The Future of Partnership: A Conversation with Sage's VP of Partners & Operations
There may be errors in spelling, grammar, and accuracy in this machine-generated transcript.
Emily Madere: Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Unofficial Sage Intacct podcast. We are glad that you're here. We have a very special podcast planned for y'all. Um, it's just Matt and myself, but we do have a guest today, so if you're missing Doug, definitely tune in for next week's. Or go ahead and look at some of the recordings we have out there. So today [00:00:30] I want to introduce Juha Harkonen, VP of Partners and Operations at Sage and Juha. I definitely hope I got your your last name correct. Perfect. Okay. Okay, good. Um, so do you mind, you know, introducing yourself?
Juha Harkonen: Yeah, absolutely. Hey, uh, thank you so much for inviting me. Um, this is exciting. And, uh, as I said, my name is Juha Hakkinen. I'm at Sage, and, uh, I have a dualistic role. People always ask me, like, you know, what do you do? Uh, [00:01:00] and, uh, so one part of my role is that I'm the partner leader for Sage. And when we talk about partners, we talk about partners that build, uh, partners that sell partners, that service, uh, partners that provide accounting services to our customers. So it's the full gambit of the partner ecosystem. And then secondly, I'm also the vice president of operations for our growth organization.
Matt Lescault: So if I can dive into a little bit because there's different [00:01:30] components of operations within Sage because I've met, I think it's Juha in North America that that does commercial operations. And you talked about operations for growth. Can you talk a little bit about the different segments of operations within within Sage and the different kind of responsibility buckets that, that, that has?
Juha Harkonen: Yeah, absolutely. So I mean, you have sales operations, you have business operations, you have, uh, support operations. Um, so the operations flavor that I'm responsible for is think of it almost [00:02:00] as a kind of a chief of staff for the. Growth organization. So we're a fairly large organization with about 600 people. And, uh, there's the day to day cadence, the budgeting, you know, the HR. Cycles that we go, uh, in terms of our OKR settings and lead reviews and things like that. So it's the administrative side of running the growth organization.
Matt Lescault: And so when we talk about growth organization, we're talking about reporting up to the chief growth officer, Eduardo, if I'm correct.
Juha Harkonen: Correct. [00:02:30]
Matt Lescault: And you within Sage, I mean, I think we met in late 2021. How many different kind of roles have you played in the time that you've been at Sage?
Juha Harkonen: So I've been at Sage now for four years. In two months, uh, ish. And uh, when I joined Sage, uh, I was the vice president of partner strategy in what used to be called the partner Center of Excellence. And then later, about 12 months [00:03:00] afterwards, I took over partner pursuit or strategic pursuit, which is really our priceless ISV practice. So the business development side of that and building the priceless ISV ecosystem for intact. Uh, my background, uh, has always been with technology companies, ISVs, and and prior to joining Sage, I worked at Microsoft for six and a half years as the ISV strategy lead in the global partner sales organization. So that's [00:03:30] kind of my background and pedigree. And the next step, uh, in my career, uh, at Sage was taking over partners in general. And so that would be the ISV partners also kind of the global craft leader for value added resellers, uh, systems integrators, accountancies programs. And uh, in that move, some of the field resources that we're managing the kind of the programmatic aspects of partnering move [00:04:00] to a centralized function under me. So today I have three functional teams. One is the design team that looks after partner policy and commercial modeling and the governance of that, working with our field organization. And then secondly, there is the programs team that manages programs like MPP and provides guidance to the field on the bar program construct. We do a lot of the, uh, the programmatic governance around those programs as [00:04:30] well, especially the VAR program. And then thirdly, there's the business development team. So private equity venture capital partnerships, where uh, we have uh, referral relationships, the ISV relationships. And there's also a brightpearl component within my organization.
Matt Lescault: Is that what's considered strategic alliances?
Juha Harkonen: Strategic alliances is is part of the team that manages our strategic priceless partners as well. So we have alliances with [00:05:00] the likes of Microsoft, AWS, PwC and so forth.
Emily Madere: It sounds like you spend a lot of time with partners during your time at Sage. So how did you and Matt get connected?
