In any context, marriages formed out of convenience are a risky undertaking.
This also applies to business partners and is evident in the recent breakup of some of the cabling industry’s alliance and partnerships.
No sooner do these “relationships” dissolve than they are quickly resurrected and reformulated by conveniently changing dance partners before the music stops.
The result is confusion among customers around who is offering what and for how long.
It is challenging enough to keep up with the technology itself, but the temporary nature of these partnerships create unnecessary headaches for existing customers and leave them rethinking their strategy.
It is an accepted practice for companies to have partnerships with complementary and adjacent technologies to their main business. However, when companies try to piece together their core component offerings through hasty alliances and partnerships, it is the customer that ultimately deals with the risk in their vendors’ relationship.
Network infrastructure is a long-term investment and the needs of the business dictates working with vendors that are fully committed and able to provide a comprehensive, optimized solution over the long run. When selecting a vendor partner, be sure to ask:
- How can I ensure the solution is tuned for optimum performance if multiple partners are involved in the integration?
- Will the alliance last as long as the warranty? If not, then what?
- Will these partners have the solutions available when I need them?
- Who is going to provide the proper training and support for my internal staff and business partners?
- Can I get everything I need from one vendor without the time and expense of dealing with multiple vendors?
Alliances and partnerships have their place in the industry by bringing complementary technologies together to solve customer problems. Problems arise when companies fabricate relationships to give the perception of a highly-integrated solution offering. That’s when it might be time to re-think your approach. Do not let someone else’s broken partnership drag your business down, potentially jeopardizing relationships with your customers.
What are your experiences dealing with multi-partner vendors?
