Partnering for Success Insights from Imran Mahmood on Collaborative Growth
Welcome to the IAMCP Profiles and 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'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 find and 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 increase customer loyalty and grow revenues. 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, and now let's get started with today's episode.
Anthony Carrano:But before we dive into our interview, let me ask you a few questions. As a Microsoft partner and member of the IAMCP, how are you developing your partner relationships to achieve your business goals? And what criteria do you use to select the right partner?
Anthony Carrano:Finding the right partner can be challenging, but can also be very rewarding. In fact, according to a channel profitability study, Microsoft partners derive margins 19% higher than the next closest competitor. 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?
Anthony Carrano:These are some of the questions we'll explore in this podcast with the help of our guest, a recent P2P Award ISV nominee who's also an expert in partnering. He'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 Imran Mahmood, the CEO at KAISPE, an ISV and Consulting Service Provider with a strong focus on delivering software services and solutions using Microsoft Azure, Dynamics Business Apps, and the Power Platform. Let's hear what he has to say.
Anthony Carrano:Welcome, Imran, to the podcast today. Really appreciate you joining us.
Imran Mahmood:Anthony, thank you so much for inviting me in this podcast. I really appreciate that.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. Excellent. Why don't we start off? Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and the role in the company?
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. Sure. My name is, Imran Mahmood, and I'm the founder and CEO at KAISPE. As a serial entrepreneur, I have been involved in establishing a number of technology practices and taking them to the next level of growth. Personally, I'm a Microsoft guy, so I have a strong background working with different Microsoft teams, including, Microsoft Dynamics product development team, and then, you know, from sustained engineering to, global, consulting services team.
Imran Mahmood:Right? I founded KAISPE in, 2018, and initially, the focus was on Microsoft Cloud Technologies. And then we added more and more, Microsoft solutions and and technologies in it, including Dynamics, Power Platform, and and some, open source stuff as well. We have been, a member of IAMCP for more than, 5 years now. And as a member of this, prestigious group, we have access to, a vast, area, a vast network of Microsoft partners and the resources that have helped us, growing our business in in these, couple of years.
Imran Mahmood:And, we have also kept ourselves up to date, with Microsoft solutions and technologies.
Anthony Carrano:That's fantastic. And I know we're really looking forward to getting into hearing a little bit more about your P2P story. But I know you mentioned you joined IAMCP about 5 years ago. What, what prompted you to join, the organization and become a member?
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. So, primarily, we are Microsoft shop, Anthony, and, what we were looking for is some platform where we can easily find other Microsoft partners. Right? Because, personally, my belief is, you know, you grow your business as you collaborate with other partners. And there are always some technology and skill set gaps.
Imran Mahmood:Right? You cannot cover everything. Right? So and because we were a Microsoft shop, and there is a huge stack of Microsoft technologies, so that's why we decided to join a platform like IAMCP, which is reliable, where we can find, you know, partners who are serving different industries on different technologies, different customers, and geographies. And that was the core reason behind that.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. Excellent. We appreciate you sharing. Rudy?
Rudy Rodriguez:So I read the story that you submitted. Very interesting story that you had. Can you tell us a little bit more about the client? You don't have to give us a name or the size or but we would like to hear what industry they're in and especially the technology that that you implemented and the challenges that that client was facing.
Imran Mahmood:Sure. Sure. So our client, was actually a service organization, right, with 400 plus employees. And they were in professional service industries, and they were providing different services to their customers, including, advisory services, consulting, and support services. Right?
Imran Mahmood:Now they were facing challenges with with this huge volume of documents, managing and maintaining these documents, that were, you know, spread across different locations and different systems. So it was kind of very, difficult for them to find and retrieve a document when they need it. So they were looking for a solution that is centralized, a document management solution that is centralized, that is scalable and reliable, to improve their overall document management experience. Right. So to address these challenges, Kaspi partnered with with the with this partner with Microsoft partner, and we implemented a solution using Microsoft SharePoint and Power Platform.
Imran Mahmood:The solution helped the client centralize their document management and improve their overall searching capabilities, making it easier for them to search and read the right document when they need it. The solution also automated their workflow processes, reducing the manual effort involved, and, it also improved the overall efficiency. We actually tried to calculate, with the customer an overall, 80% operational efficiency they actually achieved, which is a which is a really good number for them.