Juha Harkonen: Oh, this is a this is a good story. So, uh, Matt and I, we were both going to, uh, to transform, I believe was the conference. And, uh, we were both connecting, uh, through Atlanta. Me being in Atlanta and Matt, I guess connecting through Atlanta. And we happened to be on the same flight, and, uh, this [00:05:30] was, uh, it was in Vegas, uh, where the conference was being held, I believe. Uh, and so we.
Matt Lescault: Had.
Juha Harkonen: 4.5 hours, uh, to sit next to each other on a plane. And of course, uh, being people, people, uh, so we introduced ourselves and got to talking. And by the time we landed in Las Vegas, I think we've signed at signed at least three contracts and you know all that good stuff.
Matt Lescault: Well, I don't know if we signed any contracts there, and I'm pretty [00:06:00] sure he was like, thank goodness there's only 4.5 hours because I just sometimes don't stop talking. So I know I've always appreciated, um, our conversations. Uh-uh, and I think it's a great segue. Um, one of the things I always talk about when it comes to Sage and my experience with Sage Intacct is how it's such a partner driven organization, one where I think that Sage relies heavily partners heavily with, and relies heavily on, on on partners to deliver the overall growth strategy that's there. And so [00:06:30] I think what really intrigued me about having this conversation is to really talk more in depth about what that looks like from the overall ecosystem, but more importantly is what what you what you look at from a partner program and where you think partners are going as maybe advisors to clients. But how how are partners going to succeed in the in the future as technology changes and things of that nature. So I think it was a great segue. I'm really interested in what what your thoughts are around kind of the future. [00:07:00]
Juha Harkonen: Oh, that's a that's a broad set of questions. But, um, let's start with one of the points that you made that technology, uh, is evolving and that's, that's a constant. And and, you know, we can kind of, I guess all agree that it's even speeding up. It's it's, uh, evolving, uh, more rapidly. And as technology evolves, I transactional services, composable architectures, automation, you know, pick your pick your kind of, uh, [00:07:30] theme. Uh, there with these new capabilities, we're enabling the accountants, the bookkeepers, the CFOs to really elevate, uh, the work that they're doing. And as we're changing, um, and elevating those roles. There's going to be different, evolving technology needs from those customers, and there's an elevation [00:08:00] or an elevated expectation of the service that our partners, uh, are providing them as well. So as partners are geared to advise on technology solutions, now, partners need to regear, uh, to build more business consultancy and advisory muscle. And we all have seen this kind of play out in the role of the CIO and how that's evolved over time. [00:08:30] Uh, CIO started being more like procurement agents buying technology and then, you know, leading the technology practice within the company. And today they're strategic business advisors and board, uh, and management teams. So that same kind of evolution, uh, we're going to definitely see within the partner community as well.
Matt Lescault: And I want to dig a little deeper in here, because my opinion and I'd like to see if, if we're aligned or completely, uh, separated [00:09:00] here, but it seems to me that the goal of Sage and the products, but in technology in general, is to make things more configurable than customizable, uh, to, to make it easier for deployment of implementation and utilization by the customer base. And so it would seem to me that this shift is, is necessary because historically, if we look at legacy products, the big lift was getting it being having it being used today, [00:09:30] the big lift should be actually continuing to evolve with the product, you know. What's your thoughts there?
Juha Harkonen: Yeah, I mean, I have the kind of the analogy in mind that, uh, talking about, I, for example, at one point we're talking that, hey, we're drowning in data, but we're starving for insights. I think today is the situation where we're drowning in insights, but kind of start for the analysis and business decision making support for that. And and so, you [00:10:00] know, the landscape continues to move. Uh, I think our customers, uh, in general, uh, are, are looking to take advantage of these new capabilities and what it offers them and how they can better serve their customers. And, um, kind of take benefit of the opportunities in market. But then that puts an onus on the the advisors, the value added resellers, the channel partners [00:10:30] to help those customers in that transition as well.
Matt Lescault: So I'm throwing in the spot, I am forcing you to leave Sage today, and you're going to start a partnership organization that's a partner with Sage Intacct. What what is your what is your number one focus?
