Ati Serpoushan, SVP Partnerships at Napster, shares her perspective on how true partnerships are defining the future of AI adoption. In this piece, she explores why outcomes matter more than technology, the power of co-serving, and what it takes to build customer success stories that last:

Most AI Project Fail Because They Focus on Technology, Not Outcomes

Technology is never the problem. The problem is that most companies fall in love with the shiny object instead of falling in love with the customer's problem. We see this every day—teams get seduced by what the technology can do rather than what the customer needs it to do.

At Napster, we start every conversation with one simple question: "What keeps your customers awake at night?" Then we work backwards from there. The AI becomes invisible. The outcome becomes everything.

Why We Bet Big on Microsoft—And Why It's Paying Off

We partnered with Microsoft three years ago for their enterprise reach, partner-led culture, and understanding of how businesses actually deploy solutions.

Microsoft gives customers choice, speed, and confidence—whether through Azure Marketplace, directly with us, or through their trusted systems integrator.

The partnership delivers scale and credibility. Customers get faster deployments and enterprise-grade solutions they can rely on for long-term success.  

What sets this partnership apart is not only its scale but allows us to align with a trusted, global leader, so we can bring faster deployments and more secure, enterprise-grade solutions that customers can rely on for long-term success.

When Technology Disappears, Magic Happens

The best technology doesn’t show itself. It simply fixes what’s broken. When we work with partners like Leading Results UK or customers such as Comex (PPG), we don’t start with features—we start with their challenges.

For Leading Results UK, the issue was scale. Their coaches were excellent, but they couldn’t grow fast enough to meet demand. We helped them extend human expertise with AI at the core.

For Comex (PPG), the problem was choice overload. Customers faced thousands of paint colors and left unsure. We built not just a recommendation engine, but a 24/7 advisor that gave customers confidence.

In both cases, AI wasn’t the headline. It was the enabler. The real story is technology that disappears so humans can do more, better. The customer experience became the hero of the story.

The Death of "Let's Do a Deal"

The old playbook is dead. You know the one: "Here's our product, here's their customer base, let's split the revenue and call it a partnership."  

Today, customers expect solutions that work seamlessly together, teams that communicate as one, and outcomes that justify the investment from day one.

Real partnerships create shared accountability. At Napster, when we walk into a customer meeting, we're not representing different companies trying to sell two different things. We're one team with one goal: making that customer wildly successful.

Success isn't measured by how much we sold. It's measured by how much value we created, how quickly we delivered results, and whether that customer becomes a reference who can't stop talking about what we built together.  

From Co-Selling to Co-Serving: The New Partnership Playbook

Here's where most partnership strategies get it wrong: they focus on working together to sell something instead of working together to serve someone.

Co-selling is about dividing up the sales process. Co-serving is about joining forces to create customer outcomes that neither partner could deliver alone.

When we co-serve with partners, we're not just combining our technologies—we're combining our expertise, our relationships, and our commitment to customer success. Microsoft brings the scale and enterprise-grade infrastructure. Napster brings speed and laser focus on practical applications.

Together, we're not just implementing solutions. We're co-creating the future of how businesses operate, one customer success story at a time.

The companies that master co-serving will own the next decade.