Good things come in bigsmall packages

Size doesn't always matter, especially when it comes to doing business with a smaller company, writes Sara Driscoll

There was a recent car ad that made an attempt to alter the meaning of certain words.

The ad was for Toyota, and the word the firm introduced was bigsmall. Urbandictionary.com defines it as ‘something small that has the characteristics of something much bigger (its alternative definition is: Advertising bulls@#t).

However, despite the fact this word may have been dreamed up by junior marketing executives high on life after receiving their first ever business cards, it can be pertinent in certain situations.

The chief executive of services specialist Vistorm, for example, told CRN last week that he believes larger corporates are turning away from dealing with comparable-sized firms and are instead tuning into the wavelengths of the smaller specialists to help them solve their IT problems.

The old belief is that big is better and corporates only deal with corporates. Because, let’s face it, as chief information officer at Greedy Bank plc – a global institution – it is unlikely you would want to deal with hundreds of smaller suppliers, each with their own Ts&Cs, contacts and cultural diversities. Instead you would hunt for one firm to do all of that for you, such as EDS or Unisys, perhaps.

But negative press regarding the plethora of disasters in implementing public sector IT by the larger integrators has led some end-user corporates to have a rethink and look for a bigsmall company with which to create a symbiotic relationship. This creates a win-win situation.

The larger corporate becomes a very big fish in someone else’s very small pond, helps to mould and shape the smaller firm’s product and is likely to get bespoke software, hardware or infrastructure redesigned by the VAR/ISV tailored exactly to its needs. The smaller firm gets a better product and gets a beachhead account with which to base future sales. And it morphs from simply a small company to a bigsmall company.

Sara Driscoll is editor of CRN. Email her a [email protected]