Google Cloud partner Vivanti on how to build strong relationship with customers

Tony Nicol and Timothy Mannah speak to CRN Australia about what they do to ensure their clients stay number one.

To ensure partners are customer centric, they need to be a trusted advisor and shoulder to lean on for their customers.

Speaking to CRN Australia at Google Cloud Summit in Sydney Tony Nicol, CEO at Vivanti and Timothy Mannah, regional lead and director, Vivanti break down how they make sure they are customer centric.

Mannah said one of the best bits of advice he received years ago was to be like the King’s Hand from Game of Thrones.

“Make yourself the King's Hand to your customer, which basically means your success is solely dependent on them succeeding and being promoted and staying in power,” he explained.

“If we can deliver that for our customer, we're doing a good job.”

As the leaders within their customer base move to new companies, Mannah said if they’ve done their job right, they’ll continue to work with Vivanti.

"If we've made them into King's Hand once, they'll come to us again. If we've ensured their success, we made sure their program of work delivered, we will get that call back,” he explained.

Only recently has the data consultancy begun using marketing, before that, they used word of mouth.

“That's what led to our early stages of success at Servian. So how do you build the trust? Well, it's make sure your customer succeeds at all costs.”

According to Nicol, to give the customer what they want, you need to ignore what they are asking from a partner.

“If you do what the client tells you to do, you'll get paid, but you won't get the next gig because what they tell you to do is not what they really need,” he explained.

"What we try and do is try to understand you, what are you trying to achieve? Then we'll come up with, ‘hey, this what we think you should do’ and you go, that's exactly what I want to do.”

If a partner doesn’t provide the added value for a customer, they just won’t work with them again, Nicol noted.

"The only way they'll work with you again is they want that added value. I will say that our job, fundamentally, is to try and get the client promoted,” he said.

“It might not be possible, but that's the mindset, the King’s Hand that’s our mindset. We're always in consulting, not looking at what they say they want, but what are they really trying to achieve?”

Excitement over AI

Looking at the potential and opportunity AI brings, Nicol said the technology represents future ways of working now.

"We'd never thought seven or eight years ago you could do the type of things that we can do now. It wasn't like an organic growth there. ChatGPT came on the market, and then suddenly my wife knew more about AI in a day than I did,” he explained.

Nicol said that AI really allows you to pull a smarter lever.

"Sometimes it allows you to pull a new lever, that's great, but then you've got to build the controls around what it means to pull that lever,” he said.

“Sometimes, particularly, for example, interacting with customer, you can pull a few new levers... It allows you to do things you just couldn't have done before.”

What excites Mannah is the growth opportunity that comes with what AI represents.

“When we started this journey, I think our reputation is very solid as being the data guys at the Vivanti. Now, what this represents is just growth,” he said.

“Now, our ability to deliver on the promises of AI that is exciting, and our ability to do that with Google, that's exciting.”

Mannah said Google Cloud is at the cutting edge of where this industry is headed.

“The fact that we can play with that and partner with them and find out almost as soon as they find out when something's happening is exciting,” he explained.

“That’s the bit that works for me, and taking that to our consultants makes me kind of excited about what comes next.”