The ICT industry should stop telling its clients what they should purchase and begin to offer solutions that address their needs, says Arjen Wiersma, country manager for BMC Software SA.
ICT companies should understand that what they provide is a support function - ICT is not a leading function for many companies, according to Wiersma. As a result, they should always link proposed ICT solutions to how they will best enable the company to achieve its goals.
"There needs to be a common understanding of the company`s ICT needs, as well as what the crucial service deliverables are," Wiersma says.
For this to happen, companies need to articulate what they need and ICT companies should clarify what they can deliver and how much it costs to deliver to specifications. This will lead to clarity on what is achievable, and to the alignment of goals, he says.
City of Tshwane CIO Gloria Nkadimeng agrees. Companies often seek to sell their services to the CIO, rather than finding out what the need is and addressing it, she says. Even when projects are in progress, there is a feeling that they are not delivering the results as expected, says Nkadimeng.
Business contribution
Wiersma suggests that the alignment of goals also include the management of the customer`s expectations. ICT companies must remember that ICT is a cost centre and do not show profits, he says. As such, they must demonstrate the value they are delivering in other ways.
T-Systems Telecoms GM Desmond Seeley says sooner or later all services, even so-called value added services, become commodities: "It does not matter how unique or clever your idea is, it will become a commodity."
The second challenge that service providers face is that consumers are more inclined to purchase the same product at less price, Seeley says.
He suggests that transparency in pricing as the key to gaining and retaining customer loyalty.
"You must be able to show the customer how you arrived at the price and that is it is in line with industry benchmarks," he says. The service provider must be clear about what the customer is being offered. He bemoans the current trend to provide packaged solutions where some components are said to be "free".
Companies, says Seeley, must move away from the concept offering free value adds, and rather concentrate on understanding the customer and his needs. Seeley quotes T-Systems` approach, which he says is "open book", as an example of how transparency can be effective.
"Our approach is to make it clear to the customer what they are buying, what the benefits are, how much it costs and what our margins are."
He says even against competitors who may be cheaper, they have found that customers appreciate their transparency.
Demonstrating the benefits
Offering customer value should go beyond just showing that the solution works, says Definity Telecoms GM Greg Rood. There should be demonstrated benefits that the client gains as a result of using the solution.
"If you make promises that a product will deliver certain results, you must do a regular audit in order to show that those results are being achieved," he says.
The benefit for customers is that they are assured that the solution delivers exactly what it promised, he says. ICT companies also gain, Rood says, because their credibility in the eyes of decision makers within the company is enhanced.
The auditing of services demonstrates to the customer that the ICT company is not only interested in selling a product, but will ensure that it is used most effectively to achieve the customer`s organisational goals. This in turn, increases the trust between the two parties, with the result that the contract is easily renewed at the end of the period, strengthening the relationship with the customer.
ICT sector regulation
Strategies to meet customer needs need not be innovative, says Nkadimeng.
"Someone has dealt with that already, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel."
What ICT players need to do is to learn from the experiences of others, choosing those methods that have worked every time.
Nkadimeng also suggests self-regulation of the market, so there are minimum qualifications and experiences that are required from practitioners. She argues that as doctors, lawyers and other professionals are expected to be qualified to do the job, so too should ICT professionals.
The fact that the ICT sector allows inexperienced people to enter the industry and learn on the job influences the services offered to customers as well as the advice given.
"I`m not sure people advising us are knowledgeable enough to be able to advise us," she says.
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