Rudy Rodriguez:How did you meet this partner, and and what was your criteria for selecting a partner for a project like this?
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. So it was, since an enterprise level document management solution. Right? And it also involved some complexity in terms of the volume of document. So, our criteria was not only to look for a partner who is well versed in Microsoft SharePoint, but also someone who is really good, has deep experience designing and delivering, an enterprise level document management solution, like the what our customer was expecting us to deliver.
Imran Mahmood:So not only the technology and skill set, but also, the business process knowledge and industry experience, particularly with the with such level of expertise involved in the in in designing the solution.
Rudy Rodriguez:So so, again, in selecting that partner, was the decision made on, besides skill sets on geography and their ability to service that customer? Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. That's right, actually. So, you know, we we're looking for partner. We tried different, other sources as well. Definitely, IAMCP was our natural choice, to find such partner.
Imran Mahmood:Fortunately, we were able to find a a partner in our own local chapter, and, you know, we we approached them. It was super easy using this plat IAMCP platform to, you know, approach them. We connected with them, had a discussion early discussion, and we were very impressed with the their track record of delivering, you know, such document management solution using Microsoft SharePoint. So yeah. So just to just to add to our listeners' knowledge, IAMCP, it provides a platform, that Microsoft partners, you know, can can avail to connect with each other.
Imran Mahmood:They can build their relationships, with each other. And so it helps them to expand, the business opportunities and, of course, their bottom line.
Rudy Rodriguez:That's a great story. It's always good to hear. Warms my heart, is to hear the stories about IAMCP. I've been a member for 30 years now. So I really enjoy, when people partner and build successful solutions for for their clients. Exactly.
Rudy Rodriguez:Anthony?
Anthony Carrano:No. That was great. What made you decide no. Let me ask this because, as, you know, obviously, you're a very successful, you know, ISV. Do you guys work exclusively with and through partners?
Imran Mahmood:So we actually do both. So we do establish partnerships where we meet. Right? And, particularly in the Microsoft ecosystem, we establish a lot of partnerships, on different solutions and different services that we provide to our customers. And then we also do a lot of, consulting services on our own. And as a Microsoft ISV, we do a lot of product development. Right?
Anthony Carrano:Yeah. I was just I was just curious when you, you had mentioned that, especially since for the last 5 years, and and the company is only 6 years old. So you've been pretty much actively, you you know, go working through partners for just the entire duration of of your company's existence. So that's that's fantastic. What do you look for in in partners? So aside from their, you know, members of IAMCP, what are the things that that factor into your decision criteria?
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. I think, Anthony, that one of the the biggest factors really is the synergy. Right? So, you know, we have often found partners who are very good at the skills technology, who are very good at delivering the solutions. But when it comes to certain other nontechnical factors, for example, you know, timely communication, you know, for example, having, setting the right goals, among each other.
Imran Mahmood:So and the common goals, I would say. These are some these are some of the areas where I would say that we strongly look into the partners. We value more, these factors than than the technology. I know that technology is definitely important, and that's what we are partnering. Right?
Imran Mahmood:That's one of the major factors. But these other factors are super important for us, and that's what we look into the partners. So so synergy is something we always look for. We, need other partners to have a frequency match with us. And and that's really the beauty of P2P collaboration. Right? If you find the right partner, your life will be a lot easier, honestly, and you you can you you'll be able to deliver quality solutions to your customers.
Anthony Carrano:Yeah. Because definitely, if you have the wrong partner, it could be a disaster. Right?
Imran Mahmood:I mean, it's a it's a honestly, I mean, we have we have certain, situations in past. We where we selected one partner, very good at technology, you know, we relied on them, but then the customer came to us that, okay, we are not getting, the right communication or the stakeholder communication, you know, from the from the other guys. So that's kind of, problem because, you know, when you when you select a partner, you, set certain boundaries and certain, SOPs. Right? And if the other partner is not following them and you are definitely then there is a misunderstanding already established.
