From Boxing to Business: Ronelle Naidoo on Driving Success through Collaboration
Welcome to the IAMCP profiles and partnership, a podcast that showcases how Microsoft partners and IAMCP members boost their business by collaborating with other members and partners. I'm your co-host, Anthony Carrano In each episode, I'll be talking to some of the most innovative and successful partners in the Microsoft ecosystem. The International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners, otherwise known as IAMCP, is a community of Microsoft partners who help each other grow and thrive. Members can finally connect with other partners locally and globally and access exclusive resources and opportunities.
Anthony Carrano:Whether you're looking for new customers, new markets, or new solutions, IAMCP can help you achieve your goals. We'll hear their stories, learn from their experiences, and discover the best practices and strategies they use to create customer loyalty and grow revenue. Whether you're a new partner or an established one, you'll find valuable insights and inspiration in this podcast. We hope you enjoy this podcast and find it useful and inspiring. If you do, please subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast platform.
Anthony Carrano:And don't forget to follow us on social media and connect with us on our website, www.profilesinpartnership.com, where you can find more information, resources, and opportunities to partner for success. Thank you for listening. Now let's get started with today's episode. But before we dive into our interview, let me ask you a question. As a Microsoft partner and member of the IAMCP, how do you find and develop partner relationships that'll help you grow your business?
Anthony Carrano:Finding the right partner can be challenging, but it can also be rewarding. In fact, according to a recent study by IBC, Microsoft partners who collaborate with other partners generate 2 and a half times more revenue 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 and IAMCP to support your partnerships, and how do you ensure success for your customer? These are some of the questions we'll explore in this podcast with the help of our guest, a recent P2P award nominee who is also an expert in partnering.
Anthony Carrano:She'll share stories, challenges, and successes, and give you practical tips and advice on how to partner for success. Are you ready to join us on this journey? Then stay tuned because we have a great show for you today. Our guest is Ronelle Naidoo, the chief sales officer at The Mint Group, a preferred Microsoft Cloud Solutions provider with expertise in implementing Microsoft Business Solutions Technologies. The Mint Group has achieved amazing results, such as the one on the story that you're about to hear in their partnership with 3 different partners to implement a solution on Microsoft Azure and Power Platform in order to develop a data management system that significantly reduced response time and improved the accuracy of information during civil unrest and natural disaster.
Anthony Carrano:Let's hear what she has to say. Welcome, Ronelle, to the podcast today. Really appreciate you joining us.
Ronelle Naidoo:Thanks for having me, Anthony.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. Well, why don't we start off and tell us a little little bit about yourself and your role in the company?
Ronelle Naidoo:Yeah. My name is Ronelle Naidoo, and I'm currently the chief sales officer at Mint Group. I focus on the transformational deals with my extended sales team. We focus on areas from financial services to government to health care and education. My role really involves driving, initiatives of supporting our clients in achieving their goals as they navigate digital transformation in this new era.
Ronelle Naidoo:I'm also a mother of 2 amazing boys who keep me on my toes, and, they keep me with the latest trends and latest lingo. I've been at Mint for over 7 years now. And previous to that, I was at Microsoft also around 7 years. So it's really been incredible to witness the company grow from strength to strength, and really driven by the core values of this company and the mission of creating tomorrow.
Anthony Carrano:That's fantastic. And when did you join, the IAMCP?
Ronelle Naidoo:So Mint has been part of the IAMCP for many years. Though the South African chapter, I think it closed for a while. And during that time, the Mint team, we worked very closely with the EMEA chapter. And then about 2 years ago, we helped relaunch the IAMCP South African chapter here in South Africa again. And Mint really has been played an instrumental role in that growth.
Ronelle Naidoo:And I'm really super excited to be part of this journey. And and as we've just grown now, you know, I see this chapter in South Africa just continue to grow, and it's really exciting to be part of it. But, yeah, really 2 years now that I'm being part of this.
Anthony Carrano:Okay. Okay. Now so in addition to being, you know, a a tech exec and a, you know, a very involved mother, I hear that you're a boxer. Is is that true?
Ronelle Naidoo:I wouldn't say a professional boxer. I wish I would.
Anthony Carrano:Not yet. Not yet.
Ronelle Naidoo:Not yet. Not yet. But definitely, I I have found my calling. I always laugh and say that you know what? If sales is not gonna work out for me, I'm going into boxing.