Juha Harkonen: Well, that's my number one focus. Um, well, intact is a great product. Of course. We've got a lot of great products, but, um, I'm familiar more with the industry verticals that, uh, intact [00:11:00] caters to. So that would be kind of my go to. And because of my history, I'm more, uh, mid-market enterprise. I would first of all, I would spend or make investment in capability and capacity around, uh, advisory services, uh, leaning on the advancements in AI and be really ready for that. I would also be, uh, highly verticalized when I came to the US in, in year 2000. I used [00:11:30] to work for an information security company, and you could think of, uh, what is the kind of the most, like, horizontal solution on planet Earth? It's probably, you know, information technology from a kind of a information security standpoint, but from a marketing go to market sales standpoint, we decided very early on at that point to to target specific verticals. And so if you look at, for example, one of the verticals that we targeted was the legal industry and and helping to secure law [00:12:00] firms. Now the technology is fundamentally the same that you do, but the way that you package it, the way that you message it, uh, the way that you implement it, the way that you serve your client, uh, creates an additional layer of value add. So to answer your question, I mean, I would be, uh, very much hyper verticalized, uh, because that's what creates kind of a unique point of differentiation between me as a service provider [00:12:30] versus somebody else.
Matt Lescault: What would you say to somebody that's that considers themselves in a market that's too small to verticalize?
Juha Harkonen: Um, is there a market that's too small to verticalize. Uh, I mean, if you if you go. So let's say you go outside of the United States, for example, into smaller countries, and the verticals don't provide enough of a kind of an addressable market, [00:13:00] uh, to sustain a business, then I think you have to be a little bit more horizontal or you have to cater to multiple verticals. But it's that constant balancing act of, uh, do I just provide vanilla or do I provide that next level of value, which is really understanding the customer and their business and being able to support them in the context of where they are?
Matt Lescault: Absolutely. Oh, [00:13:30] go ahead, Emily, I'm sorry.
Emily Madere: No, I think this conversation is great, but I do want to focus on, um, another topic we had we had pulled up, and that's the value advisory services and business growth. Um, so you have we're talking a lot about what partners can do. Um, as you know, they are already established. They can verticalize they can go to healthcare, they can, uh, pivot, maybe go to legal services industries. But what do you have to say to those partners who are maybe software resellers today, but [00:14:00] they want to position themselves as trusted advisors in the space?
Juha Harkonen: I mean, if you unpack the kind of the notion of what is advice like, what can you advise on? Um, you can, uh, advise, of course, on the customer's technology choices. Uh, what kind of technologies are best fit for them to achieving their business objectives and goals? And once that technology is implemented and, uh, you're you're gaining [00:14:30] insight, you can provide an advisory service to advise the customer on what is the data telling you. And what do we see in the industry as large, especially if Especially if you're an advisory service that caters to multiple customers. You probably have a lot of, uh, kind of broad knowledge of what's happening in the industry as a whole. Uh, and you can advise the customer on, on kind of business choices and business decisions. And as the technology, uh, advances, I think we all it's almost like getting your own personal fitness [00:15:00] coach. We need a little coaching and mentoring and and a little bit of, uh, you know, guidance and motivation when we start using new technologies, um, and helping us to get the most out of those. I think those are the kind of things that, uh, companies can do to kind of elevate what they do, uh, to provide greater value, uh, to the customers.
Emily Madere: So if I'm picking this up correctly, you know, it's not just Sage Intacct in the package, but you layer on different [00:15:30] advisory services that it just kind of becomes one tied up. Nice little, little gift for the client and ready to be presented.
Juha Harkonen: Yeah. I mean, uh, intacct is a technology. It provides you the platform to do things, but then you also have to have the, let's say, the, the understanding and appreciation of how do you use that technology to maximum outcome. So to use an analogy, an analogy is, I mean, a car is a great way to get from [00:16:00] point A to B, but you need to have a map and you need to have a plan, and you have to have a destination where you want to go to and what you want to achieve. Otherwise, the car is just in the garage and it's not doing much for you.
