APC's Digital Edge - Solving The Customer Conundrum

Today’s digital landscape puts everything at our fingertips. That’s great news for customers, who can research the marketplace with the click of a button. It can also be good news for solution providers wise enough to stay close to their customers.

“One of the challenges that we have is that we’re losing touch on a personal level. What’s happening is clients or customers are just going onto Google and doing quick searches. We as partners need to still own and have that relationship with the client,” says David Ybarra, APC partner champion at Insight.

Partners need to clearly define what makes their business stand out. One solution is by arming themselves with data that their customers don’t have. “[Partners] are trying to add value to the services that they can provide to help their customers,” says Larry Hann, director of channel digital services at APC. “It’s very difficult to have that business conversation, if they don’t really know what’s going on within the customer’s environment.”

EcoStruxure IT is a cloud-based offering partners can use to develop a unique selling proposition within their line card. Solution providers can address UPS issues and deepen their customer relationships by having visibility into their distributed environments. “If I start vocalizing the solution, the clients are more engaged and more readily available to purchase from us as a partner versus going online,” says Ybarra.

Ultimately, the more engaged a customer is, the more loyal they are to their solution provider partner. “My customer is loyal to me for a different reason than just, ‘I can get them the best price.’ They’re loyal to me, because I’m telling them things about their environment that are saving them somewhere down the line,” says Katie Boeh, director of channel marketing and communications, North America, at APC.

Solution providers only need 30 minutes to complete a free EcoStruxure IT assessment. Click here to get started by requesting a demo of the software and assessment tools.