Ronelle Naidoo:I absolutely love it. I think it's such an underrated sport. So, yes, I actually started in the beginning of 2024 and, just fool around with ladies. It's in a all ladies gym, but it's really it's so exciting.
Anthony Carrano:Now I have to ask, and and we are gonna get to the partner story, so I appreciate you kinda flowing with me on this. What what got you into that?
Ronelle Naidoo:So, you know, I think being in the industry that we're in, and we tend to have this discipline and this commitment of just focusing on work and focusing on being certain, you know, certain goal settings that you need to do that you forget about yourself. And one of my friends actually approached me last year, and they're like, bro, what do you do? You know? What do you do for yourself? And and I didn't have anything.
Ronelle Naidoo:And I was actually on TikTok, believe it or not.
Ronelle Naidoo:And it came up with this misfit, and there was these ladies, and they were boxing. I was like, this looks cool, and I signed up. And it was really about me, you know, finding this mental toughness of doing something that had more resilience for myself and just to push through and and it really just made me find a place that I belonged for that 1 hour where you could just lose yourself. So it was really, really just about being present and just thinking differently and building my own self confidence, and it was amazing that I could find this in a little gym with, other ladies just having some fun. So, yeah, it was just about finding something special for myself to do.
Anthony Carrano:That's fantastic. Well, I really appreciate you sharing that with us. And, we're looking forward to getting into, you know, your partner's story, which was really amazing. And I know Rudy's got some great questions, as we wanna kinda dig into that. Before we do, maybe can you share with us a little bit, you know, about Mint's areas of specialization?
Ronelle Naidoo:Awesome. Yeah. Sure. So Mint specializes in, like, several key areas. Right?
Ronelle Naidoo:So we do a lot with digital transformation. So we really help organizations navigate this transition through their digital solutions and looking at innovation within the sectors that I mentioned. We spend a lot of time on cloud solutions. So, like, solutioning, offering solutions that are able to scale and optimize the operations. We do a lot of business intelligence with our clients.
Ronelle Naidoo:We have tools that really help make data driven decisions. So we spend a lot of time on that analytics and the reporting with the clients. And, we do IT consulting. We do some custom software development. Mint is a Microsoft partner.
Ronelle Naidoo:You know, we, we only our found our only partner that we work with is Microsoft. And, from a from from a platform perspective, We currently hold 13 Microsoft specializations.
Anthony Carrano:Wow.
Ronelle Naidoo:And we are busy with another 4 in the pipeline. So we're really focused on Microsoft. And this really allows us as Mint to support our clients across various sectors, you know, and, just helping them achieve their business objectives effectively in the Microsoft ecosystem.
Anthony Carrano:Wow. Thank you for sharing. That's that's fantastic.
Rudy Rodriguez:Okay. Well, let's get down to the story. Can you tell us a little bit about, the partner that you worked with, the company or or organization that you also worked with? You know, you don't have to give us, the names of the client, but, it would nice to know who the partner was. And then, the the technology that you implemented and any challenges that you may have faced in in this project.
Ronelle Naidoo:Awesome. So as I mentioned, Edmond, we're deeply passionate about health care, and especially in South Africa. You know? So that sector faces so many challenges. So with one one significant issue being space in hospitals, and an effective records management.
Ronelle Naidoo:You know? So we worked very closely with the department, for health care, and just to understand the foundation of these challenges, would which ultimately came down to data. And where is it stored? How is it utilized? And the space that this data actually occupies.
Ronelle Naidoo:And as the saying goes, you get out what you put in. So proper data management is crucial in for improving health care outcomes. Outcomes. And I think that's really where the entire story started. We then explored solutions that leveraged, DocuAir as well as Microsoft Azure to look at how do we e-digitize smartly and intelligently making data available that could be used, for citizens and for patients, and for the records.
Ronelle Naidoo:You know? So this approach not only looked at how did we streamline records management, but also, you know, the intelligent data around us. I think that was the most exciting thing about this project was the art of the possible from what's next, you know, like the integrations thereafter and thinking about the other partners we're going to be working with that we could bring into the solution once we get this foundation in. So it wasn't like the story is over now that we've done this. You know?
Ronelle Naidoo:There's just so many more building blocks on there. And, really, by digitizing these patient records, we looked at, you know, how can we, improve, efficiency, health care professions can quickly get to people. So there was just so much about this. We had to bring people together because we couldn't do this in onus meant. So we really looked at how did we work with Microsoft because Microsoft's amazing and Azure is amazing and it has so much potential.
