What tips the scale for customers when choosing a technology partner?

The rise of digitisation and the fourth industrial revolution has been a catalyst for businesses to invest in technology. For businesses in South Africa, the narrative is invest in technology or fail in the future, while there is some truth to that. We believe that there is a process and as mentioned in our previous article that customers are often in different stages of technology adoption and technology partners must align. This article aims to share some of the insights we've gathered about what's important to a customer when choosing a technology partner.

You’ve closed the deal, now what?

We have heard a number of stories from customers about how service providers drop the ball after the deal has been closed. We believe that it is important to maintain the same energy that got you the opportunity right through to implementation and post project deployment. Over promising and under delivering has been a common concern amongst our target audience and is one of the main factors in causing distrust. We have taken the approach to be honest and transparent in our engagements in which we highlight potential risks, be upfront about challenges and create a platform for honest, collaborative conversations that mitigate potential risks and create pathways for success.

The pricing barrier

We’ve encountered many occasions where the client has said that the proposed solution is not in their budget. From experience, we’ve learnt that rather than cutting costs and trading off the quality of our products it's better to roll up your sleeves and plan with the client to look at how you can develop or implement the solution in phases that aligns with your customer’s financial situation. It may not work every time but that level of initiative and flexibility does not go unnoticed.

Understanding your customers vision

We understand how easy it is to propose a solution and push a product because we “think” that's best for the customer. We aim to be trusted advisors but part of being an advisor is to listen carefully to what your customer is saying. Understanding where your customer has been, where they are at present and where they want to go is important for building a long term sustainable relationship that separates you from the competition. Listening to your customer gives you the ammunition to build impactful solutions that speak directly to their challenges.

Competition in the technology sector is fierce as it's ever been and we truly believe it's important for technology providers to stay true to their values, maintain high quality standards and be flexible to adapt to the ever changing needs of customers. We believe that these factors may be the tipping point that tips the next deal in your favor.