Matt Lescault: What I find interesting here, and it goes back to your statement about kind of being that CIO and helping select from a technology, but also really drive from a utilization of that software and how that software changes with you. Something that we we chatted about you [00:16:30] recently. Um, I forget which conversation it was, but it was around HR, and Sage has a new, uh, Sage HR HHR platform that's coming out. And I believe that the roadmap is an integration with intact. And I look at that as another extension of advisory services that can be bolted on to understand when those clients. Can you talk a little bit about about what that's looking like in the future?
Juha Harkonen: Yeah, I mean, that's a great point. I mean, uh, when you when you talk about expanding your services, it can be vertical. [00:17:00] So you just go deeper and deeper and deeper, whether it's, uh, providing higher levels of, uh, advisory in terms of going from kind of tactical to strategic. Um, it could be going deep within a vertical. So the contextual aspect of providing that advisory service, or then it could be also horizontal expansion. So uh, a partner may be mainly focused on financial advisory. But then the human resource advisory, [00:17:30] if you look at the managed services market, for example, human resource, uh, managed outsourcing is growing at a at a very rapid pace. There's a lot of demand for those services and market. So that's another way that partners can build these additional, let's say, centers of excellence, uh, around these, uh, unique skills areas because they have unique subject matter expertise. Um, and you really need to make that right, investment in terms of capability [00:18:00] and capacity around it to to serve the customers the way that they need to be served.
Matt Lescault: Without naming names from a from a partner side of things, could you give some examples of some of the most successful, uh, strategies that are being deployed by partners currently kind of in the ecosystem that you've maybe heard about or or witnessed?
Juha Harkonen: Yeah. I mean, there's there's a ton of examples around, uh, client advisory services, uh, what we call client advisory Services 2.0 or the industry calls that [00:18:30] and uh, the, the one example that I would kind of share is that partners that think of the end to end journey, the full life cycle of the customer all the way from how do I get set up? And it's really handholding the customer all the way from, from uh, implementation of the solution, training the customer on how to use the solution, helping them set up their ledger, helping them set up their workflows and processes. [00:19:00] And then as the customer grows with the technology kind of elevating themselves to that strategic advisor, that kind of virtual CFO, almost, uh, that can help the customer really maximize the value out of that solution and gain the benefits that it offers. So it's it's the end to end approach, the holistic approach that grows with the customer's needs.
Emily Madere: And so if you had to, um, think [00:19:30] of, you know, all, all of the partners that that you're over and you had to to name something that is helping partners stay competitive in today's landscape. You know, what exactly would that be?
Juha Harkonen: So I'd say there's there's three things. First of all, be aware. Be aware of the technology transformation that is happening and what's coming out to market and and how that can be used to augment and grow your practice. Secondly, it's adapt. There's only so much you can kind of [00:20:00] assimilate into your current frame of reference, or the way that your company is geared and the way that you do business. You have to be open to adapt. If we think about the change and the kind of the well, the change that happened from partners moving from perpetual on premise licensing to to subscription licensing, and people talked about the kind of the valley of Death and the and the kind of the, the revenue model transition and things like that, where we're now kind of moving into kind [00:20:30] of a new territory with With consumption based economies, and that's going to create another moment in time where partners need to regear the way that they incentivize their employees, the way that their finances are geared, the way that they talk to their investors, the way that they kind of budget and make investment decisions. And the last one is really invest. If if you're thinking that with the resources that you have today, with the skills and the capacity [00:21:00] that you're going to take on, um, you know, a, a vertical slant, uh, or you're going to horizontally, uh, grow into a whole new practice like HR, then that's probably going to be challenging unless you make the proper investments to do so.
Emily Madere: All right, partners, you heard it here. Those are the keys. Write them down. Save them on a sticky note. That's it.
Matt Lescault: On the flip side of that, what are the things what are things that you see are [00:21:30] some common mistakes that are being, uh, that what are some of the common mistakes partners are making today that are going away from those kind of strategies, those points that you're seeing that that maybe is kind of an old school thinking, or maybe it's a approach that isn't, uh, that isn't as forward thinking as you might believe they should be taking.
