Walk The Talk

Unfortunately, most of the vendors targeting this space are organized around antiquated business models that are counterproductive to solution providers. The core issue is that companies such as Sony, Panasonic and just about every other major vendor involved in digital convergence have divisions that market and sell both IT and consumer electronics products.

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MICHAEL VIZARD

Can be reached at(516) 562-7477 or via e-mail at [email protected].

For solution providers, that means there is no such thing as a holistic experience with a company like Sony when it comes to selling solutions that combine PC and audio/visual products. Instead, solution providers must form separate business relationships with different factions in the company that are usually at war with each other over the allocations of internal corporate resources.

Now, the current state of affairs is a natural evolution of the market, given the fact that the PC and consumer electronics industries grew up together in an orthogonal manner. But as customers increasingly demand more solutions rather than simply products, the time is at hand to put aside dysfunctional organizational structures.

To give proper credit, Sony is consolidating management for its PC and consumer electronics groups in San Diego, and Toshiba is well down the path to merging all of its global product assets under one organization. But these two companies are the exception rather than the rule, and both of them still have a long way to go before solution providers in this space can spend more time selling a complete solution than they do navigating the maze of byzantine organizational structures of the leading companies in the field.

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Naturally, hope springs eternal. But if vendors really want to make this new market happen, they first must lead by example rather than reaction.

Are you listening? Do you agree? I can be reached at (516) 562-7477 or via e-mail at [email protected].