In an increasingly complex and unpredictable world, leveraging shared expertise to create robust and flexible digital ecosystems will bolster any organisation’s resilience and ability to adapt to new challenges. Seeking the right partner can help to share resources, balance risks and give access to new customers and markets, unlocking exciting and beneficial opportunities for both parties.
We caught up with Mia Rommel, our Head of Partnerships and Alliances for North America, to gain further insights into the power of partnerships and why they will be essential for businesses to thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape of AI advancement and market volatility.
Why are partnerships so critical in today’s digital landscape?
Businesses are navigating a world with a million different choices when it comes to their technology investments and strategy. By having a wide variety of partnerships, we’re better able to connect our customers with the right technologies to solve their business problems. We also have unique access to product roadmaps and technical specialists within our partners who work with us to recommend and implement the right product to solve the right problem.
How do you see the role of data evolving in partnerships and how can it drive innovation and growth?
Data is at the core of every technology project. We’re essentially solving business problems by using, moving or transforming data. As a result, we’re constantly evaluating the partners and products we work with to continue to bring the best guidance to our customers and provide the best training for our technical teams.
How can businesses optimise their partner ecosystems and stay ahead in a rapidly changing digital landscape?
Partnerships solve problems. It sounds negative, but I’d recommend businesses choose 2-3 problems and identify a solution with a partner. It’s best to stay focused and selective on which problems and partners you want to spend time and energy. Don’t create a partnership with anyone and everyone: create a strategic focus, find success there, then grow.
How can data integration and sharing between companies ensure smoother transitions and stronger long-term value from these partnerships?
There are tools out there now that provide data security and data access in a way that allows for better information sharing between companies. This is accelerating the ways partners can identify their shared interests and opportunities for success.
Why will partnerships be crucial for business success in the future and how is Endava putting this into action? What has this helped us to achieve?
Every company is trying to do more with less. By creating partnerships that serve multiple areas of a customers’ business or more quickly bring a comprehensive solution to the customer, we are proactively saving our customers time, money and effort.
For example, if a customer comes to us looking for ways to bring AI into their business, we can share with them what kind of AI tools they may want to do, which data storage solutions may best fit their needs, which cloud providers they should engage with and what integration tools are best. Essentially, by cultivating our partner ecosystem, we’ve done a customers’ homework for them.
What makes partnerships key differentiators?
Imagine going to a grocery store and seeing only grocery store brand items when you really needed a specific brand’s product. Or maybe you went to a store where you don’t recognise any of the brands. On the other hand, if you walked into a supermarket with every brand you could possibly imagine, you’ll trust the store to have given you the best options and prices. Partnerships work the same way: our relationships with key ISVs show our commitment to finding and learning the best technology to solve our customers’ problems.
What has our journey been with partnerships and how have they changed how we deliver value for our customers?
Our journey with partners has only just started. This is an exciting time to work with our partner ecosystem. We have relationships with the hyperscalers, best-in-class payments technology companies, business platforms, AI and best-in-class software providers. We’ve established our key relationships and are now focused on developing co-created strategies with our partners to best serve our customers. Our customers can work with us knowing we’ve invested in becoming specialists in our partner technologies and can lead them through a successful engagement.
For more insights on how we leverage partnerships to find solutions for our customers, explore our partner ecosystem.