AI-Powered PartnerOps: The Next RevOps Frontier
In this insightful episode of the ZINFI Partner Ecosystem Podcast, Sugata Sanyal, Founder & CEO of ZINFI, sits down with Kyle Edmund Hayes, Founding Partner at Ecosystem Revenue Dynamics. Together, they explore the fast-changing world of PartnerOps, fueled by AI and driven by the foundational principles of Revenue Operations (RevOps). With nearly two decades of experience spanning Microsoft, Infor, and Avanti, Kyle brings a powerful systems engineering lens to revenue alignment. He shares how today's mid-market and enterprise organizations are overwhelmed by tool sprawl, data debt, and operational silos—and how AI, ecosystem orchestration, and RevOps engineering are converging to solve this.

Listeners will gain deep insight into the rise of PartnerOps as the next evolution of RevOps, the challenges of modern tech stacks, and the frameworks needed to simplify go-to-market complexity. This is a must-listen if you're a CRO, partner leader, or RevOps strategist.












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Video Podcast: AI-Powered PartnerOps: The Next RevOps Frontier

✔ Chapter 1: From Engineering to Ecosystem Thinking


Kyle Edmund Hayes shares a compelling journey that blends engineering expertise with operational strategy. Starting at IBM, his early fascination with systems design and IT infrastructure evolved through hands-on roles supporting enterprise data centers. These formative years helped Kyle develop a systems-level perspective. He explains how this foundation shaped his understanding of how technology supports business functions, a theme central to his later work. His transition into software engineering was driven by coding and the desire to understand how complex systems serve broader business outcomes.

Kyle shifted from pure engineering to client architecture and program management as he moved through roles at Microsoft and other firms. This evolution was marked by a desire to bridge the communication gap between business teams and technical departments. At Microsoft, he worked on early Azure and SaaS migration projects, giving him a front-row seat to the evolution of enterprise cloud and partner engagement strategies. These experiences formed a unique blend of technical depth and business alignment that set the stage for his eventual founding of Ecosystem Revenue Dynamics.

Sugata highlights how this trajectory positions Kyle as an ideal thought leader for PartnerOps, which requires engineering precision and strategic coordination. Kyle has carved out a niche in orchestrating partnerships, channels, and go-to-market motions by fusing operational complexity with ecosystem thinking. This first section sets the foundation for understanding why PartnerOps isn’t just a renamed channel function but a critical extension of RevOps designed to handle the growing intricacy of the modern partner ecosystem.





✔ Chapter 2: What RevOps Got Right—And What’s Next


In this section, Kyle outlines the timeline of RevOps’ emergence and its growing importance since around 2016. Initially an evolution of traditional sales operations, RevOps expanded to include customer success, marketing ops, and more, transforming into a hub that touches every revenue-driving function. He credits this shift to changes in customer behavior, particularly in subscription-driven economies. The rise of SaaS and recurring revenue made it essential f...