What We Learned Working Alongside Amazon's AI Experts
The collaboration in action!
Every business owner knows the feeling. You have days that bring uncertainty – and then there are moments that remind you you're on the right path -and suddenly every challenge feels worth it. I was lucky enough to experience one of those moments recently.
As our hosting partner, I’m incredibly proud of the relationship we have with Amazon Web Services (AWS). As one of the most respected technology companies in the world, having the opportunity to work with their team on daily basis, is something we never take for granted.
However, a few weeks ago, I received the news that AWS wanted to deepen that relationship. Right Revenue had been selected as one of just five companies to take part in the AWS AI Accelerator Programme - a programme designed to help businesses solve real business challenges through expert technical mentoring from the amazing teams at AWS and Cloud Combinator.
As the founder of a technology business, to say I was excited was an understatement. To be selected was a complete honour and a true pinch me moment...it felt like a huge endorsement of what we're building
From the outset, I knew it was going to be a very special day. Welcoming the AWS and Cloud Combinator teams into our offices felt like the start of a genuine collaboration – and the opportunity to bring together great people, fresh ideas and a shared ambition to solve a real business challenge.
It All Started with One Simple Question
This wasn't a typical "let's add AI for the sake of it" project. Before anyone talked about technology, the team wanted to understand how we worked. They spent time with our sales team, asked lots of questions and challenged our thinking before suggesting any solutions. Everything started with one simple question: could AI help us do this better?
It didn't take long to identify where AI could make the biggest difference. Like most sales teams, ours spends hours researching prospective customers before the first conversation even takes place. Finding the right hotels, understanding ownership structures, reviewing technology, identifying commercial opportunities and pulling information together from multiple sources all takes time.
It's essential work because it helps us have far better conversations with prospective customers. But it's also repetitive work. The goal wasn't to replace our sales team -it was to remove as much of the manual research as possible so they could spend more time doing what they do best: building relationships and helping hoteliers improve revenue performance.
That became the starting point for the project.
Understanding the Problem First
Rather than arriving with a ready-made solution, the AWS team spent time understanding how our sales team worked. Over a brain-storming session (fuelled by copious amounts of tea and cake), they observed our prospecting process, asked questions and took the time to understand where the real challenges lay before considering how AI could help. It reinforced an important lesson and one upon which Right Revenue is based: the best technology solutions start with understanding people and processes first.
Over the course of the day, a solution was built that gives our sales team everything they need to prepare for conversations with prospective customers in one place. Instead of spending hours pulling information together from multiple sources, they can quickly build a clear picture of each prospect before picking up the phone. It's not about replacing experience or judgement – it's about giving the team a stronger starting point, reducing time spent on manual research and allowing them to focus on what they do best: building relationships and creating value for hotels, with the potential to transform the way our sales team works.
Why Right Revenue?
Needless to say we have been both incredibly grateful and hugely excited by the opportunity but I was curious about was why AWS had chosen to work with Right Revenue in the first place
Mariana Caran Rossi, our wonderful AWS Account Manager (and champion of all things Right Revenue!), explained that what stood out about Right Revenue was that we weren't looking to experiment with AI for the sake of it. We had a genuine business challenge, a team that was open to new ways of working and a product that was already evolving. The programme wasn't about building a one-off prototype – it was about creating something that could continue to grow with the business.
"We weren't looking for a company that simply wanted to use AI. We were looking for a genuine business challenge where AI could create long-term value." Mariana Caran Rossi, Account Manager, AWS
A Real Partnership
As someone who has always believed that business is about people, I personally loved that, from the beginning, this never felt like a client-supplier relationship. It genuinely felt like three teams coming together with one shared goal. The relationship we built with the teams at AWS and Cloud Combinator was one of the highlights of the whole experience.
Mariana summed it up perfectly when she said, "If Right Revenue is successful, then we're successful too." That mindset ran through the whole programme and is probably one of the reasons it was such a rewarding experience. The team at Cloud Combinator shared that same enthusiasm, telling us how much they'd enjoyed working with an ambitious business that was willing to embrace new ideas. Perhaps that's why the programme worked so well. It never felt like three separate organisations - it felt like one team trying to solve the same problem.
I'd like to offer my immense thanks to everyone at AWS and Cloud Combinator for their time, expertise and enthusiasm throughout the programme. They challenged our thinking, shared their knowledge generously and became genuine partners along the way.
Most importantly, they reinforced something I'll take into every future AI project.
Don't start with the technology.
Start with the business problem.
Everything else becomes much clearer from there.