Anthony Carrano:Mhmm. Mhmm. And on that note and kinda now weaving back into the partner success story, that you were sharing a little bit earlier is, did you guys did you and your partner have any challenges, during that engagement? And if so, what were they, and how did you guys work together to overcome it?
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. Of course, we faced some challenges. And at the very start of the project, right, of the collaboration, these were like including, communication and, setting the common goals, you know, like I previously mentioned. But, you know, in any P2P collaboration, like this, these 2 are very important areas that I would strongly suggest partners to, you know, get them get get themselves aligned. And oftentimes, you know, you see, things, for example, your communication style between both organizations, your organization culture.
Imran Mahmood:There are conflicting schedules, and these factors, sometimes create misunderstanding. And ultimately, you go towards, you know, misleading efforts. And that's what we would like to avoid. Right? So but, fortunately, at the very start, we we focused on frequency matching.
Imran Mahmood:So the both, you know, both of us understand each other's chemistry. So we work together on these challenges and we try to, you know, get rid of them at the very start of the project. And successfully, we will able to deliver our solution to our customer, you know, meeting and exceeding their requirements.
Anthony Carrano:And when you said frequency matching, you're talking about in terms of, as it pertains to communication and deliverables?
Imran Mahmood:Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, once you decide a timeline with the customer and you rely, let's say, 70% on the delivery, on other partner, that's where the overall communication, you know, is is very important. Because, for example, if you are managing the project, all of the risk management, all of the change management that is coming from you and all you have already onboarded the other partner. But if they are not following, that risk management or issue management or change management, definitely your customer will get hurt, and and the entire project will be, will suffer.
Anthony Carrano:Well, that's awesome. That's excellent. Excellent.
Rudy Rodriguez:So, Imran, I'm gonna give you a chance at a shameless plug right now. If you what what is the name? It says as an ISV, what is the what is the product that you that your company promotes the most? And that that also led to this this type of solution so we can let our our our other partners know what you do?
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. So as an ISV, we have been, working extensively on Microsoft Technologies. Right? So we extensively work on Microsoft Power Platform, and that's our expert area. And we have a number of, IPs already published on Microsoft AppSource and Azure Marketplace.
Imran Mahmood:And, you know, every other day, we have been adding more and more features in especially the AI, side of it. With this success story, we actually were able to pick up the power automate part or the workflow, automation part, But, definitely, we we lacked in the SharePoint side of it, so that's why we collaborated with the other partner.
Rudy Rodriguez:Right? How many listings do you have on AppSource?
Imran Mahmood:So we have around, like, 20 plus, I would say, product listing there. And, these are, like, different horizontal solutions, some, specialized verticals for construction, for, service industries and couple of other industries as well.
Rudy Rodriguez:Very good. Very good. So based on your partnering experience, did this engagement increase customer satisfaction, profitability? You know, can you tell us a little bit about that?
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. Certainly. Certainly. This engagement actually, it it did not only increase the customer satisfaction, but also increased the revenue growth. And, by partnering with, with such a company that we found, through IAMCP, they have that they had expertise in Microsoft SharePoint.
Imran Mahmood:We were able to, deliver a high quality solution, that certainly exceeded the customer expectations. So so I think, it it was a it was certainly a good match in terms of, not only, getting the customer confidence and trust, but also, the revenue growth. And the best thing about this engagement, we did not stop there. Right? We we did not stop with the customer right there. We did more and more cross and upselling with the customer, and that's that's the beauty of it. Because, in the first place, we we delivered a quality solution, and then, of course, the customer gave us more and more projects.
Rudy Rodriguez:So one of the one of the things you mentioned was that 70% of the delivery, was dependent on the partner. So based on that experience, what advice would you give to companies like yours regarding partnering?
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. So I would strongly suggest other companies and partners out there, especially in the Microsoft ecosystem, to always be open for collaboration and partnering. Look for partners who can fill in your skill set gap. Look for partners who are really good in certain industry verticals where you are lacking, and always, you know, look for partners who are really good or kind of achieve the excellence in certain Microsoft technologies. Right? And and do not stop here. You know?
Imran Mahmood:For example, if you, so by working together, you can, and collaborating in such a way you can, deliver more comprehensive solutions and services to your customers and ultimately grow your, bottom line. Right? Of course, if you join an organization or platform like IAMCP, you can, get access, to a network of partners and resources that can actually help you facilitate such partnerships.