Ronelle Naidoo:And we really looked at how do we harness this, the analytics in there, and we looked at the machine learning. And, and and we really got into the insights of patient care and and just the overall health care experience on this here. So we worked a lot with Microsoft, with DocuWare, and then we got into who do we work with from a partner side of things that could enhance this and help us. You know? So that Mint is really good at the things that I mentioned before.
Ronelle Naidoo:But, you know, health care and the data and the in-depth details, we don't have all that details. So how do we find partners that really has, more details in health care and can share that knowledge, has the same values as us, and wants the same outcome on in health care to create this amazing solution that's going to not only create great patient care, but help our health care professionals and just South Africa as a whole when it comes to looking at public health care. So I think that's really the the gist of what the how the solution came on, some of the challenges that they were facing, and then and how we looked at the fact that we could not do this alone. We had to partner in order for us to be successful. It would have been great to say, just have our name on that, but that really wasn't gonna give us the end story that we're wanting.
Rudy Rodriguez:Have you been able to leverage that into getting, maybe delivering other health care solutions for private industry?
Ronelle Naidoo:Yeah. So we do we've done quite a bit for private health care and you know? But for public health care, the challenges are slightly different. So we've now taken what this when, I mean, when we actually closed this, and we've already multiplied it. And it's now in other regions and other areas.
Ronelle Naidoo:And just seeing this come alive just makes me so excited, because it really is going to give, like I said, the citizens. And it makes you happy to wake up in the morning to think that this is the legacy that you wanna leave behind.
Rudy Rodriguez:How long did it take your team to craft the solution?
Ronelle Naidoo:We were working on it for about to be I know you're gonna laugh at this, but believe it or not, it wasn't even, like, 4 months.
Rudy Rodriguez:Okay.
Ronelle Naidoo:I know. I mean, I remember the first clinical cloud solution we looked at. It took us 2 years, and it was not as half as complex as those 2 years to look at that.
Ronelle Naidoo:And then when we looked at this e-digitization, it was, like, 4 months, and it was like it just moved at such a rapid pace. And I think that showed how urgent of a need this was. And I think those products are actually the best projects. You know? Those ones that you, like, go in and you're like, oh my god.
Ronelle Naidoo:But did we check this and did we check that? And it's such a learning curve, and I think the exciting part is learning about this together as partners, you know, and making sure that we make the mistakes together, but we learn from them, and we pick up the pieces. I think that's really important.
Rudy Rodriguez:But, you know, you mentioned that you you knew you couldn't do it all by yourselves. What was your criteria in selecting a partner to help you with the solution?
Ronelle Naidoo:So Mint is, you know, I I spoke about, I think, our mission statements about creating tomorrow. And one of the things that we we realized when it was, I think, 2019 and COVID was there, we were we still needed to sell. Right? And we were like, how do we sell when we are locked down at home? And we were like, partners.
Ronelle Naidoo:You know? People buy from people. It's always about relationships. So we created a program that's called the Ubuntu Empowerment Program. And this program is really where we grow and we upscale smaller Microsoft partners.
Ronelle Naidoo:And we all know that Microsoft's will can be quite daunting with all their acronyms, and and you get these smaller partners that wanna come in. So we've got, like, over 13 partners in the program that we work with. We onboarded them, and we, work with them on projects so that they can gain their own experiences. We allow them. We help them with their certifications, and we help them.
Ronelle Naidoo:So they are partners that have their own solutions, and, they form part of that. So when selecting a partner for this particular solution, we considered, like, several key factors. And the main thing was their expertise and experience when it came through to e-digitization records as well as health care technology. We also looked at their needs for innovative solutions. What could they bring from from that side of things when it came to aligning to our vision and mission was very important, and their need to also transform, health care.
Ronelle Naidoo:Compatibility, you know, it's essential that the partner was compatible with what we wanted to do. So a lot of times, you you find someone and you wanna partner with them and and you wanna go in A and they wanna go in B. And then you you've gotta end it there. You know? So it was really important to make sure that that compatibility was there and the collaboration.
Ronelle Naidoo:You know? And, all these partners that I mentioned are all in our IAMC program. We work with them. We upscale them. So they don't just work with us.
