What your customer wants

GB: Put simply, they forget that we are the customer. Some of the systems integrators seem to have the attitude that they are doing us a favour by making time to help us!

There are plenty of other systems integrators in the market that would be happy for the business, especially now.

How can It providers improve their service?

SS: Many resellers are substantially dependent on technical expertise based elsewhere and then parachute them in whenever needed. Serious resellers must invest in building up credible technical expertise and capabilities locally to support their customers. The importance of the geographical proximity of the IT provider to customer relationships should never be underestimated.

AM: I would like them to think from a service perspective rather than from a product perspective. I want the relationship to start after you sell. A lot of people still have sales managers. Today you should have client relationship managers.

GB: I would like to see more investment in staff training. Not necessarily from a technical standpoint, but more from a customer service standpoint and in the managing of their customers’ expectations.

PO: It is unfortunate that in this climate their workforce is very transient. People get qualified, do a couple of years and then move on. So there is no long-term growth or maturity within the organisations here, with one or two exceptions. They need to get better at doing the overall project. Often their project management skills are abysmal, they are not really up to speed and they are not up to spec. They will try to quote you on a project that will include a project manager and what you get is not that. People delivering the projects must have basic certifications in project management. Also, estimates and costing can be immature. For instance, you are looking for a solution for some 30 or 50 employees and they come back with solutions with a US$1m price tag on them.

How important is vendor interaction when working with a systems integrator?

SS: We expect the vendors to be fully involved with the services that their partners are providing. In fact, we normally require vendors to be party to our contracts with their partners to ensure they complete the job to the required quality standards.

GB: From my perspective, I would rather have a single point of contact with the systems integrator. If I wanted to have to deal with all the vendors then I would purchase the equipment myself, with the possible exception of very large orders such as Cisco active components.

AM: It depends on the size of the deed or the work, but I expect the vendor to do a quality analysis on any work that a systems integrator has done. I want the vendor to say, “I really would like to see how the work is done and I will perform a free QA for you.” It shouldn’t take them very long to see how things have been done, what technology they have used and if, as a customer, I am happy or not. In general, if I buy Cisco from a certified company then Cisco should come and see how I am doing. It doesn’t happen.

AB: If the vendors are involved, we prefer it. We usually go to them and ask about the solutions provider to find out how good they are or whether they are a Gold partner.

PO: We basically have an infrastructure platform based on a certain vendor’s platform so we have evaluated solutions first to see how good a fit they are for that platform. In some cases that may involve vendors directly.

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