Lost Opportunities

This is a pretty sad statement, because most vendors go to great pains to sign OEM deals under which some piece of software is bundled with a particular piece of hardware before it goes out the door. The assumption is that if the customer knows the software is already on the system, the customer will be more likely to use that piece of software.

But that's where the assumption typically fails to play out. The customer and the solution provider that sold the hardware usually are given little insight from the hardware vendor into all the capabilities of the software bundled with the system. To make matters more frustrating, the hardware vendor rarely shares the names of its solution providers with its software partners, many of whom would be happy to make a living just explaining to customers why they should turn on the software bundled with their systems.

For several years now, vendors have been talking about creating this grandiose vision of a channel ecosystem, where multiple vendors and solution providers go to market hand-in-hand. But it seems most vendors continue to be caught up in the theory rather than the actual practice.

Unfortunately, the information that the vendors need to pull this off is locked up in various silos that span their local salesperson, their own CRM applications, the reseller, the database of the distributor and the commercial software vendor's own internal systems.

However, given the technology available today, it should not be that difficult for hardware vendors to figure out what percentage of the software they sell bundled with their hardware is actually turned on and then figure out whether the customer is running an alternative product or, more likely, is simply unaware of the solution. If this happens on a regular basis, hardware vendors in many cases would, for the first time, generate meaningful leads for solution providers, who in turn would just have to show up and sell something that is already installed.

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