Juha Harkonen: I wouldn't call them mistakes. Um, but there are certain. Well, uh, certain [00:22:00] partners have built practices and businesses over decades of investment, and there's a lot of, uh, in, in kind of software engineering. We talk about technical debt. So there's, there's a lot of, uh, like historical investment. Um, and when something has been built over such a long time and it's so deeply ingrained and rooted in the way that partners do business transforming Forming to [00:22:30] adopt to or assimilate to a kind of a new normal. I mean, it's really hard and challenging and we've seen it with different ecosystems. You look at the Microsoft ecosystem moving from on premise into the cloud world and the challenges that that ecosystem had in terms of transforming, uh, and, and so I think this is where a lot of leaders in the partner organizations, [00:23:00] you know, use external help. Um, talk to Sage. Uh, I my door is always open for partners to come and brainstorm and, and have a discussion, you know, rely on your, uh, colleagues in the industry, uh, talk to your peers. What are they struggling with and how are they transforming their businesses? I guess my message is you're not alone, and you don't have to figure it out on your own. There's a lot of people that are kind of thinking about the same things and trying to Trying to find answers to those same kind of challenges [00:23:30] and problems.
Matt Lescault: Well, I think something that that I want to call out and I appreciate is collectively, pretty universally around Sage. There's an openness for partners to come and try to get questions answered, quite try to get that direction from leadership, because I think that Sage cares about the success of the partners. Obviously, I think success of the partners is the success of Sage and then the community, the partner community. I mean, I've only seen a handful of partners that don't [00:24:00] really play nicely with the other ones, but in the in the broad spectrum of the partner ecosystem, we work together and we're willing to, to, to share ideas and change. And I think that's really, really a recipe for success. Is there anything that's happening kind of out of your family? Were you going to say something?
Emily Madere: Yeah, I just I just wanted to touch on the, the partner ecosystem. So when I, when I first started, you know, baby salesperson not knowing how to to sell Sage [00:24:30] Intacct. What exactly is Sage Intacct? I'm not an accountant. Um, but through the Parco ecosystem, I was able to connect with other, you know, salespeople in the ecosystem and talk through these. My silly questions now, but at the time were very important questions. So the thing I enjoy about the Parker ecosystem is it it's not all the way at the top. It's it's through and through. So it's at the the salespeople. It's at the implementers, it's at the, the leaders who lead the practice. And that's something I can really appreciate.
Juha Harkonen: And [00:25:00] the one thing that I can say about being on the other side of the table at Sage, uh, and seeing the kind of the culture and how we operate, it's a very flat organization. And, and there's there's not a lot of hierarchy in terms of how you can reach out and get connected with people. I get pings from customers and partners on a daily basis on different type of questions, and there's no such thing as bad questions. Uh, because one of those questions get answered, we can kind of move forward [00:25:30] and, and, uh, do better. So, yeah, I mean, we're we're here to help and answer any questions that partners and customers may have and help you on your journey. Because when you succeed, we all succeed.
Emily Madere: That's exactly right.
Matt Lescault: Yeah. I had some questions that, you know, we've really talked a lot about the partners that are the Sage partners deploying implementations and things like that, but there's this whole other piece of this that, uh, the ISVs, the MMPs, [00:26:00] and we've talked about this in, uh, and extensively on this podcast. But, you know, I'm sure that I've said some things that were incorrect. And I'd like I'd like to make sure that we're we're on the same page. So my, my, my understanding is that we have the concept of an ISV, which is an integrated, uh, integration service partners, you know, if that's the right terminology. Uh, service vendor and then an MPP, which is a marketplace partner. And that's really two separate distinguished distinguishes. [00:26:30] Can you talk to us a little bit about that and how you see the difference between those two?
