A conversation with Kate Waterton

Why relationships are the overlooked beating heart of every business growth strategy

This week, we caught up with the newest Invenio recruit, Kate Waterton.  Kate, our new Head of Alliances, recently joined us with a wealth of experience in SAP, from a number of organisations including EY and AgilityWorks . It’s easy to see how Kate finds herself in a Head of Alliances role. Her relationships are clearly a key influencer in her life – both professionally and at home. 

In our interview, Kate talks about relationships and it’s clear she’s spent time considering what makes them work and why some grow strong while others remain transient. As you’ll see below, Kate’s ease and likeability, together with her knowledge of SAP transformation projects are just a few of the reasons Kate has managed to build such an impressive career in Alliances. 

Kate, welcome to Invenio. It’s a delight to meet you. 

Q. It’s clear from your background that you join us with a vast amount of experience in SAP. Perhaps you can tell us more about your career to date? 

I’ve been in the SAP ecosystem all of my career – I initially started out in SAP recruitment where I sourced SAP teams for some of the largest transformations globally, and also worked directly with SAP. In both cases, building long-term relationships with clients and consultants was key and it didnt take long for me to realise that there was a wider world beyond sourcing talent for SAP implementations. For more than ten years now, I’ve been working within Alliances but right from the start, it was all about people. As a child, my family moved around a lot for my Dad’s job and so, for as long as I remember, I have had to make friendships and build new alliances so, right from the very early days of my career, I’ve always had to be able to relate to people. 

The switch from recruitment to alliances all came out of my ability to build relationships and partnerships, and driving opportunities that made a real business impact.  Geographies and organisations may change, but successful business relationships are built on credibility, authenticity and trust that’s what many people and businesses overlook. 

Q. What made you move from a sociology degree into Alliances and Relationship Management?

I’ve always been fascinated by what drives people and makes them tick — the motivations that shape and incentivise how they think, act, and perform. Particularly because no two people are the same, right? However, I never expected it would be something I could make a career from. I got my first job because I saw an advert that said ‘Do you want to make £100k a year” and, being young and enthusiastic, I was like ‘hell, yeah!” This job just happened to be in the recruitment space, recruiting for SAP roles. From there, it was a hop, skip, and a jump into actually working with  SAP organisations, building trust and adding value through alliances and ecosystems.

True transformation doesn’t happen through technology alone; it happens through the relationships that underpin it. Successful partnerships are built on trust, consistency, and follow through - actually doing what you say you’re going to do. For clients looking to transform their business, this matters. You need partners who show up, who understand your world, and who operate as a genuine extension of your team. My role is about bringing that authenticity and long-term relationship mindset into every partnership and engagement, so we can create solutions that are not only innovative, but also aligned to your goals, and capable of driving business impact.


Q. You mention on your LinkedIn page that you help clients address their toughest problems. What are the toughest problems you’ve encountered?

One of the toughest challenges for Alliances within any ecosystem is the fact that you need to have a foot in two camps: you’re a representative for your organisation, like most other employees, but your primary focus is nurturing and strengthening the relationship with the customer. Most of the time, this is straightforward, but internal changes, process shifts, or emerging issues can sometimes create tension or frustration, and that’s when the relationship balance becomes trickier to maintain. 

For me, I personally believe that the best way to manage these situations is by being completely honest and open; if your business isn’t meeting customer expectations, acknowledging this and being accountable, managing expectations and working with your customers to move forward to find a solution, is the most effective approach rather than hiding behind excuses, or complex organisational charts like so many businesses do. At the same time though, it’s important that, as Head of Alliances, I’m working the other side of the fence too to find out why things aren’t going as smoothly as they should be and how long-term issues can be prevented, or identifying how we can avoid repeating this experience. 


Q. How do you see your role in Invenio?

One of the things that really appealed to me about Invenio was its agility and boutique approach, whilst still having a established history in the SAP market. I have a strong background in scaling businesses and love how important (and often under-played) relationships are within business. Through alliances and partnerships you can create real potential - something I've done extensively in the past, and I’m excited to have the chance to do it again. 

My big goal though, is to review and develop how we strengthen Invenio’s strategic relationships, grow new ones and unlock greater value for our clients around the SAP space. That’s absolutely where my heart’s at. If we can do that, we can accelerate the growth of the business and the strength of our alliances, and really embed alliances and partnerships into everything Invenio is already doing and is committed to continuing as it moves into the era ahead of it. 


Q. With AI such a hot topic at the moment, and its impact on relationships being hotly discussed, how do you feel about AI?

That’s a tough one – I’m actually really torn because, on the one hand, I’m really excited about what AI can mean for business. How it can improve performance, level playing fields and reduce costs, but, on the other hand, as a mum of two children I’m anxious about the impact that AI could have from a societal perspective – how it’s going to change the way that people interact, particularly within the community. It’s an incredible moment in time, and I’m watching with both optimism and caution.

Kate, there is so much more here that I’d love to talk about but, unfortunately, we’ve run out of time. It’s been a delight to meet you, and I’m so looking forward to working with you at Invenio and seeing where you take this exciting and pivotal role.

Kate is Head of Alliances at Invenio. You can find more details about her career to date on her Linkedin Page.

Alternatively, send us a message to arrange a no-obligation call with one of our SAP specialists to see how we can help take the stress out of your SAP transformation.