How Microsoft Partners Build Scalable Multi-Partner Solutions
Welcome to IAMCP Profiles in Partnership, the 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 and in each episode, I sit down with some of the most innovative and successful partners across the Microsoft Today's episode is something special. Instead of one or two partners, we're joined by leaders from the Seattle IAMCP chapter who built something unique, a structured multi partner consortium known as the Seattle Joint Solutions Group. So what started as individual ad hoc partnering has evolved into a repeatable AI enabled framework that allows nine member organizations to deliver integrated industry focused solutions as a unified team. The International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners, otherwise known as IAMCP, is built on the idea that partners grow faster together than alone.
Anthony Carrano:Members connect locally and globally, access exclusive resources, and unlock new customer and market opportunities. But today, you'll hear what happens when that collaboration goes beyond referrals and becomes a fully architected operating model. We'll explore how they align nine companies into one solution stack, how AI helped define and expand their joint offerings, how they built trust, governance, and accountability at scale, and what this can mean for other IAMCP chapters across the country. So whether you're a new partner looking to accelerate growth or an established firm exploring deeper P2P strategies, this episode will challenge how you think about collaboration inside the Microsoft ecosystem. Let's dive in.
Anthony Carrano:Well, welcome everyone to the podcast. I am so excited to have all of you on as a guest. Before we get started, I'd like, to have each of you maybe kinda go around, share a little bit about, you know, who you are, your company, and then we'll kind of jump right into the interview. Pat, why don't you start us off please?
Patrick Hart:Sure, Anthony. Thanks for having me. My name is Patrick Hart. I'm the director of sales for REV, which stands for remember every veteran. We are a service disabled veteran owned, woman owned small business.
Patrick Hart:And for the most part, what we do is we provide solutions for state and local. We work with homeless, and we do a lot of customized development and bespoke work. Fantastic, fantastic. Alexandra.
Alexandra Matthieson:Thanks, Anthony. And like Pat, I'm happy to be here today with you. I'm Alexandra Matthieson. I am founding partner with Second Forge Group, and we deliver IT modernization solutions.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent, excellent. Nigel, welcome back, sir.
Nigel Postings:Thank you, Anthony. I'm delighted to be here with this group. So Nigel Postings, founding partner of Bizcise, and we are everything about data when it comes to channel. Have I got the right channel partners? Where are they?
Nigel Postings:And what do I do with them?
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. Excellent. Catherine.
Katherine VanHenley:Hi, Anthony and the rest of the team. I am director of internal operations with WMI Worldwide. We have over twenty two years of experience designing, developing, and deploying technology solutions for our clients.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. And Denny, you're no stranger. Welcome back, sir.
Denny Ghim:Thank you. Denny Gim here with Sandler Partners. We're a technology service distributor, jack of all trades and master of all trades, bringing best of breed to every solution.
Michael Mpare:Excellent. Michael? Yes. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. And I am Michael Michael Mpare CEO for Warner Marketing Incorporated or WMI Worldwide with Catherine. And just to add to to to Catherine's intro, we are tier one supplier, diverse supplier for for Microsoft, and we are also into, technology and operation consulting. And, we also help, our client modernize and scale on on Azure as well.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. Excellent. And, Pramod, again, welcome, sir. Yeah, I know you're no stranger to this podcast. It's good to see you again.
Promod Antony:Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm Pramod Anthony, CEO of Logic Intelligence. We are a technology solutions provider specializing in data, AI, and business applications.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. And, Paul.
Denny Ghim:Hi, I'm Paul Solskine. I'm a partner at the Redmond Partner Group. We are a team of specialists in business development, helping Microsoft Partners to scale their sales through developing customized strategies, building partner networks, and expanding into international markets.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. Well, welcome everyone. So excited to have you on for this very special, you know, episode. I know I keep talking about it being such a special episode. Usually, you know, we'll have, you know, you know, maybe two partners on, you know, here we have, you know, one, about, you know, eight you know, eight or nine, you know, partners on that make up what's called the Seattle Joint Solutions Group.
Anthony Carrano:So let's jump right in. You know, Paul, why don't you tell our listeners what is the Seattle Joint Solution Group and why did you guys start it?
Denny Ghim:Thanks, Anthony. So we as the Seattle IAMCP chapter have been meeting for years and have been collaborating on a ad hoc one to one basis. We saw that there are opportunities that were open for more complex solutions and customers wanted complete solutions. And one or two partners didn't have enough breadth of expertise and experience to address those. So we formed a consortium, a consortium of eight partners, each with expertise in a different part of the solution stack that customers typically want, varying from data analytics and BI through to ERP, CRM and AI.