Juha Harkonen: Uh, sure. So this is a this is a long, long, long topic that's being discussed. And so when I joined Sage and looking at the taxonomy, uh, it just drove me absolutely bananas. So let me try to demystify. First of all, when we talk about ISVs, independent software vendors, it's it's it's a category of partners. It's the partners that build something, uh, with us to serve our customers. So you have that [00:27:00] built, they sell, they service. And so, uh, whether you're a listed partner, uh, aka you're on the marketplace and there's just a referral relationship, uh, with us, you're still an ISV from the industry point of view, when you decide to co-sell with us and be on the price list is still in the construct of the MPP program. The MPP program is the ISV program. [00:27:30] Whether you're standard, whether you're on the price book, or whether you're fully white label, it's still the MPP program. So the MPP program spans all those different tiers of partnering and all the technology partners or tech partners, as we call them, uh, are all by an industry standard definition, point of view or ISV. So this is where it gets confusing, because historically at Sage, um, you know, some people use the term [00:28:00] ISV to only denote those partners that were in the MPP that were on the price list and made it seem like there's something outside of the MPP. Now, MPP is the umbrella that basically covers the the contractual relationship and and the programmatic relationship with all technology partners.
Matt Lescault: So what I'm what I'm really interested in understanding is there's a subset of third party software organizations that have [00:28:30] built integrations with intact, but aren't technically on the marketplace. And how are they perceived by Sage? And maybe it's not a perception, but why not invest in being the MVP? What should be our considerations as partners in working with organizations that hasn't invested in being an MVP? And and what suggestions or what what advice would you have around that?
Juha Harkonen: Great question. Um, so we're an [00:29:00] open ecosystem and we believe in customer choice. And part of the value of, of Intacct is that it has very robust APIs. And you can kind of extend that solution to meet your vertical and micro vertical needs. And in this sense Its customers can build their own custom extensions. There's a very rich ecosystem of Ipaas players and different connector players [00:29:30] in our ecosystem. And then there's a large group of ISVs that have direct integrations into intact as well. And those ISVs that have built direct integrations typically would be on the MPP marketplace. So that's the intact marketplace partner program. Mpp. So how do we see partners differently, whether they're listed in the MPP or not listed in the MPP catalog? [00:30:00] Oh, gosh, that's a good question. Um, my personal point of view is that that, you know, whatever adds value to customer, uh, first of all, is great. And if partners see value in being listed and getting that kind of that nod from Sage and that, that. Let's say that umbrella of a stamp of approval from Sage. And, uh, we want to be listed in a place where [00:30:30] customers go frequently to look for solutions. So if you think about marketplaces, the first step of marketplaces, the first, uh, point of value is the discovery aspect. And so if that adds value to you, then, uh, the marketplace is, is a great investment, uh, to be part of.
Juha Harkonen: And then it kind of sets you on the path that as you grow, it opens up additional tearing opportunities and additional, uh, partnering [00:31:00] opportunities with Sage. And, uh, it just gives you a lot more visibility. And it's not just the customers that are looking at the marketplace. It's also the value added resellers. It's the accountants. It's the bookkeepers. So these are tens of thousands of organizations that are That are going into that catalog looking for different types of solutions. So how you kind of list your solutions in the marketplace as well, and how you tell your story. That's something that is really worth investing time and effort to make sure that you [00:31:30] put your best foot forward, because how you portray yourself in that marketplace is the first kind of view that a third party looking into that catalog, into that catalog has of you. And if if you're, for example, an iPad, I mean, there's 60 iPads. And so how do you differentiate from there? So kind of going back to the beginning of the conversation is how do you differentiate your solutions, not just as an advisory or [00:32:00] a value added reseller, but how do you differentiate your solution as an ISV when you're in a category where there is a certain sense of commodity as well?
Matt Lescault: I really appreciate that because part of what I think our challenge and Emily, I think you would, you would agree, is like there's so many MPPs. How do we differentiate from the right ones? And I don't think that's always cut and dry. And it is I mean that that how you differentiate yourself is part of that process. It's part of how you you align yourself [00:32:30] with a partner like ours. And so whether you're you're offering services in the differentiation, you talked about verticalization, you talked about advisory level services or expanding services into more value added services. Um, outside of just the set it up and leave type of approach, that might have been more historic in a sense. Um, to those, those, those third party software providers differentiating their services and their products into what can support us as partners and the customers [00:33:00] themselves.
Emily Madere: So, Matt, I do have a question, because some MPPs will be listening to this as a partner of Sage, what do you look for when you're partnering with MPP solutions?
