Wrangling Data, Forging Bonds: Inside Reltio's Evolving Partner Strategy

Chris: All right, welcome to another data driven podcast I’m Chris Detzel and today we have special guest

MAC Heston She is the VP of alliance at Reltio mac. How are you

MAC: today? I am great. Chris, how are you?

Chris: I'm doing great. I live in Dallas and the weather is a little bit windy, but warm. I'll get out this weekend for a couple of runs and things.

Chris: But yeah, so it's exciting. So today we want to talk a little bit about the importance of partners and
Reltio's ecosystem. But first, I want to get to know a little bit about you, Max. So tell me a little bit about yourself, what you do, maybe your past, your career journey, those kinds of things.

MAC: So I live in Nashville and my husband and I have been here for gosh, since 2008, but I'm not a born and bred Nashville girl. I'm from the lovely, sunny and snowy area of Buffalo, New York. So during the football season, you will find me screaming and yelling at my television for my, [00:01:00] I die hard. Buffalo bills.

MAC: Yes. I am a Dallas fan. I'm sure. Yeah,

Chris: that's cowboys, but I have some friends that are Buffalo bills, fans here in Dallas. And they're really let down every year. I know we are now, but so as Buffalo,

MAC: it's all good. It teaches you resilience. It really teaches you resilience. But in my career journey, it is very interesting these days to hear all the talk about AI.

MAC: And machine learning, I started my career in computers, in high school, we had a pilot program for computer science and I had amazing math teachers. They were the one, my two female math teachers started me on this trajectory and I got into the pilot program for computer science and we were programming on little Mac computers.

MAC: And that's where I got the bug. And I studied computer science and electrical [00:02:00] engineering in college. And from there I went and did process control engineering, but in college, we had artificial intelligence courses. We just didn't have the compute power to make it take off like it has today. That is the differentiating factor.

MAC: So I went from process control engineering, which is really where I started my career and then went into the tech world with Oracle and Salesforce and now Reltio, so it, my roots are in technology. My roots are in data in process control engineering, because that's where you get all the data from a process.

MAC: And bring it in. So my roots are truly in the data space.

Chris: It's, that's great. And one of the things that you mentioned was when you were in high school, you had two women teachers teaching you computers and all these kinds of things. And especially going to like computer science type stuff.

Chris: [00:03:00] That wasn't, a lot of women didn't go into that. Wow. That's pretty awesome that you said that. And I think I've heard this story before. So thank you for that. What do you do at Reltio? What's your specific role?

MAC: So I'm responsible for growing our partner ecosystem. And that includes, Our global system integrators, any SIs.

MAC: So anybody who's implementing our product, our cloud providers. So we are cloud agnostic. We work with AWS, Google, and Azure, all three, our technology partners, all of them, whether that's, any of our technology providers that enhance that we work with. So it's any kind of partner in our ecosystem that helps bring our product to life and helps enhance our customer success.

MAC: So that all falls under my purview.

Chris: Okay. And I remember when you first came on almost three years ago, or has it been three years now? Three years ago. Where our partner landscape is or was, and then to where it is today. Can you talk a little bit about some of that, where you are, where we [00:04:00] were, and then where you've leading us to and those kinds of things.

MAC: Absolutely. Any company goes through this journey when, especially when they're starting They open the doors and open their arms wide to all partners to work with. And as you evolve as a company, you start to narrow your focus. So when I came in, our, the doors were wide open and we wanted to work with everybody and anybody.

MAC: And that's good to get your brand out, get your momentum going. And as you learn more about yourself as a company, you start to understand where your sweet spot is. Where your care is a focus or whether that's in a in an industry or a data domain, and then you start to narrow your focus to really align with partners that align to your growth areas.

MAC: And when I came in, that's what we started to do is to really look at where our growth areas were and where our key areas of focus were and align our partner ecosystem to that, those growth and care is a focus. So [00:05:00] we've narrowed our scope with our partners and really mutually invest in each other. And we've seen tremendous growth in our partner ecosystem and mutual benefits with our

Chris: partners.

Chris: Yeah, I think that's great. And we've really haven't, and I've seen it firsthand. So how would you describe that relationship and how is it evolving?

MAC: I think the biggest thing with any partner ecosystem, and I hope our partners would agree, It has to be mutually beneficial. You have to understand what's critical to your partners.

MAC: What's critical to their growth, their business objectives, what are their key business indicators? Then what's critical to our growth, our success and our key business indicators, and where do they overlap? That's one. Then you look at your customers. How do you then take [00:06:00] those elements of your key business indicators and overlaps and then look at your customers and say, okay, what are the customer business problems that we are trying to solve?

MAC: And how do we solve them together? Because without our customers, our partners are going to fail and we're going to fail. So at the center of everything that we do with our partners is our customer, no matter what. Okay. That has to be at the center of everything that we do. If we lose focus on that, those key business indicators that are growth will won't matter.