Denny Ghim:And we now have the ability to address a much broader set of needs that customer has by combining our expertise together and presenting it as one. And then in that way, the customer gets a more comprehensive and complete solution with one throat to choke accountability, and we've identified some 35 solutions that we can take to market for customers. And so we're working together to individually and collectively to promote the solutions and identify more opportunities.
Anthony Carrano:Man, that's fantastic. Well, what I'd like to hear from each of our guests, like what motivated each of your companies to join this multi, you know, partner coalition?
Patrick Hart:I'm not sure if I can say much better than Paul did, but I think when you, I think what Revved is, I think we saw the opportunity to join, you know, a complimentary group of companies that is just gonna be a much better position to address the end to end needs of any client that we're working with, whether that's something like, you know, strategy or implementation integration, know, change management, whatever it may be. But doing it under a unified delivery model is gonna offer limitless benefits to the client. So, know, you get fewer handoffs, fewer gaps, solutions designed more as a cohesive system versus being Frankenstein together. So just a lot better alignment and a lot more possibility to do it a lot more. You know, it's like the classic sports saying, faster alone, but farther together.
Alexandra Matthieson:I don't know about the sports angle, but I'd like to add to that, Pat. I appreciate that. One of the things that we found, and I'm sure a lot of small, mid sized organizations know that when you invest in a client organization, so often as you make your way through that initial project, you identify new opportunities for business. The truth is a single entity like Second Forge Group, there's only so much we can do. But with access to the breadth of resources available through the IAMCP Seattle Joint Solutions Group, we're ultimately able to say yes to almost every client request.
Alexandra Matthieson:And there's a ton of power in that.
Denny Ghim:Yes. And additionally, we have not only one partner looking for opportunities and solving customers' roles, we now have eight organisations working together, reaching out the market and leveraging their contacts for the benefit of the entire group.
Michael Mpare:Yeah, and to add to that, I mean, at WMI, our mantra is it takes a team, right? And what we realised was, especially working with Microsoft is that, for a small company like ours, sometimes going against the big companies when it comes to RFPs or opportunities, it was is very difficult. So being part of a group like this really empowers us to be able to present, a suite of experiences, that gives us opportunity to be able to go against some of these big guys as well.
Denny Ghim:Absolutely. Well, what motivated me to join the consortium was the opportunity to have multiple eyes from different disciplines look at an opportunity and give feedback as to other potential services and needs for that customer. It gave me an opportunity to look a little bit deeper And even just having conversations with some of my colleagues here, it opened up a whole world of other possibilities that I would have never even thought of. So that was a big value for me.
Anthony Carrano:Nigel, how about yourself?
Nigel Postings:Yeah, I joined the group. Number one, I want to work with people that are smarter than me, and I think there's people in this group smarter than me, so that's number one. Number two, we all did maths at school. One plus one doesn't equal two, it equals three. The sum of our parts is very, very important.
Nigel Postings:We are a data specialist, but data's great, but if you don't do anything with data, either data to find the right client, data to help a client, data to help your client find their client, then it's not very good. So I think working with all these beautiful, smart people has enabled us to have a very, very comprehensive end to end solution.
Anthony Carrano:And Parmar, how about yourself? What motivated you to join?
Promod Antony:Yeah, especially when we are competing with large corporations and everything, it's very difficult. And then the other thing is, like, whenever we submit a RFP, when we actually bring in, like, 10 or 15 RFP, we may end up getting two or three RFPs, winning RFPs. So this combined effort actually brings up that effort with distributor among like eight partner companies. So we are being subcontractor in one opportunity than the other one. So that actually brings up the opportunities, more opportunities for us.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent, excellent. And Catherine, how about yourself? What motivated you guys to join?
Katherine VanHenley:Well, my answer might be a bit different, but I had spent some years with the Seattle board, the IAMCP Seattle board, so I was familiar with many of the partners on the call already and you know it almost felt like a no brainer when we were kind of talking about options to deliver more services, better services to clients. So, you know, that was my motivation for bringing WMI into the mix. You know, we already had a good working relationship. There are people I can trust and lean on with business opportunities. So yeah, pretty much a no brainer for us.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent, excellent, excellent. Well, this question here, I wanna, you know, start off here with Nigel, but definitely wanna hear, you know, the multiple perspectives. How, you know, being part of this, how are you able to better meet the needs of prospective clients and the Microsoft markets at large, you know, as a group? Now I know you're just got done saying, you know, one plus one equals two or three, excuse me, not two, But why don't you expand on that a little bit?
Nigel Postings:Yeah, think there's so many examples of, I think, maybe work with Alexandra. She knows a particular market very, very well, and I know that our data can help her. Know, working collectively as an organization, we decide, you know, what's the sum of our parts? Who do we need to go and find? And then we can work with these people to expand into new markets of this size, necessarily wouldn't go in on our own.