Ronelle Naidoo:They work and they have access to some of our other partners. So the partner that we work with, we actually worked with 3 partners on this because we it was such we were like, sharing is caring. So and everybody was super excited. The support and the collaboration that we got from these partners was, you know, I can just say the reputation and reliability from them is something that I that really stood out through this whole thing. And, yeah, these partners are really committed to health care, and they really wanted to address these challenges that they faced in these sectors, and that's really how we went about choosing us.
Ronelle Naidoo:And I must say to you, you know, it just happened. You know, we have all these partners. It wasn't like we had to go digging for them. It was like it was just on the surface and everything just it was just meant to be.
Rudy Rodriguez:Well, it sounds like you have a very vibrant partner program. That's really good. How do you ensure that partners stay in their own swim lanes while working on a project?
Ronelle Naidoo:I mean, it's I think, you know, I think having clear communication. The one thing that we have always said is we are not scared to be honest with each other. When we start a project and setting out boundaries, setting out roles and responsibilities, and making sure that you know where you need to be accountable is very important. You know? I always love this thing, and I say when we start a project, I'll be like, "Guys, we do things differently."
Ronelle Naidoo:That's our motto on it. We do things differently. Forget about your previous experiences with other partners. Forget about what you went through last week when you didn't get what you want. We are here now, and we are doing things differently.
Ronelle Naidoo:So let's look at this differently. And I think that's really important. Listen. We're all human. We have failed in this project many a times, but we got up and we found a way.
Ronelle Naidoo:And, you know, it was about the fact that, again, we had the same output that we wanted. So it was easier for us to stay in our lanes. And when you kinda venture out, it will be like, "Hey. Move back. I think you're moving slightly to left on that one."
Ronelle Naidoo:You know? So it was it's quite easier to work with once you set your rules and and and way of work right in the front or in the start of.
Rudy Rodriguez:Well, that's a great story. Thank you for sharing. Anthony, I know you have some more questions.
Anthony Carrano:Yeah. Absolutely. And so, you know, so you've got, I love how, you know, you talked about how, you know, we're just setting the expectations, making sure things are clear on the roles, you know, and responsibilities, but also, you know, with, like, the points of accountability. And even, you know, with all of that in mind, right, and would did you guys, you know, have any challenges during the engagement? And if so, like, what were they, and how did you work together to overcome it?
Ronelle Naidoo:I believe every challenge is an opportunity for us to do better. And we call this a factory as a service. You know? So in order for us to do the digitization, you've got to do people. Right?
Ronelle Naidoo:And what we what we did was we worked with the department to say, how do we create job opportunities while we're doing this? Because a lot of people feel that, oh, as soon as you digitize up, it's AI. I'm losing my job. I don't have a job anymore. Everything's going to be done by computers and robots.
Ronelle Naidoo:So we were really excited that we could have a project where we could empower young people, hiring youth and teaching them. So through this project and part of what our partners had to do was we needed to go through and, we needed to find youth and people. And these are people that have never been exposed to corporate before. So can you imagine the different problems and, you know, that that was actually the biggest problem that we faced. But, really, when we got together and we we made them understand, and then we realized that, you know, we've gotta do the cha cha.
Ronelle Naidoo:You gotta take a few steps back before you take a few steps forward. And that's really what we did with it. So I think the biggest problem we had here was the solution was so, it was designed really amazingly. The team that did it, the architects, and I must say they did such a great job at making sure that they'd look at everything. However, one of the biggest challenges that we faced was people.
Ronelle Naidoo:And I think people, we are so unpredictable at any time. So you cannot say that if A happens, then you're gonna do B. And if B happens, you know so you can't really do that. So I think one of the biggest challenges that we needed to face as partners was how do we come together to have a 100 youth that we're busy working with to enable them and to say to them, you know, that they've never worked before. And you've gotta now go back to them to understand and put yourself in their shoes.
Ronelle Naidoo:And I must say, we've had amazing partners that they actually helped us. And as you know, they they're quite smaller than us, but I believe that you you know, learning is something that you do every day, and you can learn from a 6 year old. You can learn from an 8 year old. So I think through this entire project, we really learned from each others as as partners. And, also, in to be honest with you, in public health care, there's many unknowns.
Ronelle Naidoo:You know? So working with a partner that understands that, you know, from from from connectivity to, I mean, you know South Africa and some of the the the the challenges that we face. One of the biggest things is we work in an agile way. And I think that really as we uncovered problems, we kinda just pushed back on those bumps and took them and then kinda overcome them, and we just needed to we knew the outcome and the output that we needed to get to. So whatever challenges we faced, we just took them head on, and and it's really a learning curve so that when we go into the next projects, we know exactly how to do it.
