Getting the most from your partner relationship - Part 4

In episode four of the miniseries exploring how to make the most of your partner relationship, I chat with Philip Moon. Philip studied accounting in Melbourne, before hopping between there and London in various roles as a project and systems accountant. Now he has settled in Melbourne as the Senior Manager of ERP at REA Group, managing the global finance systems of Australia’s leading property websites. 

Deciding not only which platform, but also which partner to help implement it were the considerations that Phil was responsible for in 2014. 

“It was an interesting journey. We started with a traditional list of requirements with the ‘nice to haves’ and ‘need to haves’, but we really wanted the partner to prove the capabilities of their platform before we agreed to anything long-term. We completed a series of tests across all parts of the platform trying to disprove that it wouldn't be suitable for us. At the end of that process we were able to come to a decision and we are still very happy with the outcome.” 

For the time, this would have been a highly unique (even controversial) approach to selecting a product. A scientific approach to evaluation (in this case to disprove their hypothesis that the platform wouldn’t work) probably doesn’t come within a sales team or partner’s playbook, but Philip insists this was the key to success.

“I remember we had to have a couple of conversations trying to get across what our idea was. The idea had to go up the chain at NetSuite to get approval, but we really wanted to tick every single box and make sure before we sign on the dotted line.”

I have personally had a bit of experience with REA and am aware of their strong engineering culture and their inclination towards innovation. Given this knowledge, I wanted to know how the company embarked on the transformation journey with their partner. 

“We didn't want to give them requirements, for them to then go away and build it,” Philip tells me. “We want to be involved, in the trenches with them, sitting next to them trying to learn from them as they went about building the product.” 

And as they say, the proof is in the pudding. REA remains with the same partner and has no intention of looking elsewhere in the market. 

“For it to be a partnership, it has to be beneficial to both parties. That was certainly part of the decision making of us back in 2014. The REA ‘red dot’ is quite a powerful image, well known around the Australian market, so if they are able to put that on their marketing then I think that would be a great benefit.” 

After so many years within a swiftly changing Australian tech industry, I had to ask Philip why his partnership has stood the test of time. He tells me that ultimately, they are both aware there is a responsibility to deliver.

“Having a partner that comes to work on our platform every day is a luxury. But that comes responsibility - it's inherent upon me to make sure that these guys are delivering the value that I think they can. I think that's part of the responsibility of being a good partner. Not only paying the bills, but also giving that feedback so that they can become better consultants.”

While Philip has outlined how this type of mutually beneficial relationship can be beneficial for a partner, there is obviously also great value for the client. 

“For example, with the help of our partner we were able to integrate Netsuite into Slack. Emails that were once getting lost would now appear as a Slack notification, which significantly reduced the cycle time of purchasing. This is the stuff I get really excited about.” 

As our conversation came to a close, I asked Phil what he thought were his best 3 tips for getting the best value from a partnership. 

“Align your values with your partner, have a partnership where you both understand the level that is required, and finally ensure you have a positive two-way relationship.” 

Do you feel comfortable conversing with your current partner about the value and standard that is expected? Or perhaps you aren’t in a relationship that is mutually beneficial. These are the important prerequisites that allowed REA group to thrive, and both Phil and I agree that a highly cooperative approach to implementing products is the best way to go.