Which, Truly, Is The Most Vertically Integrated Company In The World?
Might the answer be SAP?
If you picked this option, all I can say is excellent try, but alas you are wrong. The buzzer is ringing, sit down and let the next contestant take a chance. Sorry, but SAP can&'t measure up to the company I&'m talking about.
This company conceptualizes, designs, integrates, delivers and supports every customer with a solution that is customized specifically to its needs when necessary. When this is not necessary, it pulls preconfigured products off its shelf and delivers the goods on time, competitively priced and fully deployed at any location the customer requires. This company operates in every market on the planet and sells to and supports any size organization—be it a sole proprietor, a small business, a midsize account or a large multinational enterprise.
So now perhaps you are thinking Hewlett-Packard.
Wrong again. This company not only offers terrific hardware but an incredibly rich offering of software that can solve problems. It can do consulting work that results in changes in the customer&'s business processes, opening up new markets while driving efficiencies.
Did I hear you blurt out IBM? After all, its lineup includes not only hardware and software but IBM Global Services, which drives the vast majority of the company&'s profits.
I&'m sorry, but not even behemoth IBM with all its capabilities in systems, software and servers—not to mention consulting services and integration—stands up to this company.
Other well-managed companies like Microsoft with offices in difficult-to-operate markets such as Russia and China might cross your mind as the answer. But even mighty Microsoft turns to this company for help.
The answer, of course, is your business and the hundreds of thousands of solution providers just like you that inhabit the world&'s markets delivering solutions.
Let&'s face it, where else can a company of any size turn to get a solution to a business problem? All of the companies I mentioned have great products in many different areas. But none of them can do everything for every customer.
Singly and collectively, however, solution providers take calls from the smallest to the very largest of companies, cobbling together technical solutions to their business problems and standing behind them with support after delivery.
Every vendor I&'ve mentioned here works with solution providers for this very reason. There is literally no other way to deliver so many products configured in so many different ways. And did I mention the worldwide coverage that can only be gained through channel partners?
The North American channel is the most developed in the world, but I&'ve been spending more time in foreign markets of late and there is no doubt that all that applies in the United States is as true elsewhere in the world.
The biggest obstacle to growth for most high-tech vendors is their inability to develop and recruit a viable indirect channel. The trouble is, many don&'t realize they have a problem. Even when they do, some are incapable of executing on a channel strategy because their corporate culture is so ingrained in direct sales and the compensation structure doesn&'t support it. The winners, of course, are those that figure out how to harness the true vertical integration and the market reach the channel provides.
Make something happen. I can be reached at (781) 839-1202 or via e-mail at [email protected].