Ronelle Naidoo:And it's great, I think, for us to and these partners are now onboarding partners on their projects to do things. So it's it's just this kinda bringing on and sharing, and and it doesn't just stick with 1 individual partner. So if I have to expand this, I'm not just gonna do it with a partner that I did, and they are comfortable with that. And I think that that's great to to be able to allow for others to grow and for others to for their businesses. You know?
Ronelle Naidoo:Because it's important for us to do that. I think if anything in in today's day and age, it's you wanna be successful, but you want everybody to be successful. And you wanna smile and you wanna laugh and you, you know, I think that's quite important in one of the challenges that we we kinda overcome.
Anthony Carrano:Well, you you emphasized learning, and I I love that. So I have actually it's, it's a two part question, right, based on, like, learning. The first one is, what did what did you or your team, we can expand it, learn that enabled, like, from this from this, you know, partnering experience, what did you all learn that enables, you know, your organization meant to improve at organizationally going forward?
Ronelle Naidoo:Yes. I think, you know, we we always kinda wanna do things. At Mint, we we have amazing people. We have some of the best people in the industry, and I'm gonna say that there. And I think when that comes through, sometimes we just have these ideas in our head.
Ronelle Naidoo:So it will be like the client is gonna say, "Oh, I want, you know, I want a car." And we'll be like, "Oh my god. We need to give them a Ferrari." And then and they actually just wanted a Toyota. So one of the learnings that we've actually taken was to listen more and to understand more. And, also, sometimes it's okay to just do the basics and later on to expand. That was really one of the biggest learnings. It's that it's okay for us because we always just wanna just you know, we wanna do everything that's just like, wow.
Ronelle Naidoo:And sometimes it's okay for us to just do the basics. And I think that was a really big learning. I know it sounds simple, but trust me, when you're so used to that, it's it's it's a big learning to take as a team.
Anthony Carrano:Mhmm.
Anthony Carrano:Well, especially too, I think, just to make sure you do the basics exceptionally well. Right? World class. And then, I mean, just and, unfortunately, just, you know you know, doing that, exceptionally well world class can be so rare nowadays. Right?
Anthony Carrano:And that's the unfortunate part because that that really should be the norm. You know? But yeah. No.
Ronelle Naidoo:That's a that's a really good point. People are also so scared of being wrong or scared of failing. And I think one of the things is, especially when you're dealing with health care, you know, it's like you've got all this pressure because it's, you know, you've got it it's but it's okay. And I think that's also something that no matter you know, in any partnership that you go in, it's like, we've gotta make this work and we've gotta do this and they won't wanna do with us. And it's it's honestly okay.
Ronelle Naidoo:It's honestly okay to fail together, to learn together. And I think once you get that right, it's really a recipe for success.
Anthony Carrano:Mhmm. Mhmm. And the the second part so first one was, you know, what did, you know, the team, you know, learn to help enable, you know, Mint to improve? The second part of that question is, what did y'all learn and, you know, from this partnership to help you improve partnering in the future?
Ronelle Naidoo:Partnering is it it, can be daunting at times. You know? I think once you realize that the the pie is big and everyone can have a slice, sky's on the limits. So I think one of the things that I've realized in partnering or in this discussions is that when you are priming as a partner and you are seen as a bigger partner and you're working with a smaller partner, is for you to understand how they're feeling. And sometimes making all the decisions was one of the one of the learnings I took was allowing the partner to make the decisions.
Ronelle Naidoo:And even if I didn't agree with it, let them go through the process to understand, you know, why I may have felt that this didn't work so that they can learn for their own businesses. So I think not making all the decisions in the partnership or making it because that's not a partnership. You know? And I think that's sometimes when you are just you you need this end goal and you just wanna run and you sometimes leave people behind. So in a partnership, you always have to remember that slow down and make sure that everybody's coming with you.
Ronelle Naidoo:And Mint is really good at that, and I think that's some of the things that I've taken a learning from. I mean, we spoke about Carl earlier. He's our group CEO, and, you know, he does that all the time. I think really means partnership and how we partnership has really evolved from what he looks at it. And and it's really that learning around partnering means taking everybody along no matter who it is and no matter what time of it and what deadline we need to make to not leave anybody behind so that everyone has that feeling of success at the end.