MAC: So first look at your customer, then you look at your key business indicators and growth and where they mutually meet.

Chris: I remember and I've told you the story, and maybe you were there for that story is customers tell me all the time if it, a lot of times our partners are telling us sometimes what to do if they're going through like a digital transformation and things like that.

Chris: And so it is key for us to build those relationships with those partners, one, so they know who we are, so they can talk about us and in some of these huge transformations that are going on in some of these. The, these companies, right? And so I appreciate you saying that because I absolutely agree that customers are number one.

Chris: So talking about technology partners, what are some of Reltio's like key technology partners and how do these like collaborations enhance your platform's capabilities?

MAC: We've got some technology partners that we embed in our technology. Reltio integration hub is based on Mercado and, that helps us with our integrations and integrations is key to any customer success because as you're dealing with data, there's, hundreds and hundreds of potential data sources out there.

MAC: So the ease of integration is critical to customer success. Locate is another [00:08:00] technology partner that we work with that, is critical for location data. If you look at technology partners, the data enrichment partners that we work with, those are all critical to looking at the part, the customer again, customer at the center, the proliferation of data sources, all the different types of data that could potentially enrich data.

MAC: The customer's data that they have that's mission critical that we make that ease of use part of what we do for that customer to make that first entry like if it's and if data unification is new to a customer, we have to make that entry point for them as easy as possible and that's where whether it's the technology partners who are sitting there helping [00:09:00] us.

MAC: Or system integrators who are, part of that strategy work that lay out the foundation and the steps along with our own PS organization that will work with a lot of our size hand in hand, we want to make sure that customer is seeing value in a very short amount of time versus what, traditional MDM.

MAC: Used to take years. So moving from traditional MDM to a more data unification platform and reducing that time to that first value milestone is mission critical and our technology partners, our data enrichment partners, our system integrators. All play a role in that

Chris: question. I've been dying to ask is maybe an example.

Chris: Can you give like an example of a success story where some of these partners have played a critical role for a relative customer?

MAC: My gosh, there are a lot of [00:10:00] examples. Where it works best is, we've got our hyperscalers, we've got our SIs, we've got our technology partners.

MAC: When you're growing up, you've got your best friend, you go to kindergarten, you've got somebody you're walking down the hall with, you got your best buddy, and then somebody else comes into the mix. It can get complicated. That's right. When there's three, even four, it gets complicated.

MAC: That's when, you've got to be locked and loaded with that strategy of where you're headed. And we're in the midst. I'll use this example. We're in the midst. Of a sales cycle right now with a very large financial services company. We are locked and loaded with a hyperscaler. We are locked and loaded with a global system integrator.

MAC: We are locked and loaded with a technology provider. And this is an architecture that has to handle large volumes of API calls. If [00:11:00] we were not all aligned on those business objectives. This would fail immediately. And it is a highly competitive situation. Now we're all hoping to win this, but this is where that alignment communication is mission critical.

MAC: Everybody listening again, putting that customer in the center. We're not in the center. The hyperscalers are not in the center. The SIs are the, everybody is listening to that customer because we will all gain. From winning this opportunity. So it's always putting that customer in the center, listening to
those business objectives.

MAC: And then everybody gains from winning this business. So I guess I know I'm not using specific names of the partners. I don't want to alienate a partner. I want to be very open to, to [00:12:00] making sure everybody understands Reltio really very much puts the customer at the center and there is so much business because Reltio is a part of a transformation.

MAC: A part, there is so much that goes on around the data unification space. There's the integration work. There is so much else that happens around the data unification that partners have plenty of opportunity to continue beyond just the data unification as well.

Chris: No that's exactly right. And I completely agree.
Chris: We're a piece of the puzzle of that whole transformation. And I appreciate you saying that. As we think of the importance of like data partners. So what ways do like data partners contribute to giving Realtio customers like a competitive edge? So that's
MAC: the secret sauce actually.
MAC: So you think
Chris: about,

MAC: so you think about all of the data sources out there. Data sources can [00:13:00] come from other systems as input. They can come from and when I say systems, they can come from a CRM system. They can come from an ERP system. They can come from, a truly a data system, whether that's a D and B or a zoom info or med pro if it's industry specific.

MAC: So you've got these data specific. So when you bring these in and Make them part of that enrichment that's truly that third party data brings your first party data to life because then you're not just looking at it from, that individual chunk of data that you have visibility to you're looking at it all around that 360 of that particular say individual or product.

MAC: You are able to [00:14:00] then pull in this 360 degree view because you might be able to look at that individual and say from your ERP system, Oh, they bought this product. And then from zoom into, Oh, they have a connection here. They have householding information. This person lives in this house and they have these three children.