Nigel Postings:It opens up new markets. It's enabled us to do an end to end solution where sometimes when you can only do a little bit, it's not delivering greatness to the client. So adding everything together is pretty comprehensive and compelling.
Denny Ghim:I would just add that if you look at a client organisation, they have a need of a breadth of solutions, like a solution stack, all the way from database to the knowledge worker and productivity applications and everything in between. And it's very difficult for any one partner organisation to have breadth of skills across the entire solution stack. Therefore, we tend to specialise, and if we come across an opportunity where in fact a much broader, more comprehensive solution is needed, Without this partnership, it would be very difficult to address those. So, we're able to craft. And what we've done, we've actually used AI to help us craft joint solutions, different mix of the members to work with each other so that we can address more opportunities.
Denny Ghim:And we can behave like a much larger organisation and provide the benefits to customers of having that specialised expertise in each area that they may need it.
Anthony Carrano:Well, one of the things, if I may kind of ask like a piggyback, and this will be open to the group. So, you know, when you have, you know, this many, you know, partners, eight, you know, part of this consortium and, you know, you know, your your eyes are open, you're out there, you know, you're building your business, but your eyes are open to the opportunities to, you know, and because you have this consortium, how do you guys, you know, keep yourselves educated and aware of what each other's, you know, capabilities or strengths are? So even though you might hear of something that maybe doesn't really fit, know, within your core capabilities like, yeah, my, you know, one of my partners, you know, is part of this consortium, this fits with so and so. But keeping all that in your head when you've got eight, you know, how do you guys, you know, manage that? How do you educate yourselves, keep yourself aware?
Anthony Carrano:I'm going to throw that out to the group.
Alexandra Matthieson:I'd love to tag in and answer that one, Anthony.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent.
Alexandra Matthieson:Yeah. We actually took a tech forward approach to that. And Paul will probably speak a little bit about this as well, just talking about how we identified all of the solutions we can take to market as a group. We actually took that same AI guided approach to understanding how to message and ultimately position and market our different companies and really document those things. So I worked hand in hand figuratively with our colleague JP, and we used ChatGPT and a ton of different messaging materials spanning our companies to sort of distill how do we talk about ourselves individually as organizations and how can we talk about ourselves in a compelling way as a collective.
Alexandra Matthieson:And then JP and I created and built and maintained with this broader team a process for, again, documenting and then sharing those things across the group.
Denny Ghim:I'm kind of going back to just the communication that we're having within our group. So, part of what we do is we meet once a week and we have talks about deals, best practices, and so forth. Through that communication, I'm a very visual person. Also feel like, you know, we're in the same room. We have opportunity to share wins together and talk about what we're doing.
Denny Ghim:And that right away opens up the gates in my mind of, oh, I could I could offer that through Nigel or Alexandria or whatever. And so, you know, just the open dialogue and the continual communication, it's an investment in all of our parts to segment a portion of our week where we're like, okay, we're invested in each other. We're definitely better together. I know that's such a cliche thing, but it's a 100% true. So I just add that in.
Anthony Carrano:No. That's fantastic.
Denny Ghim:Consequently, this out work, we had JP's proactive system do an AI analysis across all of the members, and we created this matrix of which members have the right solutions for particular applications and even particular industries. And, you know, the continued communications that we have on a weekly basis allows us to update that.
Promod Antony:And to piggyback on this conversation here, we've been meeting for the past, like, a year. Every week we are meeting. So that gives us a chance to know each other, what are there, what is the company's strength. We are talking about the wins, Jenny was mentioning. All these kind of things actually, now when we have a new project, we don't have to actually go back and look at what are the expertise for each company.
Promod Antony:We already know that this is a good one for that particular business or the partnering actually occurs to very naturally.
Anthony Carrano:No, I mean, that's pretty fantastic. And I know I was gonna get into it a little bit later, but since we're talking about it now about around Frontier AI and Microsoft Cloud, I mean, built this portfolio of, I think it's, was it 20 Frontier AI solutions, is that, is that
Denny Ghim:35 actually.
Anthony Carrano:Twenty five?
Denny Ghim:Thirty five.
Anthony Carrano:35.
Denny Ghim:Oh, man. We've grown. That's okay. We're putting it on our hands here, you know. You're gonna
Anthony Carrano:have to do some unpacking of that here. So I know, you know, you know, talked a little bit about the using CheckGPT and you've documented, you've got some processes. I'd love it. Like if you could maybe go a little bit deeper into how you kind of develop that solution portfolio as in a company collective. Know it seems like we touched on it, but can we go a little deeper on that?