Matt Lescault: The best thing for me to be able to able to see as a partner is exactly how you integrate and what you're solving, what pain points you're solving to the customer. If I have to spend a lot of time digging to try to find out if you actually solve the problem I'm trying to solve, then I'm moving on to the next one. The best. [00:33:30] The best ISVs out there. It will tell me what they're good at and what they're not good at, and I can quickly determine whether they're the right, the right fit. And I think understanding your roadmap and where the product is going is so important, because you can't expect every product to have everything today. But if you know that there's a plan on where it's going, you can align that as well for your clients. So those are the big things for me that I look at you, honey. Any thoughts on that?
Juha Harkonen: Hey, [00:34:00] that's a lot of do's. I would say one of the don'ts. And this is a general statement, not just a Sage marketplace statement, but for all marketplaces is, uh, one of the things that I see is that partners have a tendency to try and capture as many eyeballs as possible. By being everything to everybody, they basically click every single vertical and they click every single functional area, and they click every single country possible in the options. And by being trying [00:34:30] to be everything to everybody, you end up being nobody to nobody. And so the more specific you can be in terms of what differentiates you from the next person over the more successful, you're typically going to be in those marketplaces. And, and the more honed in people are going to be to your listing. Like Matt, you said, you know, there's there's 50 different options and you start looking at it. If you don't immediately grasp what the differentiation and what problem they solve, you're just going to move on to the next one because [00:35:00] there's 49 more to go.
Matt Lescault: I think that's I like that you brought that up from a like a geo or regional component, because I can tell you right now that I've, I've in supporting Canada and the US and some implementations when it comes to some of the banking products, when they list themselves on both. And then I have to dig a little bit deeper and I'm not getting the answers to whether it's actually going to work the way the client needs it to work. There needs to be thought through that, uh, when it comes to what the what the marketplace expects out of a product because [00:35:30] that changes and it changes rapidly.
Juha Harkonen: Yeah. And I mean, that's a good category, uh, of, of kind of integration to talk about because, I mean, you could have the basic functionality of just paying a bill, but we all know that it's not as simple as that. If you look at different verticals, they have different types of functional nuances. So the, you know, you could have ten different API partners. And each one of those partners has a specific nuance [00:36:00] that they're really good at, whether it's vertical or they need certain geographic requirements in a in a better way, or they have better banking routing Partnerships that allow you to do commerce more in a more streamlined fashion, or in a more cost effective fashion in a specific part of the world. Those are the the kind of the nuances, and I would encourage all partners to call those out. If you have magic sauce. Put it, put it in the listing and make it bold [00:36:30] so people understand, uh, like where you've put a stake in the ground and where you really differentiate.
Matt Lescault: Now, before we before we wrap this up, what haven't we asked? That's such a not fair question to to to to say. But you know, when it comes to what I should say is when it comes to the Sage partner ecosystem and kind of your remit or purview within Sage, have we sort of touched on all the different kind of partner programs and what is, from a high level, [00:37:00] most impactful partners or something that that we should address before we we wrap up?
Juha Harkonen: Well, I mean, you've brought up, uh, like, how partner programs support this transformation and how partner programs, uh, support, uh, our, our partners on this journey. When I think about what my personal kind of design principles for programs is, one is simplicity, um, and clarity and [00:37:30] uh, uh, being very, uh, kind of see through so people understand what we're about. There's nothing hidden in the program. The more simple programs can be, typically, the more successful they are. And for those of you out there listening and you're like, okay, yeah, but you've still got some programs that are fairly complex. Yes. Um, we still have some programs that are fairly complex. And, and we're working every day to try and streamline [00:38:00] and make those a little bit more understandable and bring clarity, because that's not where you want to spend your time. You want to spend your time selling and making sure that, you know, if you, uh, sell and you deliver value to customers, how are you going to get supported and enabled? And and what's the economic equation in that value exchange as well? So the more simple we can be with the programs the better.
Matt Lescault: And I assume based on this conversation feedback is always helpful for Sage [00:38:30] when it comes to that type of goal.
Juha Harkonen: Yeah, feedback is a gift. And I do love presence. So, uh, please keep the gifts coming.
