Revolutionizing Tech Partnerships

Technology partnerships are broken. There are a tremendous amount of well-intentioned partners and a ton of fantastic relationships, but when I talk to people across the industry there is still a gap that exists. This gap is between the intention of what could be delivered, and what customers are receiving.

After 15 years in the technology service industry, I have seen it over and over again. There is no one specifically at fault here, but I believe that there are three factors that have played into what has become an industry norm of settling:

Partner Consolidation

There has been a push for as long as I can remember to consolidate partners. This isn’t something unique to the technology industry, but something that all companies have always strived to do. Whether it be reducing account payable invoice processing time, having to manage arduous security control, or simply managing the relationship with multiple sets of vendors, there has been a plethora of reasons that this is true. However, as technology automates and makes some of these challenges simpler, a big question has to be asked “Are there tradeoffs in the output of these partners that are being made simply to make the management of them easier?” My perspective is yes, and as many of the platforms become simpler, but the requirements for delivery (think security!) become more complex, those tradeoffs are becoming more and more costly or even risky for businesses.

Rise of the Generalists

In the book “Range” by David Epstien, it is argued that individuals who have a broad range of experiences and skills are often more adaptable and effective at solving problems. While this could be true as a general rule, there is a reason you want the best heart surgeon or the best tax accountant to take care of you. There is a place for true expertise and as “IT” has ballooned from managing servers and networking to encompass and touch almost every functional area of a business. Keeping up with this is a task that has forced most service providers to truly become ‘generalists,’ with strength at keeping the lights on, but falling short on some of the things that are most critical to your business.

Experience versus Outcomes

There have been incredible bursts forward around the experiences that technology can provide and a generation that has been brought up living hand in hand with these new platforms. One key difference getting overlooked is that the journey is as important as the outcome itself. Many organizations have implemented tools or services simply because they ‘check the box’ or can deliver on a set of vague business outcomes. However, the integration points of technology can now focus on creating niche experiences that truly delight your teams and surprise them. This does not mean that marching towards specific outcomes is not crucial, it simply means that the experience of both the journey and the destination have to be key considerations and be aligned completely across the partner ecosystem you have in place.

I truly believe that the barriers that existed even two or three years ago no longer exist. With incredible advancements in Artificial Intelligence; smarter sensors, devices and IoT; innovations to productivity and collaboration platforms; and a changing user population craving something different, now is the time to challenge the norm and look at how you can deliver something incredible.