Anthony Carrano:Yeah. So, Ronelle, you said something really interesting, not to, like, put you on the spot, but I'm really curious when you talked about as a larger partner not making all those decisions, but slowing down so you can allow them to kinda process, you know, your your partners to to, you know, to make the decisions. What and it doesn't have to be specific to, like, this, partner story if you can I mean, if you wanna answer it, you know, like, in this specific situation or if you wanna take, you know, a larger view and just answer it generally, what kind of decisions are you referring to? Like, allow like, you know, as the lead partner, but allowing the other partners just to make those decisions. Can you can you unpack that a little bit?
Ronelle Naidoo:So I think when you're priming in a and I think in the industries that we're in, you know, we always have partners that we work with, and we wanna give them opportunities to work with us. But we also tend to make all the decisions. And that would be from this from the scope to the deliverables, to the people, to the whether it be, you know, like, the targets or the, you know, those type of things. And that's what I mean is allowing each to say, you know, what do you think if we kinda allow people to scan 20,000 a day versus 10,000 a day instead of saying, guys, I expect us to scan 20,000 a day. You know?
Ronelle Naidoo:So it's those type of, give me your advice or give me your opinion on this because then it makes you part of it and not that you're just delivering on it. Because then you you feel like you included in it. So those are the type of decisions. And to be honest with you, if you're partnering with me on a deal, you should be in it from you know, you shouldn't just be worried about, oh, this is just my piece. I'm not worried about what's happening on there.
Ronelle Naidoo:So then once you're sharing everything with them, they become part of it, and and I think that's important. So it's like sometimes you'll be like, oh, this is just your piece. You only worry about this. Don't worry about this piece. I'll take care of it.
Ronelle Naidoo:But rather saying, this is the project as a whole. This is what's going on in this area. This is what's happening in marketing. This is what's happening, from a governance perspective. And, you know, partner, you need to to obviously focus on this area.
Ronelle Naidoo:But just so that you know, these are what's happening in the other areas as well. So I think those are definitely some of the learnings that we took into the second project, which worked better than just saying, you know, and it sometimes I think it was more of us not wanting to give the partner more, like, things to worry about because it's like you want them to worry about their little baby. Just just do that piece. But I think it also kind of puts them in the back foot on not having the full idea on what's happening.
Anthony Carrano:Mhmm. That's awesome. Thank you.
Rudy Rodriguez:You know, Ronelle, one of the things that I've enjoyed about the this conversation is, your organization really, practices the empowerment of partnership, and and those are principles that are core to the IAMCP. You know, that's the first thing is partnering. It's it's in it's in the in the name of the organization. So it's really empowering, and it's very forward thinking of your organization to be practicing that because you do empower the channel, and it helps you grow as a business.
Rudy Rodriguez:And and a lot of people don't realize that. So and being mentors to people is also very important. And I and I picked that up from your from the conversation. So in all this partnering experience, this, how are you leveraging that? You know, I know you probably increased your customer satisfaction tremendously.
Rudy Rodriguez:You know, then how are you in all these learnings, how are you using this to help increase your own company's revenue and your partner's revenue? Now how do you incorporate that into your sales and marketing processes and things like that?
Ronelle Naidoo:Yeah. So, I mean, government is, we work quite closely with with them. And in this project, for example, is committed to empowering smaller businesses and making, making initiatives like this, valuable for them and for us as Mint. So I think for me, when we looked at revenue and we looked at growth, yes, we always wanna make sure that we create tomorrow. That's what we need to do.
Ronelle Naidoo:But we need to create tomorrow with making sure that we also, as a business, make revenue and have our partners make revenue. You know? So I think in the solutions that we create, we make sure that it is profitable for the partners to make sure that they can continue to grow and eager, to to satisfy their business needs as well. So I definitely can say that most of the engagements we work with with our partners, we cost them and we work with them and we get insights to them. So there's a lot of stuff that we work in with our marketing teams and Microsoft.
Ronelle Naidoo:We spend a lot of time with Microsoft to get their investments back into us because we're putting so much far into Microsoft and making sure that the end customers are using their their products. So for us as well, Microsoft need to give back so that we can make sure we can do more. Because a lot of the time, we get rebates or we get whatever it may be. We don't keep that as a month. We take that, and we reinvest it back into the client because we always know that that investment is going to get us a bigger opportunity.