Denny Ghim:Sure. So, JP did a great deal of the technical work using a system that he calls the proactive system. And it's an AI, and he created agents that firstly looked individually at each one of our organizations and pinpointed what solutions each organization can provide to end the value propositions to specific customers. So, solution value proposition and customer types came out of that initial work. And that was revealing even to us individually.
Denny Ghim:And then what was done was to look at collectively different combinations of partners and what kind of solutions could be addressed there, the value propositions and the customers. And that's how we came up with that portfolio of 35. Alexandra, would you add more to that?
Alexandra Matthieson:Yeah, I was able to work from all of this rich rich documentation JP had generated from sort of a custom AI he's developed and from just a marketing leadership perspective, identify like, how can I draw from this and create a distilled collection of messages? How can we present and ultimately maintain over time? Because as we all know, these technologies are evolving really quickly. When we're talking frontier AI, it's truly at the forefront of technological advancement. So kind of, JP and I honed this process and then shared it with the team.
Alexandra Matthieson:We're all tagged in at this point and able to access a breadth of materials through a SharePoint repository we all have access to. Anytime, for example, if somebody were they had a question like how would Second Forge Group address this specific issue? We have these materials created that we're constantly maintaining where we've documented that messaging and the positioning.
Anthony Carrano:That's fantastic. I do have one more question about this, and I know I wanna jump to some of the I know we're talking, we kind of, you know, towards some of the tech. I do wanna get towards like some of the the human, the the cultural collaborative aspects of it here in a sec. But before I do, I'd be curious just to hear from somebody and, you know, as it's forced you to, you know, you have to have your right data saying, hey, is our our ideal customer. Here's our value prop.
Anthony Carrano:You're providing these inputs so then the AI can, you know, analyze that and you can provide the recommendations. I'm just curious, how has it helped your in any and this for open for anyone's your individual business if it's like really forced you to get really specific, right? So then you could provide the right data so you get the good outputs, you know, in this portfolio. Does anybody wanna share that? Meaning, me rephrase the question.
Anthony Carrano:Has it helped? I know I see the value of doing the exercise to help the help the consortium. Has it helped you by going through that exercise force you to maybe hone some things in your individual company pursuits?
Denny Ghim:For me, because what I do a lot of time is hunting. It helped me kind of get a couple more spears in my quiver. So as I'm out there kind of understanding, you know, where Primaad sits, where Paul sits, where Nigel sits, where Catherine, all the you know, so I know where everybody sits. Because I'm having the conversation, I'm looking for key terms and it certainly has helped me be a little more effective in recognizing opportunities. And then also in my existing book, as I'm talking to clients and they bring up various projects, I was kinda limited to what I was doing in the past.
Denny Ghim:And just by enriching my experience with the partner group in Seattle, it's opened my eyes to be able to think, okay, that's a little marker. I'll mark that off. And and in about a month or so, I'm gonna follow-up and and go chase that deal down.
Anthony Carrano:Nice. Before I jump to about talking about, like, the collaborative spirit and, some of the cultural aspects, Rudy, did you did you have any questions about this you wanted to jump in on?
Rudy Rodriguez:No. I'm just intrigued by by the collaborative spirit. How do you you know, I know it's hard to maintain. So how often do you guys communicate? I know you used AI to help you confirm your messages, hone your messages, but how often do you communicate amongst yourselves and discuss the pipeline and such that you're working on?
Denny Ghim:So, we meet weekly and we discuss a whole range of things, but best practices and opportunities and then if something specific comes up, like Pat recently had an RFP to discuss, Then there are meetings outside the group meetings for those partners, members that are involved in that. And there are individuals. So I think so we have one fixed meeting and there are others that follow-up. And of course, we're on email all the time seeking opportunities and seeking out to work together.
Nigel Postings:Yeah, and I think it's important to add, there's obviously the structured approach where we meet every Tuesday, but also there's the unstructured approach. We know as best size what we can and what we can't do, and I know within this group, so for example, around Power BI, Promod's got those capabilities, so there may be the collective meeting, but also there's the side meetings when you've got immediate opportunities.
Denny Ghim:I would also add too, just the time that we've been together, we've developed a sense of trust. Because a lot of times, some of this stuff is proprietary information, and so, you know, there's a certain amount of trust we have to be able to share with each other as we're talking about opportunities, as we're talking about particular technologies we're providing. So, you know, using those secret weapons in our group, in our trusted environment is a big help.
Denny Ghim:Yes. And and also several members can overlap in the expertise that they have, but instead of competing, there is a discussion about agreeing who's taking the lead on a particular project and then people stay in their own lanes and that just builds on that trust.
Promod Antony:We also have a centralized team communication channel where we keep all our information so we can communicate very easily.
