1+1=3

This title might look odd from the CEO of a financial management software provider but when I think about partnerships, I always come back to the equation 1+1=3. Or if I’m honest, it’s hopefully a number even higher than three, otherwise, our clients will never see the value. 

To me, when Aptitude Software enters into a partnership with another organisation – be it a Big 4 Advisor, technology partner, Systems Integrator, or any other specialist partner – there must be value creation. It’s not enough that a partner brings value to Aptitude or vice versa. Both parties have to have something at stake and that shared commitment must literally create a new level of value for our clients and wider stakeholders.

I have used this approach to guide our partner program since taking reigns as CEO last year and I truly believe the relationships that we have established with our partners are innovative, trusting, and when added to Aptitude’s unique value, equal a number that is well above 3!  In my view, you can’t be “half in” on a partnership. It’s like a marriage, you are either fully committed or you are not.   

Here are some ways that we look to partners to deliver enhanced client value. 

Accelerate market expansion 

A few months ago, we announced a partnership with FIERTE Corporation, a member of the AVANT Group, to bring our Aptitude RevStream solution to the Japanese market. This is a perfect example of creating value for future clients. Our product, plus the reach and strength of FIERTE in the Japanese market, greatly accelerates the time to value we can offer Japanese organisations looking to comply with the IFRS 15/Note 29 regulation. And we both have something at stake here. Fierte in trusting Aptitude to engage with their existing clients with whom they have trusted relationships and Aptitude in choosing to work with a non-Big 4 Advisor. Together that shared risk means we are both hugely vested in making this a success for our joint clients.  

Best of breed technology to support our solutions 

Our relationship with AWS is a great example of a technology collaboration that enhances the overall value of our solutions. Today all our solutions are developed by our Innovation Center team in Wroclaw, Poland on AWS and our SaaS solutions run in the AWS Cloud. We also have over 30 clients hosting our solutions on AWS. I am thrilled to announce that they will be sponsoring our upcoming AptConnect 2020 conference and speaking alongside our CTO, Tristan Atkins! I see this relationship deepening in the future as we continue to take advantage of the AWS technology stack to innovate our future product designs. 

Providing market perspectives 

Finally, one of the ways our partners provide value is by helping to educate us - and our clients and stakeholders - on broader trends in finance. Recently, we invited one of these partners, KPMG, to present at our quarterly Board meeting so that our Board could benefit from their breadth and depth of knowledge. From industry insights to market opportunities and predictions for the future of finance, our advisory partners help us better understand the world of the CFO office which makes us better solution providers. 

Of course, the engine that makes these relationships run smoothly is our first-class partnership team. We wrote about the trio of new hires that we’ve made over the last year and we continue to invest in seasoned talent as well as the infrastructure and the business processes needed to support the kind of relationships we want with our partners.  Make sure you engage with all of our sponsors including Platinum Sponsors KPMG and AWS, Gold Sponsors AppDirect and Deloitte, and Silver Sponsors CFGI and Cintra. Hope to host you at the event next week!