MAC: So you're getting a much broader perspective on that individual and you're able to potentially market to them much more effectively. If you're doing like some type of CDP application, so that based set of knowledge, that depth of knowledge you're able to get when you tie all of the information together in context with interaction data as well brings to life that in much a much more profound way than you would if you just had one little piece of
Chris: data.

Chris: I love that example because it just makes it come to [00:15:00] life. How we enrich it, right? If your first party data, then you bring that third party data and it gives you that much more information about that person and their family. And like you said, even product, depending on, what the, what they're mastering or looking at, doing, but that was really good.

Chris: I love that. I'm not, for some reason, I've not heard it that way, but, and I love having this conversation because you're just giving real life examples, We can understand. So thank you for that. I'm sure there's lots of challenges and maybe even some solutions that we can get. So let's go into some of those questions around that.

Chris: What are some of the most common challenges customers face in data management and how does Reltio's partners help address these challenges?

MAC: I've been in the last year been to had the pleasure of going to India three times to go to some of our large technology centers with our partners.

MAC: And our competitors are fierce. We're always looking at ways that we can [00:16:00] make that transition. If a customer chooses to move off of one of our competitors to us, it's much more seamless. So I think some of the challenges our customers face. Top three, integration. The proliferation of data sources out there increases.

MAC: It will continue to increase. So making that ease of integration is probably in the top, is in the top, not probably, is in the top three. No doubt. Making consumption and dissemination of that data faster. So our operational data unification platform and our submillisecond response time, customers want that data.

MAC: Fast, fast fast. Is another challenge that we're solving, but that is also in the top three [00:17:00] and their ability to, move off of a legacy platform to a modern data stack and the ease in which they can do that is, is to me, those are the top three that I have heard now our partners rock in those areas they have seen and talk to more customers than we do.

MAC: They have thousands and thousands of customers that they're interacting with on a daily basis. So they've built integrations. They've got them prepackaged so they can bring those to the customer. They also have understand the use cases for that operational need. And they have built some of these use, let's let me move you off of a legacy to a real time.

MAC: And our cloud providers [00:18:00] know what that is too. They want you to be leveraging that model in the cloud versus a legacy system on prem. So they want to work with you to modernize your stack as well. So all of our partners, whether it's a technology partner, whether it's an SI with prepackaged solutions, whether it's a cloud hyperscaler, they're all in the boat with us.

MAC: working to make sure our customers are successful when they're, when you're looking at legacy modern modernization.

Chris: Those are great. And I think, one of the things that you mentioned was the integration piece and making sure that's probably one of the top thing is how does, realTO ensure that The integration of various technologies and data sources from partners into your platform, to our platform remains smooth and efficient.

MAC: So we, as I mentioned before, Realto Integration Hub is available. It's a [00:19:00] great tool. It makes that ease of use in creating recipes very easy for our customers and partners to use it too. Now, a customer may choose to use some other mechanism and that's okay too. It's their choice.

MAC: Thank you. Partners are very aware of this tool and this mechanism, but, it's, it is, our first preference of choice. When we work with a partner, we're going to make sure they're enabled and understand how to use Relteo Integration Hub. We are definitely aligned with our partners, both Workato and our system integrators, to make sure everybody understands the tool.

MAC: But also informing our customers of the value and so that they fully understand, here's what's available to you and how you can use it. It's

Chris: funny, you mentioned Realto Integration Hub. That is one of the single most [00:20:00] popular. Interests from both our customers and our partners. I run our community and I hear it all the time.

Chris: And then there's a huge interest in that. And there's a lot of folks using that now. I think that launched maybe a couple of years ago and then it's being adopted very well. So I'm glad you brought that up because it is still work on it, like you said. But yeah, I think that's a great point.

Chris: So when you look at the future of data management and I hear that you guys that Reltio is launching a new partner showcase on the web. Can you tell us a little bit about, tell us a little bit about that and where can we find it?

MAC: Yeah, so we, historically Reltio has had a partner page on our website.

MAC: Yeah, but it's been static logos. Not very sexy, doesn't tell you much. So by the end of this week, you'll You know, by the end of April, by the way, I think it's going to be April 3rd or [00:21:00] 4th. We will be launching a page called our partner showcase, which you'll be able to go on. Any customer will be a prospect analyst.
MAC: Anybody can go to our website and under the partner tab, you'll be able to look and see anything that a partner has created. So you'll be able to search by a partner. You'll be able to search by the type of IP that they've created. The location like if it's geographic geographically specific by the type of business challenge, and you'll be able to link.

MAC: And drill into additional information. So whether there's a white paper associated with it, a contact page to contact that partner for more information. So it's a lot more intuitive, a lot more robust, really highlights the content our partners have created and the investment that they've made in themselves, in the RELTIO platform and in customers as well.