Alexandra Matthieson:And actually speaking to building trust, one of the things that has been hugely beneficial of having this breadth of individuals and ultimately experience and expertise in the broader group, I can't tell you how many times I've identified a potential opportunity that would not be within the fold at Second Forge Group. And it's provided an opportunity to reach out to somebody in the IAMCP Seattle Joint Solution Group, and bring it to their attention. And that alone builds an incredible amount of trust. Like, we're not just in it for ourselves because we have built a dynamic, arguably a friendship as a group, there is just that sense of wanting to see one another excel even beyond our own benefit, which is there's a lot to that.
Katherine VanHenley:And Anthony, I'm not sure if I'm jumping into your next question here or not, but I think one important thing to note too, you know, our collaboration and our cooperation as a group, I don't it it wouldn't be possible without the right foundation. And I'll I'll shout out Paul here because he is our our leader, and he has been able to kind of keep things together. Whereas, you know, I feel like you bring this many people together, this kind of loosey goosey, it's easy to fade away. Right? Paul keeps us focused and keeps us on the ball.
Katherine VanHenley:And I think that the fact that we've worked together through the IAMCP chapter and have that cadence already, we're used to coming together on a regular basis, keeping those lines of communication open. So I really think that the foundation that we've already laid out keeps our collaboration together. It keeps us, you know, looking towards the future as well.
Anthony Carrano:Well well, Catherine, you read my mind. You need to add that to your to your 35. So now you got 36, Paul. Mind reading because I want
Denny Ghim:It's a team effort.
Anthony Carrano:Say what?
Denny Ghim:I was just saying that it's a team effort. We all contribute in goodwill and good intention.
Anthony Carrano:Well, Catherine, if you could actually, I'd like you if you could maybe unpack that a little bit more about the main, like the details maybe about maintaining that collaborative spirit across eight companies with different cultures, you know, business goals and technical specialties. So how, let's get into the, you know, some nitty gritty on, you know, how does that, you know, maintain that collaborative spirit?
Katherine VanHenley:Sure, well, know, I mean, I think that we've come into this with, know, shared core values for all of our companies, we all have unique perspectives, area of expertise, cultures. And we do, it's important for us to show up for each other's each week. I know we can't all make every meeting, but we do prioritize them. And also show up for our clients, you know, like ready to make meaningful business outcomes for them. So you know as far as the nitty gritty, I would say you know if anyone else is interested in doing something like this, I'm having, you know, maybe a clear leader of the group.
Katherine VanHenley:Also, you know, get things on paper, documentation, contracts. I think that's important, it holds people accountable to the outcomes. And planning ahead for a certain period of time, whether it's a quarter or a year. I think all of those logistical items help us be a little bit more free in our day to day with each other.
Anthony Carrano:No. That's great. That's great. Well, I think that it's a great segue into talking about maybe customer wins and, and impact and and how you guys, you know, bring the story to life. Rudy?
Rudy Rodriguez:So I was really intrigued when you said you had 35, now 36, AI solutions Frontier Solutions. We since mind reading got added to it by Anthony. So one of the things there, what has been the the most, I guess, particularly compelling outcome in terms of implementation and and the resulting customer value? You know, how do you how do you celebrate those wins? What is just what makes it so compelling for this group?
Promod Antony:Yeah, so we, Denny and I actually work on a couple of wins where one is with Oregon Food Bank. We actually completed that project. It was a very good one. We started from IAMCP as a small group where we actually brainstorm a project. That's how that project came in.
Promod Antony:That was a very good one. And then we expanded that to another manufacturing client. And now we are, from all those kind of experience, we started to build another new product called Twin Intelligence, where those kind of information actually help us to brainstorm on different topics, we are bringing in different other agentic AI ideas. Michael is actually building another one. So, we are exploring different areas where we can actually succeed in this new world of frontier AIs.
Denny Ghim:Yeah, would add to the compelling outcomes are the conversations that we're having, that the clients and customers are pushing us and asking for things that are not really existing right now. And so creating them and proving providing proof of concepts and having this dialogue with the advancements of AI and how to use AI in those applications, we're including real intelligence in the loop and kind of pushing forward in areas that we would not have normally thought of. So I would say that's one of the compelling outcomes is the innovation that's coming and it becomes infectious and more exciting. As an organization, have our, at least for me, I have my various typical services, the foundations of what companies they're built off of, but, you know, working with Pramod and Michael and Catherine, it's kinda like a kid in a candy store. I'm like, I often will just ask, hey. Can we build this? And per model say, oh, I got that. Or Michael Michael will say, I got that. And so that's what's been fantastic.
Rudy Rodriguez:So are you building, case studies individually for your companies or as a group? How are you handling the these these joint wins?
