Mark Hill, Tenth Revolution Group
CIO of cloud talent solutions firm discusses what he looks for in tech suppliers
What does your company do, and what is your role?
Tenth Revolution Group is the global leader in cloud talent solutions. Our mission is to solve the cloud ecosystem talent gap. We tackle the cloud skills gap on two fronts: connecting businesses with the experienced talent they need to succeed, and bringing new blood into the cloud space by cross-training IT professionals in skill-scarce ecosystems.
I joined Tenth Revolution Group as chief information officer in 2017. As CIO, I lead on our digital transformation projects and guide strategic business change initiatives across the organisation. I also take a principal role in developing the firm's strategic alliances strategies.
What traits do you seek in your IT suppliers?
Many things are key when I'm looking to engage with an IT supplier, namely reputation, proven customer base, ease of integration, a good account team - and obviously a product that meets my needs today and hopefully in the future, hence the R&D and innovation roadmap is also a consideration.
In addition I want to see suppliers being clear and straightforward about TCO. Cost management is important for any business, so I would expect any potential supplier to cost things out properly and be realistic, not optimistic.
The market is now plagued with multiple examples of companies that "cloud wash" apps seemingly just to squeeze more cash out of the customer. In effect it's the same old record player and the same old songs, only now you have to keeping feeding it with coins to keep the music playing. It's not enough to just change the pricing model and say it's worth it because it's ‘X -as-a-service'; it needs to offer me something more and something different. Such as - to stick with the musical analogy - Spotify, which offers more songs and more choice.
Another bugbear I have with cloud is that the price is often not truly consumption based. What I mean is that too many vendors offer cost models that happily increase with consumption, but don't shrink with reduction. Some vendors like AWS and Microsoft Azure get this right, but many don't.
A proper SLA is also always on my radar as well. Any supplier can talk a good game about quality and robustness, but without a comprehensive SLA that leaves no room for doubt about what's going to be provided, I'll remain unconvinced in the integrity of the service and therefore the supplier.
What are your main dos and don'ts for resellers and other IT suppliers when they are selling to you?
Having true customer empathy and understanding is essential. Every customer is different, and any IT supplier that can demonstrate that they understand our challenges and our business, and can offer me tailored solutions, gets a head start.
Also, suppliers should not just focus on getting the deal across the line. When a supplier is pitching to me, I also want to hear about how they're going to continue to deliver once the service is live. How they will then support me beyond the finish line and provide brilliant service every single day.
How can IT suppliers best influence you early in the sales cycle?
First and foremost, I'm looking for honesty. I don't want to hear the hypothetical sales pitch; I need to know in black and white what the platform in question can and can't do. If the solution doesn't fit the needs of the business, I want to know upfront, not further down the line when we've already invested time and money with the supplier.
If a supplier isn't right for us at this time, there's a chance we might still partner with them to fill the gap or we may change our immediate requirement to accommodate, or revisit them in the future or if our needs change. But if a supplier isn't transparent and candid about what they're offering, that bridge will be burned indefinitely.
Can you give an example of a project where an IT supplier has really impressed you? What did they get right?
I've been lucky enough to work with many great IT suppliers over the years. What impresses me most is not only professional delivery and a good product, but the willingness to do whatever it takes to help the customer be successful.
It's about forming a relationship, and by their very nature, good relationships are reciprocal. This means that on occasions when I really need help, I expect the vendor to show some flexibility and not pay too much attention to the contractual ‘hard lines'.
Why should they do this? Quite simply, it builds trust; trust that you've picked the right partner and that, no matter what, they have your back. If they work to develop this trust, they'll be confident that you'll renew, you'll buy more, you'll recommend them to others, and ultimately you'll be loyal to them (and the people you worked with) for a long time.
Throughout my career, I've had the pleasure of working with a vast array of small, medium-sized and large global vendors. Some are now friends, some I will never touch again. In the end, the guys with a truly customer-centric approach always win.
Do you generally prefer to procure as many IT goods and services as possible from a single supplier, or work with multiple specialists?
In an ideal world, it would be more convenient to get all services through one vendor; integration may be smoother, TCO might be lower, and you're only dealing with one point of contact. But in reality this is over-idealistic and in my experience often doesn't work.
People argue that you can combat this and there are advantages of SIAM models or single outsource providers, but the negatives often outweigh the positives, particularly as the mark-up ‘tax' is so high that you start to question the actual value.
Also, you don't always get specialist knowledge through a single, large-scale supplier. If you require a handful of totally distinct, unrelated tools, it's unlikely you'll find a vendor that's offering best-of-breed solutions in every area you need. Plus, a multi-vendor approach means you've got a bit more flexibility, more choice, and you can be more agile when architecting your technology stack.
What does work, however, is vendors who specialise in providing a suite of tools that are integrated; this might be across CRM or ERP or cloud, but not across CRM and ERP and cloud, for example.