When a major customer spends more than $500 000 per working day with a single vendor, one would expect the relationship between the two companies to be very close. This is the kind of relationship that KPMG has developed with Compaq. The international professional services firm expects to roll-out almost 30 000 Compaq notebooks to its employees worldwide this year. Locally over 1 000 Compaq Armada laptops have already been distributed to its South African offices at a value of over R18 million.
Says Richard Samson, Partner, Technology Services at KPMG Consulting, "The business relationship between vendor and customer has changed radically from simple business deals to creating a long-term, proactive arrangement. Amongst the factors which decided the preferred hardware vendor for KPMG were the stability of the vendor, its technology and the breadth of its product range.
"Another important factor was Compaq`s pricing flexibility. KPMG was able to negotiate a standardised dollar pricing for all Compaq products it purchases, applicable across 95% of the world. Coupled with Compaq`s global reach, the company is able to deal quickly and effectively with our organisation almost anywhere. A single contract between two international companies, applicable anywhere, is certainly unique in the industry and a model that works well for us. Fulfilment is handled by appropriate third-parties, resellers appointed by Compaq, who are bound by the contract requirements and partner with Compaq in order to ensure that delivery takes place as scheduled. For KPMG in South Africa, SM NetworX is the selected Compaq reseller and we have built a strong and successful relationship with them."
Says Penny Lansdell of SM NetworX, "The contract between KPMG and Compaq, using SM NetworX as the fulfilment partner, offers a number of advantages over direct sales models such as planning, deployment and implementation of every aspect of a client`s technological requirements."
Adds Samson, "KPMG employs an enormous mobile workforce consisting of auditors and consultants who spend a large proportion of their time on-site at clients` offices. Our Johannesburg office alone employs more than 1 200 people yet maintains only about 700 seats in its building. The key factor in the notebooks used by the group is total cost of ownership (TCO). Downtime due to equipment results in a waste of billable hours and is unacceptable to us. Compaq`s on-site warranty applies to the notebooks wherever they may be located at any given time.
"It is pretty much a given that how we do business has changed. Customers are demanding more than just products from vendors while vendors are looking for ways of turning a business deal into a long-term relationship that benefits all parties involved. What KPMG has achieved with Compaq is a good indication of the success of this approach."
Says Henry Ferreira, managing director for Compaq in South Africa, "An international alliance between a vendor such as Compaq and a customer the size of KPMG has to depend on a lot more than box-dropping. "Compaq`s stability as a company and as a service provider, as well as the track record of our products speak for themselves."
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