Promod Antony:We just had a conversation a while ago with Michael. We were trying to put together an RFP together, and we were looking at, oh, how can we actually put together all these case studies? And we brainstorm on those case studies and we were able to come up with a good one that actually we can put together. So, are combining all these case studies together to come up with a good one that has a high chance of succeeding.
Michael Mpare:Yeah, and to add to that, you know, the strength is not only in the case studies that we bring, right? It's also the experience that comes along with it. In fact, the conversation that Pramod was alluding to, it's like conversations around, for us, for example, as we build case studies, there are things that maybe we don't have the experience, let's say, like within the government or the public sector, right? So, the due diligence, things that we need to be looking out for, right, to protect our client, to protect privacy and confidentiality, right? Those are things that maybe some of us might not have, within our sector, not familiar with, especially when it comes to the government, but shared experience really elicits that, and then we can kind of tap into it and know that, hey, if you go into the public sector, you do this.
Michael Mpare:If you're, you know, within the private sector, these are the things that you do, right? And that, you know, the collaboration brings that experience out, and we can share and then protect each other there as well.
Rudy Rodriguez:Well, that's great information. So how do you plan on scaling this model, this Seattle Joint Solutions Group? You know, you planning on any additional partners, other specializations? I heard there's another specialization coming up in h '2 a little from a meeting today. Are you looking to expand your geographic reach?
Rudy Rodriguez:Maybe work with other IAMCP chapters.
Denny Ghim:Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. We we we believe that there are some phases to this. The first phase was to have a finite number of members participating and keeping the group manageable.
Denny Ghim:And so we settled at eight. We actually had people interested from SoCal and other places to join us, but we decided that we don't want to do that just yet. We want to prove ourselves first, and that's what 2024 was: to get a framework together that allows us to assemble this diverse team and have a path moving forward. We will definitely have an open door. We want others, but we just want to make sure that we have a focus group that can demonstrate success first.
Denny Ghim:So that's what we've done in 2024. In 2020 sorry, '25. In twenty twenty six, two things: one is extend to more solutions, if you like, by having others participate, but in a thoughtful way. We don't want to just suddenly go from eight to 18. We want to make sure that there are opportunities to justify that.
Denny Ghim:And the other one is to help other chapters to do this kind of work as well, and this is part of the partnering chair capacity that I have, that I'd like to take this framework and take it to other chapters, so other chapters would benefit, and then have cross chapter collaboration. So that's the plan. And right now, 2025 was the phase to prove this group success.
Promod Antony:We also have plans to expand our, I mean, as Paul mentioned, we have plans to expand our number of solutions at the same time, we want to publicize those solutions to the world so that people knows that there is these solutions which we are providing as a combined solution.
Rudy Rodriguez:So I've got a follow-up question to this. So, you know, you're talking about expanding the solutions. How do you how do you expand the sales capacity for this? And maybe Denny will wanna talk to this because he's the one that that is out there hunting. But as a group, how do you expand the sales capacity to to really go out and share this story some more?
Denny Ghim:We're all salespeople, whether we're selling ourselves, selling a concept, selling ideas. So I'm certainly not alone. I think the the benefit of all of us working together and scaling together is just recognizing that, you know, as a group, we get a better understanding. The more we're communicating and building this trust, we can kinda have that open dialogue of back and forth and the comfort to be able to just pick up a phone, like, I'll randomly just call Permod or Catherine or whoever, just because we have that comfortable relationship. And whether they're on the phone or not, I might catch them in between, but because we have that trust with each other, that'll open up opportunity. I reached out to Catherine one day just bouncing an idea off of her of a particular offering of how I think this could work. And just that little bit of back and forth gave me the confidence to go approach a couple of customers to talk about different ideas. And just that exposure and them and everybody else being able to have that, I think that's where it's at. So as far as scaling, we're all going to scale together. I think that's kind of the benefit of it.
Alexandra Matthieson:And, actually, in addition to being able to rely upon the broader group from a sales enablement and just overall capacity perspective, you know, there's also the Microsoft seller ecosystem. And I think our group offers that audience specifically something something really exciting, something very compelling. If we consider the potential of our group from their perspective, what are they driven by? They want replicable, scalable wins, and they want positive client experiences that allow them to ultimately expand share of wallet with that client over time. And what better way to do that than with a collective of companies offering such a broad range of potential solutions and services?
Alexandra Matthieson:Yeah, I think so often small to mid market companies, the sort that we're really targeting effectively with the IAMCP Seattle Joint Solution Group, they would really benefit from the advisory and the capability and skill of like a large scale consultancy. Who wouldn't? Right? But that's not accessible in terms of cost and energy and time. And I think that we can offer that through the capability and skill of our group at, again, a price point that is accessible.
