Powering connections with ConnectWise empowered Avalara to accelerate on the MSP superhighway.
Avalara
Avalara software automates tax compliance and can help improve accuracy while reducing costs. With their tax compliance software solutions, you can automate manual processes and reduce errors — while increasing compliance and saving time and money. Avalara aspires to be part of every transaction in the world. And, businesses of all sizes use Avalara to help with tasks throughout the tax compliance process, including registration and licensing, calculation, document management, reporting, and e-invoicing.
“I managed a program much like this (Invent) in a prior organization. And there’s a clear difference with ConnectWise; here we don’t just manage relationships – we build them. Forming effective Partner relationships is a value exchange and can be beneficial for both parties. Just like every meaningful friendship --- you must add value to grow it, strengthen it.”
“I think that ConnectWise and Avalara both have very strong cultural foundations that let us all come to work as ourselves and when you have all these passionate people working together, each bringing their own personalities and ingenuity, you find great success in that,” says Nutter.
It’s amazing what a hot coffee on a cold day can do.
In this case, it set a foundation for a lasting friendship and a fruitful business partnership.
We caught up with Kate Nutter, Strategic Alliance Manager, Avalara and Jess Taveras, Invent Program Manager, ConnectWise, at IT Nation Connect 2023 to hear more about the power of connections.
Kate is bubbly and kind; vibrant and fun ---- perfectly suited for the role she occupies. Sporting an outfit in the Avalara brand color orange, we talked about how pivotal her first interaction with ConnectWise was.
“I was lucky enough to work (virtually) with Jess [Taveras] and ConnectWise since August of 2022. However, in early January of 2023 I was able to meet her in person. It’s memorable to me, because it was such a blustery morning in Tampa, and I made sure to grab us some coffee. When we met it was more like ‘let’s get to know each other better as friends.’ It’s almost like shaking hands made her not just ‘someone I work with’ but now ‘someone I KNOW.’
Jess remembers it similarly.
“It’s like we just knew each other. We connected right away and forged a tight relationship. And relationships in this business matter.”
ConnectWise Invent Vendor Program
Through our promise to an open ecosystem, vendor partners are encouraged to integrate with the ConnectWise platform. These integrations are continuously injecting innovation into our ConnectWise platform and moving MSPs forward in an evolving tech landscape.
The ConnectWise Invent program engages vendors at a deeper level to create a higher standard, criteria and a process of checks to certify reliable, trustworthy and secure integrations that meet the needs of the IT Nation, ConnectWise Partners. Invent -certified vendors are more likely to build a deeper pipeline of prospective customers, converting discussions into deals.
“Partners are more apt to choose a certified vendor in the marketplace. ConnectWise Partners know that certified INVENT vendor partners offer an extra layer of security, assurances, and confidence --- and that gives Partners peace of mind.”
Jess Taveras [ConnectWise], an industry veteran, understands --- and, more importantly, anticipates the needs of her Partners.
“I managed a program much like this (Invent) in a prior organization. And there’s a clear difference with ConnectWise; here we don’t just manage relationships – we build them. Forming effective Partner relationships is a value exchange and can be beneficial for both parties. Just like every meaningful friendship --- you must add value to grow it, strengthen it.”
Creating a Communication Bridge
In the age of hyperautomation there’s a relentless focus on processing transactions and tasks with speed, and at scale. Today, businesses that embrace innovation are thriving. Avalara offers such a solution. Avalara, a ConnectWise partner since 2011, offers an end-to-end suite of services that fits any business – small, medium or large, and in any industry to effectively and efficiently calculate tax.
Within its solutions set, AvaTax is likely the most popular. It’s a cloud-based software delivers the latest sales and use tax calculations to your shopping cart or invoicing system at the point of purchase, while accounting for: tax rates for each state, county, and city; laws, rules, and jurisdiction boundaries; and special circumstances like tax holidays and product exemptions.
“Speaking as a retired bookkeeper, I can confidently tell you that I have never met any kind of person, including CPA’s Accountant and especially myself, who enjoy wearing the hat of ‘sales tax filer’, certificate collector or having to do research on tax jurisdictions so we’re proud to be able to offer these services so business owners can focus on growth vs. those kinds of daunting tasks.”
Sounds good to us --- and everyone needs it.
So, what’s the challenge?
Nutter explains, “I think the challenge we face is making sure ConnectWise partners know that we’re here to support them. I don’t think anyone wakes up and says, ‘you know what I really want to do? Talk about Sales Tax’ to a salesperson. We’ve been working Jess and the Invent program to improve our communication and message delivery.”
Oh, makes sense.
Tax conversations may not be the most engaging topic for everyone.
“There’s always those stigmas around sales tax being boring or salespeople being pushy so something we want people to understand is that we are here to take that burden of having to do research on sales tax away and our salespeople.”
Nutter continues, “similar to ConnectWise, we like to follow the thought-leadership model and consider our sales executives to be more like business consultants so an initial conversation with Avalara is really about education and making sure that the business owner knows what liabilities they’re facing and what solutions are available to them.”
Taveras is mindful of the challenges that come with positioning new vendors. For ConnectWise partners seeking solutions, like Avalara, it’s crucial that they understand the vendor value proposition. That’s where the Invent team comes in.
“We have a deep bench of dedicated resources that assist with marketing strategies (webinars, livestreams, and blogs) branded visibility (Marketplace banners and position), in-person events (sponsorship opportunities, ConnectWise user groups). The key to helping vendors realize success is the strength of the collective team [Louie, Davina, Marcus, Andrea and Sean]. We all play very different roles, but together, we are a powerful consultative partner to all our Invent vendor partners,” says Taveras.
Nutter agrees and adds: “I think that this is an exciting industry and one that’s ever-changing so any given day you can be faced with a new unanticipated challenge and having the ConnectWise team who are such rapid responders and people who truly care about the success of their partners is paramount to us providing top tier services.”
The Business of Connection
Helping vendors’ businesses thrive is the ultimate goal of the Invent program. As you can imagine, it takes a lot of coordination and resources to power a successful launch and to sustain success. Taveras refers to it as a “one stop shop” to get everything you need - tech support, continuing education and access to SMEs. And, she adds, it’s ongoing. “Yes, we have contracts for a defined period of time,” says Taveras, “but I don’t view it like that. These engagements are always going --- and growing.”
Ah, yes, let’s talk about the human element!
“I think that ConnectWise and Avalara both have very strong cultural foundations that let us all come to work as ourselves and when you have all these passionate people working together, each bringing their own personalities and ingenuity, you find great success in that,” says Nutter.
Fair to say that today business transactions can feel --- well, transactional. ConnectWise takes a different approach. The focus is on creating and developing meaningful connections and giving Partners the opportunity to leverage the power of its community.
Nutter really drives this point home. “As I’ve mentioned before, this is a team I really enjoy working with and what’s fun and cool is that I could be talking to Jess [Taveras] by email, LinkedIn messenger, text or even on Instagram messenger and it’s not the feeling of ‘oh this is a business contact’ it’s more like ‘hang-on a minute let me check with my friend.’ It doesn’t feel like we’re from separate organizations. It feels like we are one team that works together to provide the highest quality products, services, and experiences. From day one it felt like, ‘Okay, these people are my friends’. There’s a level of passion and care in this partnership that if we could bottle and sell, we’d make a fortune. The secret recipe is culture to be sure.”
Music to our ears, Kate.
Let’s be friends, shall we?