One Wednesday morning in Jan 2018 and I am sitting with a public sector client to discuss how he and his team could optimise IT operations and add new organisational capabilities faster in 2018/2019. The client is looking at various options such as; moving workloads to public cloud platform; consolidating communication services; reducing data centres; migrating to opensource technologies; adopting agile practices for new development and etc.
The cloud migration menace
The current IT operation is spread out among units and departments under the agency, creating disparate IT system operations with its own set of integration works and technology vendors. The client is planning to create a common cloud platform (a hybrid of private and public) to gradually move all or at least most IT operation onto it, but is unsure which operation should be targeted first and how that will impact the rest of the systems in place. They also realised that moving hundreds and eventually thousands of workloads onto a central cloud platform would require them to change work procedure, policies and restructure the information technology department.
In addition, each system migration will also have to consider impact to users and the domestic technology vendors currently supporting it. Without involvement of these two parties, the cloud migration can hit costly roadblocks, as most systems are legacy (non cloud native) and full of workarounds.
The eager salesman who killed his chance at a good deal before it even begun.....
As such some external experts were invited today to share ideas on the best methods to approach the problem. I sat quietly among the customer executives, listened and took some notes from each presentation. At the end, the team convened without the presenters and came to the consensus that none of the presenters actually understood what the client is looking for. Everyone (including reputable MNC reps) presented a solution anchored around a product/service or in worst cases a product, failing miserably to discuss the actual problem, impact, coverage and risks associated with it.
Some vendors even try to assure the client, that they can undertake the migration work with their own set of trained partners who have no history with the client. Ignoring the fact, that moving a critical application without involving the current support vendors (and training them) could only lead to catastrophic failure and cause additional complication for procurement.
In their pursuit to pin down a deal, most vendor reps did not take the opportunity to ask all the right questions such as why it’s important for the customer to achieve this goal now, or what efforts were already in place. In fact, the customer felt some presenters were just gearing to make a quick sale for meeting quarterly numbers.
Route to problem solving as opposed to shortsighted solutions
The cloud migration menace
The current IT operation is spread out among units and departments under the agency, creating disparate IT system operations with its own set of integration works and technology vendors. The client is planning to create a common cloud platform (a hybrid of private and public) to gradually move all or at least most IT operation onto it, but is unsure which operation should be targeted first and how that will impact the rest of the systems in place. They also realised that moving hundreds and eventually thousands of workloads onto a central cloud platform would require them to change work procedure, policies and restructure the information technology department.
In addition, each system migration will also have to consider impact to users and the domestic technology vendors currently supporting it. Without involvement of these two parties, the cloud migration can hit costly roadblocks, as most systems are legacy (non cloud native) and full of workarounds.
The eager salesman who killed his chance at a good deal before it even begun.....
As such some external experts were invited today to share ideas on the best methods to approach the problem. I sat quietly among the customer executives, listened and took some notes from each presentation. At the end, the team convened without the presenters and came to the consensus that none of the presenters actually understood what the client is looking for. Everyone (including reputable MNC reps) presented a solution anchored around a product/service or in worst cases a product, failing miserably to discuss the actual problem, impact, coverage and risks associated with it.
Some vendors even try to assure the client, that they can undertake the migration work with their own set of trained partners who have no history with the client. Ignoring the fact, that moving a critical application without involving the current support vendors (and training them) could only lead to catastrophic failure and cause additional complication for procurement.
In their pursuit to pin down a deal, most vendor reps did not take the opportunity to ask all the right questions such as why it’s important for the customer to achieve this goal now, or what efforts were already in place. In fact, the customer felt some presenters were just gearing to make a quick sale for meeting quarterly numbers.
Route to problem solving as opposed to shortsighted solutions
In MNCs, most reps are designed towards selling a service subscription or a product as quickly as possible. This is why almost every rep starts conversation around deal description, timeline and budget allocation, without spending too much time diagnosing the business problem. Opportunities are filtered based on a certain technical and business criteria that can be met directly by the vendor. These questions are usually provided to sales folks by their companies in the form of cheat sheets.
In their defence, this is crucial as their work and resources are recorded in sales automation system which tracks sales and is used to formulate management guidance moving forward to teams. As such, their performance and ability to secure resources for their deals is somewhat tagged with opportunity information that is submitted via the system.
Having said that a complex problem such as the one described here, has many routes to resolution. Often executed concurrently to reach maximum results. E.g. Training and up-skilling selected ISVs and SIs based on their existing support footprint for cloud migration; migrating several non-critical workload for a pilot case; training user groups on how to harness cloud values for their work; restructuring internal technical functions and resources.
Show them where you fit into the big picture
What a client of this multitude is expecting here is just a fit in the big picture. A rep losses ground by unnecessarily minimising the complexities, deviating or withholding useful information that can help build a better route to resolving the business problem. This makes the client second guess and continuously seek alternative advice, even when dealing with vendors that they are familiar with. Past experience on how they were left in the lurch discovering issues pertaining to product compatibility to their environment, or other licensing matters, haunts them.
The takeaway is, great deals are embedded in complex customer situations. You may not have an answer to everything, but it is any reps/consultant’s responsibility to look at things realistically for clients to take them seriously. Collaborate with the client to map the business problem, improve designs of the resolution routes where relevant, add useful insights, be willing to work with others in the process (including your competitors) and highlight areas where your company can design differentiated values and solutions.
This won't get you a deal tomorrow but will certainly result in a working relationship that is mutually rewarding year after year. Plus you still meet your firms reporting and sales guidelines sufficiently, if not much effectively. As they say a good rep does not waste time calling customers (not that you shouldn't), instead customers call them on their first instinct when they need help.