Alexandra Matthieson:So for those Microsoft sellers out there, please consider reaching out. There's a ton of potential with our group.
Denny Ghim:Everything Alexandra said absolutely that Microsoft can benefit not only from our joint solutions, but Microsoft can benefit from our framework on how to build scalable partnerships across multiple partners. I don't believe Microsoft is doing that. I think Microsoft at best is supporting P2P, which is two partners partnering together. But we have a way, a framework, a method that's proven itself to help them do that across multiple partners. So we're hoping that they notice that and that we can have some conversation.
Denny Ghim:The other part I just wanted to address Rudy is about sales. So we all have sales forces and we all sell and the difference is that we're now open to projects that each individual company wouldn't be able to address before, but also, we have JP's social selling, AI driven social selling system. And that's something very unique and very specialised that every one of the members can and is taking advantage of. So that's a specific value that we're bringing together to each other.
Promod Antony:One more thing to add is we came from different backgrounds, like eight different companies have multiple different industries. So for me as a company, when I'm looking at it, I'm actually I'm able to tap into another industry through the other partner. That is also another sales channel I'm looking at, where I am able to expand. So it's like a COASL where we are getting to tap into another industry.
Anthony Carrano:No. That's that's that's great. I like to kinda go back to there was a point where we're touching on about what the Microsoft sellers, and my question would be is, and if we can maybe unpack a little bit more about what would be the one thing, right, you would want Microsoft sellers to understand about activating these solutions with customers?
Alexandra Matthieson:The one thing I would really want them to step away from from this conversation, I want them to consider the potential they stand to deliver in market. Through our group, they can offer like the breadth and capability of say a large scale consultancy at an accessible cost. And that's really, really powerful, especially as so many SMBs and mid market organizations are understandably considering ways to reduce undue resource expenditure. Here we are, and through this small but mighty group, we can offer something that not only allows a replicable scalable sales motion for those Microsoft sellers, but also a team of people who I like to think are pretty fantastic. I think that we will offer together a great client experience that will ultimately be to the benefit of those Microsoft sellers.
Anthony Carrano:That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, this has been very insightful. So I really appreciate everyone's contribution. I do have one more question and I would like to hear from each of you as we as we wrap up.
Anthony Carrano:And so for those, you know, that are listening, obviously, this is this is a a a a unique, you know, first thing, you know, type of a thing within IAMCP. And I know as, you know, even Paul alluded that, you know, a lot of, you know, the partners are used to like a p two p where you have two companies, you know, maybe three. This idea of eight as part of consortium is is is is is unique. So if another and my question is that, and I do wanna hear from each of you is, if another partner listening today wanted to replicate your success, and so I like you to, you know, put your hat, you know, your hat on as as business owner and leader, as part of IAMCP. What's the one principle or mindset shift you tell them to adopt first?
Denny Ghim:I would say a rising tide raises all ships. You know, that kinda saying where if one wins, we all win. And to go into it with a selfless kind of mindset that if we can win together, everybody wins.
Denny Ghim:Kind of a spin on what's in it for us as opposed to what's in it for me, in that when you join this kind of group, your efforts should be on behalf of the group, not just yourself. And that builds trust and gives and take and goodwill, and all good things happen with that. So, Amit, I would say
Michael Mpare:approaching this and being willing to also share expertise, right? Because, I mean, as much as we joined the group to really tap on each other's experience and, you know, connections or what have you, I think it's also important not to, you know, come in thinking, you know, Hey, I'm just gonna come and take, take, take, but also be willing to share what you have experience wise, connection wise. And then also ideas, being creative, you know, chatting with the team about, hey, you know, what do you think about this idea? Like Pramod alluded to, right? And Denny as well.
Michael Mpare:So just come in at it as, yes, I'm coming in to join this team, take advantage of that connection, but at the same time also be willing to share yourself as well.
Alexandra Matthieson:I'd love to tag in on the tail end of that. One of the things that I think we all bring to this is a growth mindset. It's almost cliche to say at this point, but it's so, so invaluable. Every one of us, and Michael, you were alluding to this, Like, we join our calls. We join all of our joint initiatives with the intention of learning from one another.
Alexandra Matthieson:And what a beautiful way to really just benefit beyond business. Right? Like, by engaging this group, I'll speak for myself. I know that every single time I connect with somebody or with the group, I feel like I step away with a greater understanding of what I can potentially offer offer in part of Second Forge Group, but also just as an individual. And there's a lot of power in that.
Nigel Postings:I'd say, number one, understand your own limitations as a single company. You often hear the concept of build versus buyouts say build versus partner, and then we've said this many times, trust. You're opening up your own pipeline to trusted people, and likewise then to you. It's that level of trust that you wanna work together. So those are the three things.