Rudy Rodriguez:Anthony, do you have some more?
Anthony Carrano:Yeah. No. That's that's great. Great advice. Appreciate you sharing that. Going back to just this experience and especially, you know, since you have, you know, so you know, years of experience in working, you know, with and through partners, what did you learn from this, most recent, you know, example, that enabled your organization to improve?
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. Anthony, it's it's a great question, actually. You know? So we have years of experience, honestly, working with different partners, And these range from small partners to very large partners in the Microsoft eco ecosystem itself. I think it's a trust level, first of all.
Imran Mahmood:Right? It's a mutual trust that you need to achieve, first of all. And that you get achieved, is a two sided story. Right? So do not expect a lot from other partner because you are also another party in this collaboration.
Imran Mahmood:Right? So it's a win-win situation. It must be a win-win situation. Definitely in the start, when whenever you are working on a new, P2P collaboration in the at the start, you might get some challenges, but be patient. Do not give up. Do not, you know, burn all the boards. Just stay there and think about if you were, on on the other partner's place. Right? So try to, be synergized, try to be, a good match for them, and do whatever you can from your side. And then, you know, let the other partner do their stuff as well. So it should be a win-win, I would say.
Anthony Carrano:Mhmm. Mhmm. That's that's excellent advice. We appreciate you sharing that. Well, Imran, this this has been really fantastic.
Anthony Carrano:Appreciate you, sharing a lot. What's really been nice is just hearing, you know, as a, you know, as a successful ISV, but so much emphasis on just the importance of a lot of the nontechnical aspects for successful partner engagement. So really appreciate, you know, you sharing your insights and your experiences, you know, with us and and your listeners. But before we wrap up, I wanna, I heard about your, KAISPE Academy and just your work with youth and and with, with the Microsoft technology. So please share with us a little bit more about that.
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. Thank you, Anthony, for, bringing that up. I really I really appreciate that. So I was willing to talk about that honestly in this podcast. So KAISPE Academy is something that we have started as a CSR, community service initiative.
Imran Mahmood:Really, the objective is to provide the tech education, to those who deserve it, right, and who do not have the means to spend money, especially money, you know, on learning these technologies. So being a Microsoft partner and ISV, we are actually trying to leverage our experience and a skill set giving training to these individuals. We have included Microsoft Power Platform, Microsoft Azure Open AI, and, finally, we have also included Microsoft Dynamics, M365, CRM and giving both technical and functional training to to these individuals. Right? We have already, finished up a batch of 100 individuals, and now we are working on the 2nd batch.
Imran Mahmood:So far, we have got 50 registrations, and hopefully, it will be, fairly soon, and we'll be able to deliver that as well.
Anthony Carrano:And what parts of either, like, the world do you guys mainly operate KAISPE Academy?
Imran Mahmood:So we have started this in Pakistan, and, here we, you know, found found that it's it's, you know, it matches. It's, it's more a natural choice that we started here and then probably scale it to different parts other parts of the world. So definitely, we have plans. We have also we are also in discussion with Microsoft, especially if you are aware of Microsoft PowerUp program for Microsoft Power Platform that we are already delivering some workshops there. So we are in the discussion with Microsoft to maybe collaborate, and partner on that side as well.
Imran Mahmood:So so yeah. So let's hope, that we scale in other regions, after we have a success story in this region. So yeah.
Anthony Carrano:Absolutely. And on that note, so if there's partners that are listening and they wanna get involved, they wanna support, they, you know, they wanna help, you know, with that with that mission and that effort of KAISPE Academy. What are ways that partners, can can get involved?
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. Sure. So they can actually visit our website, which is kaispe.academy. They will they will find all the information, all the contact information. They can visit our LinkedIn page.
Imran Mahmood:It's a dedicated page for KAISPE Academy. There is a direct registration form that they can share with other candidates, in their professional network. And finally, they can directly reach out to me, as I'm directly leading this, CSR effort.
Anthony Carrano:Okay. Excellent. Excellent. Well, really appreciate you sharing that. Thank you.
Anthony Carrano:You know, as we wrap up, so I know I wanna just leave with our listeners ways, that they can reach out and connect with you directly.