Emily Madere: Well, um, do you have any more questions, Matt?
Matt Lescault: I don't think so. You have any questions for us? I mean, we put you on the spot. Anything that, uh, any questions you have for us, anything about the podcast or or.
Emily Madere: Our favorite color? I mean, what do you want to know?
Matt Lescault: Oh.
Juha Harkonen: Well, [00:39:00] I mean, uh, I'd be interested to know what are the upcoming topics. Uh, do you have anything already planned? Anything exciting? I mean, I'm sure all the listeners are just on pins and needles to find out what the next great thing that you guys are going to unpack for them.
Emily Madere: You want a sneak peek?
Juha Harkonen: Yeah.
Matt Lescault: Of course. I was I was going to end up with asking the same thing. So as long as he did it first, let's answer him and then we'll ask for a sneak peek of what maybe is not.
Juha Harkonen: I think the question back [00:39:30] this.
Matt Lescault: Emily, do you want do you want to share some of what's coming up?
Emily Madere: Yeah, I'm happy to do that. So we're going to have a lot more guests in the podcast. So, um, I think our listeners can expect a lot more guests from Sage, some customers, some marketplace partners. We're going to go across the board with our guests. Um, and we're going to continue to go deeper into Sage Intacct because there's a lot of topics that we haven't discussed yet that I think our listeners, they need they need to listen these podcasts. Their job hinges on listening to this podcast. [00:40:00] Um, so we're going to discuss those as well.
Matt Lescault: Public service announcement. We do not actually believe that your job hinges on.
Emily Madere: Yeah, yeah, that was a joke. I'm a jokester.
Matt Lescault: No. Um, you know, that is. Well, you how? We did a comparison piece, uh, regarding, uh, Intuit's enterprise suite, in which, uh, Intuit, uh, reached out and said that we got some facts wrong. So we're, uh, they're going to have me do a deep dive demo, and I think Emily's going to join me on that. We're going to maybe do a part [00:40:30] two. So I think that will be really interesting. Emily really talked about the the the guests. People like yourself. I mean, honestly, I don't think anybody wants to just listen to myself, Emily and Doug every episode. Having people that are smarter, more, more in tune with what's going on and more knowledgeable around Sage Intacct as a product I think is really important. I think some, uh, getting deeper into some of the modules and those verticals and how we solve for specific verticals is going to be big on our topic list for this [00:41:00] year. Um, we have a lot that we're hoping to to to cover. And we really want to just continue providing value to the entire audience. And we look at the audience as not only the partners, the individual customers, and then the general accounting industry in, uh, across the board, because everybody's got to make the decision of what products are right for them. But hearing why Intacct does certain things or why Sage does certain things with Intacct, um, what our focuses are [00:41:30] as partners, I think, can guide decision making around software selection in a broader, uh, aspect.
Emily Madere: So and Uh-Uh, the way we like to end every episode here at the unofficial Sage Intacct podcast, and I'm not going to do it justice because Doug normally does this, but we end with a dad joke.
Matt Lescault: And we always give you an opportunity to be the one to give the dad joke, or Emily has to take it because I don't have one.
Emily Madere: So you have do you have a dad joke?
Juha Harkonen: Heads up. I'm. I'm totally joke less.
Matt Lescault: Okay. [00:42:00]
Emily Madere: That's okay, I have one. Okay. Why did the pony ask for a glass of water?
Juha Harkonen: I have no clue.
Matt Lescault: I'm going to give myself a second. It's not a horse, it's a pony.
Emily Madere: It's a pony.
Matt Lescault: Yeah, I got I got nothing. I got nothing.
Emily Madere: Because it was just a little horse.
Juha Harkonen: Ah. That's [00:42:30] not just a bad joke. That's a podcast joke.
Emily Madere: Yes. Well.
Matt Lescault: Thank you. Yep. Go ahead. Emily. Sorry.
Emily Madere: Well, thank you for joining us on today's podcast. Um, listeners, definitely take a listen to our other ones, but have a great day, everybody.
Matt Lescault: Yuha thank you. It was great having you.
Juha Harkonen: Thank you.