Patrick Hart:Yeah, to follow-up on that, Nigel, if I could, I think there's a level of mindfulness we all have to have, because while we're all willing participants in this group, we also still have a responsibilities to the companies that we work for as well. There's a level of Nigel couldn't have said it better, we're opening up our pipelines, right? Things that we're doing with our companies that we're trying to create with our companies to a group of folks who aren't necessarily invested in our company. So there's patience, there's trust, there's that situational awareness that we're all here, we wanna make something of it, we wanna do this to the best of our abilities, but we still do have to be responsible to the organizations from which we come.
Promod Antony:In my case, initially in my stages of the business, I was looking at most of the businesses as my competitors. So, when I would I do partnership, it's very difficult to actually bring that trust in. But with this group, I think that I took that away. So, it's more like we trust each other whenever we are winning when someone else is winning, we are actually learning from that. So that growth mindset and the trust is actually very key to our success.
Promod Antony:And Katherine?
Katherine VanHenley:Yeah, I would say that be flexible with your definition of success, Right, because I think there was a lot of change especially at the beginning, know of how we would define success and how we define success now. So I think yeah, just be very flexible with your definition of what success looks like to the group.
Anthony Carrano:Fantastic. Well this this was great. Really appreciate all the all of your input. I know we'll include, you know, your LinkedIn and company, you know, websites in the show notes. Paul, is there a what's like if somebody's interested in contacting the, Seattle Joint Solutions Group is there a primary like is there a LinkedIn page or a website to contact just the group?
Denny Ghim:Yes, Catherine you've built the LinkedIn page right? Is there a way of collecting information from there?
Katherine VanHenley:Yeah. Do you want me to give the information here aloud? Would you like me to
Michael Mpare:send that?
Anthony Carrano:Yeah. Actually, if you can go ahead and send me that link and I'll include so the way the best way for those that are listening, if they're interested in contacting the Seattle Joint Solutions Group, we'll have their LinkedIn page in the show notes. Also have, you know, each of your LinkedIn and and company addresses in the show notes as well. So that would be great. Well, once again y'all, thank you so much.
Anthony Carrano:This was very insightful. Really appreciate you and you enjoy the rest of your day.
Denny Ghim:Thank you, Anthony. Thank you, Rudy. Thank you, everyone.
Anthony Carrano:Thanks, Anthony. You, team.
Nigel Postings:Thank all.
Patrick Hart:Thank you so much.
Anthony Carrano:Wow. That was a fun episode. I definitely, it's a first for, this podcast having that many guests on at once. That's for sure.
Rudy Rodriguez:Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And it's really encouraging to see an IAMCP chapter working together like this. Mhmm. You know, building trust amongst, what was it?
Rudy Rodriguez:Eight partners. Eight separate eight separate companies coming together, willing to work together to help them build their their individual businesses as well as a a larger group business. And that's something that I hope Paul and his group continue to document because building trust amongst a group that that big is hard. It's very hard, and yet they're willing to do it. And they're working towards something that that's rather unique and and hopefully replicable across the across the country amongst Microsoft partners.
Rudy Rodriguez:There's there's a good lesson to be learned here, a very good lesson to be learned here. And knowing Paul Solski as as long as I have, I think he will do an excellent job of documenting that story, and I I'd look forward to working with him to help push this across for other IAMCP chapters.
Anthony Carrano:Mhmm. Mhmm. Now, was really fascinating. I mean, the thing that I probably enjoyed, I mean, obviously the whole story was very interesting. But I really appreciated the fact that you have these business owners and leaders come, you know, having the humility and the willingness to participate in a group like this amidst I mean, you know, I mean, I guess there's so much, you know, self, centered, selfish, you know, culture, you know, nowadays.
Anthony Carrano:But the willingness to say, yeah, we're still gotta pursue, you know, our our business goals. Right? You've got being mindful about that, but at the same time realize that they can, you know, do more, you know, together and have that humility and that mindset, to do that. And just hearing the stories too, it's just it's really fascinating to see that how this dynamic works out to where you can operate both with the nimbleness and the agility of a small company, but then provide some of the capability and, you know, capacity that you would find in a larger company, you know, through, you know, this consortium. So, it was very fascinating to, to get to to hear some of the stories and I definitely look forward to, you know, seeing some of the future successes coming down the road.
Rudy Rodriguez:Absolutely. Well, it was certainly a very exciting episode. So thank you for joining us on this episode of IAMCP Profiles in Partnership powered by Dudamis Marketing. 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.
Rudy Rodriguez: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, new solutions, IAMCP can help you achieve your goals. To learn more, visit the website at www.iamcp.org.