Ronelle Naidoo:So I think that is something we also work with our partners on. It will be like, don't take this into your bottom line, reinvest it back. The clients are gonna see the the investment, and then they're going to go and take the bigger ones for you. And that's worked really well. Now I'm giving you all my trade secrets now, you see.
Ronelle Naidoo:So but I think that's that's worked really well for us, you know, it's reinvesting back. And then the clients see the growth because for me, it's always about making sure we deliver. Quality and delivery is absolutely one of the two things that are our massive values at Mint. And I think when we deliver and we show quality, the revenue and the satisfaction from our clients just flows in.
Rudy Rodriguez:Well, I wanna thank you for all your trade secrets, and you even answered my next question ahead of time. So I love it. Because, you know, the one question I really wanted to ask you. So you've learned an awful lot from doing this, and that's that's that's kudos to your organization for practicing this. I've lived those principles myself for for over 30 years, so I understand where you're coming from.
Rudy Rodriguez:So the other thing is, do you have any other advice that you would give to partners, You know, give companies like yours advice on, you know, how to best maximize the partnering process.
Ronelle Naidoo:Definitely. I think I said this before, and it can be daunting to partner. Because I think even as a kid, sharing is very hard. You know? And what what do they always go back to say?
Ronelle Naidoo:What does Barney say? Sharing is caring. So I think even when you look at partnering, it's about understanding that once you know that this opportunity and the industry is big enough for everybody, because I think we all talk about, oh, we're going through this and we're going through that and the industry is so tough. But it really is once you look at the opportunity, I feel like okay. So my advice to partners that wanna wanna look at partnering and start partnering to prioritize a few things.
Ronelle Naidoo:And the first thing is the most important thing in any partnership is shared values and vision. You know, you have to have a shared value and vision as partners, and your companies need to have or or foster the similar collaboration and mutual understanding. Right? And communication. You need to have a clear communication as partners.
Ronelle Naidoo:Be transparent, you know, from the outset. Expectations build trust. And I think that's so important. And also define roles and responsibilities as you work through these partnerships so that everyone clearly understands their roles and responsibilities in this partnership so that no one's expecting one to do the other and me to do the next, you know. And focus on mutual benefit.
Ronelle Naidoo:Partnership means equal. Look for partnerships that offer both value for both parties. It must be a win win approach. It cannot be where one wins and the other one doesn't. That's not sustainable.
Ronelle Naidoo:And also invest in relationship building. Sometimes a partner may be stronger than the other but you see the vision and the mission. Invest in that relationship with that partner for the long run because it will be an amazing collaboration. And be open to innovation, you know, be open to innovation as a partnership to kind of lead breakthroughs and benefits for both organizations, you know. And and the one important thing in partnerships, we always do this now, is measure the success.
Ronelle Naidoo:So when you start something, say, okay. These are how we're gonna, at the end, evaluate our metrics, and this is what the partnership needs to be. And at the end, measure it. That's the only way for you to know if it is going to be successful. And I think if you can follow a few of these things, it'll definitely cultivate strong partnerships.
Ronelle Naidoo:It'll drive growth, and it will definitely, for a business, deliver meaningful results. I I am 100% sure that that would would come through from it.
Rudy Rodriguez:We definitely wanna thank you for those words of wisdom.
Rudy Rodriguez:So we got your trade secrets, words of wisdom, and some actually partnering advice. So thank you.
Anthony Carrano:Well, I I was gonna say, Ronelle, I'm, like, taking notes. I'm, like, that you should take let's take that last answer there. Let's package that into a master class. That was awesome.
Ronelle Naidoo:That's what happens when you get someone that's so passionate about it. I'm so passionate about it.
Anthony Carrano:That was fantastic. Really a thank you. That was that was fantastic. So as we wrap up, how can how can folks, you know, find out more about Mint and, you know, connect with you, connect with Mint?
Ronelle Naidoo:Oh, that'll be great. I mean, we would love to look at other partnerships across. We've got really a a massive geo expansion into the UAE, into us, into, you know, the UK. Our team's just growing there. So if you go on through to our Mint website, you can also catch us catch me on my LinkedIn, pop me a message.
Ronelle Naidoo:Would really love to connect and see how we can work together, partner together, and, look at some of the the solutioning into different areas and maybe also just get insights from others. I would love to hear from everyone.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. We'll have, the links to the website and the various LinkedIn pages in the show notes for people, you know, who'd wanna find out more and connect. So, we'll definitely be sure to you folks wanna check that out for sure. Ronelle, thank you. This has been a wonderful, wonderful, you know, interview.
