and theopportunity to talk through,
partnerships and the role thatIAMCP has played in my journey
in that space. Thanks a lot, andthanks to Rudy as well.
Anthony Carrano (38:58):
Excellent. Have a great one. Well, that was a
great episode. I reallyappreciate Natasha for being on,
and I felt like she shared a lotof really great things, you
know, about the power ofpartnership. I know, in
particular, the one, thing thatreally stood out to me that I I
appreciate is she talked a lotabout just the importance of
(39:20):
staying in your swim lane.
And part of that is just the theneed to, you know, have trust,
you know, in each other to worktogether for customer success
and how to best collaboratetogether within, you know, the
larger ecosystem. And part ofyou know, with when she unpacked
that, and this is the part Iappreciate, is when she was
sharing about the just theimportance to identify the gaps
(39:41):
right on the front end, youknow, the customer engagement.
But, also, once you have apartner who you trust, the just
the importance to establishingthe go, no go areas for the
partnership, I reallyappreciated how she unpacked
that.
Rudy Rodriguez (39:54):
You're absolutely right. I really
appreciated her her insightsthere. And also, I appreciated
her stating the value of beingan IAMCP member and how that's
helping her become a betterpartner, because she can turn to
IAMCP for resources, programs,and other opportunities to speak
with other partners in how tobecome better and help their
(40:18):
grow her business. So I reallyappreciated that from her.
Anthony Carrano (40:21):
You know, that's great. That actually
reminds me of one more thing.You know, as you're talking
about, especially, like, withwith what she got out of just
with being a member of IAMCP,and that's, you know, about the
value of finding and working,you know, with partners who are
IMCP members and how just howshe emphasized in this line, she
reiterated, that, you know, overand over, that I thought really
(40:42):
hit home was that goodpartnerships result in creating
better outcomes for customers. Ijust thought that's a really
good reminder, you know, for allof us moving forward.
Rudy Rodriguez (40:52):
Absolutely. Well, that's it for our podcast
today, folks. I wanna thank youfor joining us on this episode
of IAMCP profiles in partnershippowered by Dunamis Marketing. We
hope you enjoyed this podcastand find it useful and
inspiring. If you did, pleasesubscribe, rate, and review us
on your favorite podcastplatform.
And don't forget to follow us onsocial media and connect with us
(41:15):
on our website, iamcp.org, whereyou can find more information,
resources, and opportunities topartner for success. One of the
best ways to partner for successis to join IAMCP, a community of
Microsoft partners who help eachother grow and thrive. IAMCP
members can find and connectwith the with other partners
(41:35):
locally and globally and 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 our websiteiamcp.org
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