Imran Mahmood:Yeah. So we have the corporate website, www.kaispe.com. That's the best way, to reach out to us. Then we have the LinkedIn page, and couple of other social media page. We have Twitter handle as well and Facebook page as well.
Imran Mahmood:So, definitely there are different ways to reach out to us. We have a email address that we typically give to our partners and customers. Super easy, info@kaispe.com. If they have any queries, if they need any support, any advice, they must feel free to reach out.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. Nice. And we'll have include all those links to the web page, LinkedIn, the email address, as well as the academy, and even some of the offers that you have in AppSource that folks can really benefit from. We'll have all those direct links in the show notes below, for easy access for our listeners. Once again, Imran, this was great.
Anthony Carrano:Thank you so much for your time, and enjoy the rest of your day.
Imran Mahmood:Thank you, Anthony. Thank you, Rudy. It was really nice talking to you guys. I really enjoyed that. Thank you so much.
Imran Mahmood:Have a nice day.
Anthony Carrano:Wow, Rudy. That was a really great episode. I really appreciate Imran for getting on and sharing. I know there were several key things that I took away, you know, from listening, and then just hearing him him share his story. I know specifically, you know, as a successful ISV, just, how he shared his rules of engagement, in working, you know, with partners, just the importance of, you know, the of several of the things that are nontechnical in nature.
Anthony Carrano:You know, things like timely communication, aligning around goals, setting boundaries and SOPs, but also just the importance of finding the right partners who fill, you know, your skills gaps, your technology, you know, specialization expertise gaps, but also the industry, you know, gaps in areas that maybe you're not, you know, quite as proficient. So I really enjoyed what he had to say about that. How about yourself?
Rudy Rodriguez:Yeah. You know, kind of going along with, what you just mentioned. One of the one of the things that that I took away from this was, you know, the importance of partnering and how any type of partner, in this case, an an ISV brought to the table that brought a significant amount of work for their partners. So, an ISV is highly specialized in developing products and and bringing those to the marketplace. And they brought a partner.
Rudy Rodriguez:They brought a project to a partner where the partner did 70% of the work. In this case, document management in SharePoint and had experience in the enterprise. So that's a significant amount of work. So this is where I encourage I I am CP partners to really try to understand the type of work, that an ISV does. Because, you know, as Microsoft partners, we're all involved in business development activities.
Rudy Rodriguez:And sometimes you'll find projects and I see partners walking away from some things because they don't do the work. Don't walk away from the opportunity. A partner, you know, bring a partner in. You still own own the the client relationship like Imran did with his customer. And it provided significant benefit in that partnering with, with the work that their partner did in this this particular client.
Rudy Rodriguez:So it's it's highly encouraging to see an ISV become a very active member of IAMCP and adopting the partnering aspect of our core principles.
Anthony Carrano:You know, the other thing that I really enjoyed, that Imran shared about is just, you know, once again, as a, you know, as as an ISP, they've got a lot of technical, you know, expertise, you know, in these Microsoft technologies. But how they're utilizing that with, the KAISPE Academy and helping, you know, youth in, you know, skilling up basically in the Microsoft technologies. And I know he started that as a CSR, you know, initiative. It just, you know, using, you know, their expertise, their connections and experiences to provide technical education to those who, you know, don't necessarily have those kind of opportunities and access, but they're bringing that level of access and opportunity, you know, to these folks, so they can then, you know, help them and and really change then the trajectory of their lives. So I I was really inspired by that, and I really hope, you know, partners who are interested in similar such things look to reach out to Imran to help kind of accelerate, you know, and see how they can get involved in that mission.
Rudy Rodriguez:Absolutely. It's a it's a very noble undertaking. And it's, again, one of the core principles of being a good partner is education. Education is very important, and that'll help you grow your your future work workforce as well, which we need to do. Alright.
Rudy Rodriguez:So I wanna thank all of you for joining us on this episode of IAMCP Profiles in Partnership powered by Dunamis 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. 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.
Rudy Rodriguez:Whether you're looking for new customers, new markets, or new solutions, IAMCP can help you achieve your goals. To learn more, visit the website at www.iamcp.org.