Anthony Carrano:Appreciate all of your time. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Ronelle Naidoo:Thank you again for having me. It's been great.
Anthony Carrano:Wow. That was a great episode. I really appreciate Ronelle's perspective and her time and things that she shared, you know, on today's interview. I took away several things. Rudy, what were some things that stood out to you?
Rudy Rodriguez:Well, you know, I'm in total agreement with you. That was an excellent interview because Ronelle really iterated a lot of the core concepts that we teach about partnership at IAMCP. And the one thing I really appreciated that she mentioned was how they mentor their partners to teach them the processes of partnering and and the core principles. And so they can do a much better job for their clients and and in the partnering process. And the fact that they use, that partnering is a core a core business process for them is really, really key because that teaches partners that you can't do all the work yourself and you need to rely on partners sometimes.
Rudy Rodriguez:The technology world is so big and we have to specialize in key areas. And the fact that their business process is they know they can't do everything. So they have a select group of partners that they work with already, and then they mentor them to become better partners. And I thought that was an excellent, business process that that organization follows, and and kudos to the Mint group for doing that.
Anthony Carrano:Yeah. No. That was that was really solid. I know, one of the things that really resonated with me in addition to that was she she, you know, shared this phrase about, you know, expectations build trust and just the importance on, you know, building that trust so you have not only strong partnerships, but a platform, if you will, to grow revenue. And then how she further expanded upon that on things that you can do that you should prioritize in order to, to be able to deliver on that.
Anthony Carrano:She shared there were 7 key things I took away. The first being, you know, having, you know, shared values and vision. 2nd, you know, fostering, you know, communication and collaboration, for transparency and accountability. Number 3, making sure there's clearly defined roles and responsibilities. This number 4 was I thought was an excellent point, focusing on mutual benefit and the point that, you know, if it's a partnership, it does have to create value for both parties.
Anthony Carrano:It's something that sounds so obvious, but unfortunately gets, lost, you know, far too often, than it really should be. Number 5, investing in relationship building. Number 6, being open to innovation. Right? You know, to create, you know, unique breakthroughs and benefits for not only the customer, but then also the partners.
Anthony Carrano:And, number 7, just the importance on measuring the success. I mean, I just thought that was almost like that could have been packaged and delivered as a master class, you know, in, your partnering priorities.
Rudy Rodriguez:Yeah. Absolutely. I was smiling throughout the throughout the interview, because those are the things that we've worked on at IAMCP for a long time in teaching people how to partner. And the fact that she she talked about measuring the results for both sides, that you have to be able to grow your business through partnering. And that's that's a key principle for them.
Rudy Rodriguez:The other thing about setting the values and the expectations, because we talked about that in your interview. How do you teach partners to stay in their own swim lanes? And that's the tough thing for partners to understand. And a lot of times when we we work with partners on projects, we we sometimes focus on the minutiae too much and don't look at the big picture. And she did an excellent job of presenting the big picture and how their organization follows those principles.
Rudy Rodriguez:So I was very, very, happy and smiling throughout the whole thing because, for those people who take our our partnering classes at at IAMCP, you learn these very things in that class. And the fact this organization did it organically is even better. It's even better. Kudos to the Mint group.
Anthony Carrano:Yeah. And, you know, and on that note, I know I was just thinking when you were sharing earlier just how what really stood out, how, you know, they mentor their partners, but also, you know, in it not only just in, you know, part of your processes and, like, best practices, but when she also talked about how just the importance of re if you receive funding, you know, from Microsoft, just the importance of reinvesting that funding back into the client, right, to create, you know, great customer experience so they can in turn further grow and develop the account. I thought that was just a just a good point. You know? As a as a practical matter of things that they can do in helping partners, you know, by and large just to grow their overall business.
Anthony Carrano:So thank you for joining us on this episode of IAMCP profiles and partnership powered by We hope you enjoyed this podcast and find it useful and inspiring. If you did, please subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast platform. One of the best ways to partner for success is to join IAMCP, a community of Microsoft partners who help each other grow and thrive. IAMCP members can find and connect with other partners locally and globally and access exclusive resources and opportunities. Whether you're looking for new customers, new markets, or new solutions, IAMCP can help you achieve your goals.
Anthony Carrano:To learn more, visit the website at www.iamcp.org.
