Evolve customer IT over time
Customers will be more easily retained through technology evoluton, rather than big-bang change, says John Yardley
John Yardley: A gradual approach to technological change will enhance customer loyalty long-term
We all like the idea of the customer who decides to throw out everything and start again. It's funny how we all think how great it would be to start again from a clean sheet, yet in IT this is probably the worst possible approach.
Wholesale renewal of everything is probably the biggest cause of lost production, and often lost customers too.
There is some great new technology out there, but it is fraught with ways in which it can go wrong - even for IT specialists.
Never go for a completely new IT system. Instead, do it a bit at a time, always retaining a fall-back position. As the supplier, you may not end up with the hoped-for, single, large order as a result, but the customer will probably order as much from you over time.
And if things do not go exactly as planned, you won’t have a massive mess to sort out.
Think about where the customer wants to get. This may not be about technological functionality, but about avoiding getting locked in to some particular hardware or software.
Software is often seen as bespoke versus off-the-shelf. A bespoke system will in theory do exactly what the customer wants, but might cost years of programmer time - something smaller companies can rarely afford.
A good compromise is an off-the-shelf product that can be customised to the customer’s needs, perhaps to allow definition of a specific type of workflow, or perhaps putting a customer’s own branding on an existing website.
Understanding a customer’s workflow is essential before systems can be specified and quoted. Sure, you can easily provide reams of product specifications and price lists, and tell customers to make up their own minds.
While this may give the reseller absolution if the customer orders the wrong thing, it doesn’t stop the customer from switching horses and going to another reseller. If you can become a part of a long-term project, in the long run both customer and reseller benefit.
Software is usually where a new project starts. Far too many resellers make the mistake of trying to go in and rewrite existing systems wholesale, which in the long term will effectively mean throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
You might gain better short-term revenues, but nine times out of 10 you will void your long-term relationship with a customer. Never underestimate the power of reputation.
Hardware functionality hardly ever changes – it merely gets faster or stores more. If your customers are running a database that they want to improve, always encourage them to try and stick with the existing data structures, so they do not end up with old and new data – which always makes backtracking difficult.
If they are changing their database engine – say, from proprietary to open source – advise them to resist the temptation to rewrite everything, then export or import all the data. It will fail. Better to write the new system alongside the old system and synchronise the data between them.
Proprietary code usually implies a degree of lock-in. But might cheaper opensource options result in more costly support? Opensource-derived offerings can generate as much revenue as proprietary software for vendors when the cost of support is factored in.
Both open source and proprietary apps can have benefits and one or the other should not be seen as essential to maximise revenue.
SMEs in particular are beginning to seriously consider whether they actually need to buy any hardware.
High-speed internet access and the availability of cloud computing can extricate companies from all the problems of maintaining their own servers. But remember that even information takes time to travel along wires, and the latency between client and server can quickly add up to a less-than-responsive service.
Again, resellers that understand this can set themselves apart.
John Yardley is managing director at JPY