MAC: So they've put a lot of effort into the content that they've created and it's [00:22:00] IP content that they have actually created but it's also some services that they can provide as well

Chris: It's great. We'll make to we'll make sure to put the link in the show notes for sure so that people can go take a look.

Chris: I love that. So you mentioned that you went to college and you learned about AI and all these kinds of things and there just wasn't enough power. So with the rapid evolution of cloud AI and analytic technologies, how are Reltio partners adapting to meet future challenges? It's a huge challenge for everyone, obviously.
Chris: So

MAC: they are chomping at the bit I am telling you. It's amazing to me how fast. Partners are responding. As I mentioned, we were in India a couple of weeks ago, and one of the partners took us into their AI showcase and just demoed for us all the things that they have built [00:23:00] around accelerators, leveraging AI and ML, their just ability to respond rapidly to the ever changing technology demands of customers.

MAC: Is impressive. We were absolutely blown away, so they listen to their customers first and foremost, and then they go off and experiment and innovate and constantly are coming back to their customers saying, Hey, is this what you need? Is this hitting the mark? So it's not going off in a vacuum.

MAC: It's that constant feedback mechanism that is so important to constantly innovate and test. Invalidate innovate, test and validate. So to consistently do that well is impressive. So that's one of the things that, when you've got this wealth of talent and you're able to [00:24:00] go and innovate and then test it out and validate and get that feedback from your customers, it's impressive.

MAC: A lot of what they're doing is, not just the AI, it's underlying data and those. Those machine learning models that really puts Reltio in an amazing position to be helpful to our customers because without that data foundation. Those models are not going to yield the results that our customers are hoping it yields.

Chris: Yeah, that's right. And it's really cool that you had the opportunity and the team had the opportunity to go and collaborate with these partners and get to see firsthand what they're doing. And, there's going to be a huge value. And building those relationships. I always say face to face is just there's nothing better than that face to face and that that connection that you get from that.

Chris: So it's kudos to you and the team that, go out there and [00:25:00] be where they are. To see some of that stuff and build those relationships. I think that to me, that's huge. That's a very important thing. My last question, Mac what are some of the emerging trends in the data management unification that you're most excited about and how does, so let's go there first.

Chris: And then I'll ask another question. Oh,

MAC: let's see, where do I start? That's always the great question. We're going to be constantly challenged. If I look at technology, if we go back years and years to the steam engine and the industrial revolution and then IOT and the proliferation of data, now we're at this precipice where data is the underlying foundation for.

MAC: And the proliferation of that data. So we went from IOT to this massive proliferation of this data. Now it's this wrangling. [00:26:00] I like see this cowboy on the horse on the back of a horse with his lasso trying to wrangle this herd of data. And it is becoming almost unruly. And the trends that I see is how do you grab that and harness that, the value out of that data.

MAC: So we, like I mentioned before, RuralTO is in a position to help our customers with that. And I think our press release that went out recently, today, as a matter of fact, that's right, that talks about some of the machine learning models that we're putting out. That is exciting to me. That is, I think one of the advances that is going to help tremendously our customers with that data stewardship elements that is mission critical [00:27:00] to them advancing the efficiencies in that space.

MAC: Because it is that piece that is, like I said, managing that amount, massive amounts of data is step one, and it might be tactical, totally tactical, but it is mission critical step one. No doubt. And that's what excites me right now. Love it.

Chris: It excites me as well and I think there's a huge opportunity for for us in that data unification space.
Chris: So how does Realtel remain aligned with partners as the technology continues to rapidly evolve like you mentioned?

MAC: It's constant communication. It is, if I am a big proponent of, as we are coming out with products, we have to involve them in that product development lifecycle. So we have build partners.

MAC: As we're launching things, we better have launch partners, and then we have [00:28:00] GA partners. We, as a company, have to do a better job of that. I am a huge advocate internally for that process. So our partners will see that changing, and evolving our partner program is evolving. So again, it's a mechanism to bring our partners closer to us.

MAC: So communication and bringing our partners closer to us and engaging with them are the two steps that we have to take. Makes

Chris: complete sense. And, I think that's really all my questions, but I'll say this Mac is you're one of the most passionate people I know in Reltio, especially about the partners and and you have to be, and I appreciate that about you and your passion and your love, your focus, for, making that partner Reltio.

Chris: Did I miss anything before we go? I

MAC: don't think so, but same to you, Chris. You drive the community. And that comes across 100 percent and how you engage with not just, you engage with our partners [00:29:00] too, as well as our customers. Keep doing what you're doing. It's outstanding.

Chris: All right. Thank you everyone for tuning in to another data driven podcast. I'm Chris Detzel and Matt, thank you so much for your
MAC: time today. Thank you so much. Thanks everybody. Hope you enjoyed it.