Tag Archives: Product

How Can a Small Company Compete Against Bigs? Four Strategies

Interview with Sai Gundavelli, CEO, Solix Technologies

Situation: A company has top talent and a better technology solution. However their large competitors continue to compete by discrediting them – “nobody was every fired for choosing IBM!” How do you compete effectively against large incumbents?

Advice from Sai Gundavelli:

  • Invest in your product.
    • Work to attain best-of-breed status in your industry with a constant focus on and investment in building a great technology. Solix’s constant goal is to be the technology leader in information lifecycle management and Data Privacy.
    • Be organic and focus on integration, smooth operation and scalability. Build your system from the ground up. An organically designed solution where the pieces work seamlessly offers higher and more efficient performance.
  • Invest in alliances.
    • Solix continually invests in our partnerships, including our OEM relationship with Oracle Financial Services, and we have more such partnerships in the works that will help us expand our presence in the market. Partnerships increase your presence and visibility as you scale your own organization.
  • Focus your efforts.
    • We at Solix are 100% focused on our product, whereas our large competitors are juggling multiple priorities, like a juggler trying to keep a large number of balls in the air. While we are smaller, this allows us to more effectively focus our efforts without lots of conflicting priorities. We focus exclusively on information life cycle management and Data Privacy.
  •  Have others talk about you.
    • Solix’s answer to our competition is let our customers speak for us. We have many happy customers such as Honeywell, Duke Energy, American Tires, who are happy to participate in joint webinars and customer case studies. We work closely with them on the latest developments and direction and use their feedback to guide future product direction.

Key Words: Technology, Solution, SMB, Competition, Multinational, Incumbent, Product, Scalability, Flexibility, Alliance, Partnership, Focus, Specialize, Detail, Reference, Credibility

[like]

How Does a B2B Company Learn B2C? Three Lessons

Interview with Ross Johnston, CEO, DiskCorp

Situation: A well-established B2B company is starting to work with B2C retailers. It is finding that both the internal and external perspectives of B2C companies are very different. How does a B2B company work differently with B2C companies?

Advice from Ross Johnston:

  • In the OEM market, manufacturers control all warranty obligations, have tightly controlled procedures for handling and tracking returned goods and are very focused on product quality and operational efficiency.
  • Leading B2C retailers have a very different perspective. Their focus is on the customer: on encouraging great customer experience and repeat customer visits. Products are sold to big box retailers without warranty, and the retailers provide their own warranty programs. This results in far more returns than for OEMs. Further, product is returned for a wide variety of reasons from failure to work as advertised to the customer simply changing their mind. There is also a wide range in how returned products are handled – from throwing them in the dumpster to returning undamaged items to stock, and few records are kept.
  • Our challenge is to help retailer and big box customers design, develop and implement recycling and cost recovery systems in our market. This means both developing procedures for the retailers and new channels to cost recovery markets.
    • First, they need processes to triage returned goods into broad categories: new or near new goods condition for resale; goods which require refurbishing or recycling; and goods for environmentally appropriate disposal.
    • Second, we have created a software tracking solution – a reverse logistics program – to track returned goods from receipt to their eventual disposition with full end-to-end P&L analysis. This can yield up to a 45% gross margin on returned goods which is shared with the retailer.
    • We develop additional processes that vary by retailer to help them handle the flow of returned goods.
    • We want to provide the retailer with an end-to-end operational platform that turns a cost center into a profit center and reduces long-term liability exposure that accompanies landfill disposal.

You can contact Ross Johnston at rjohnston@diskcorp.com

Key Words: B2B, B2C, OEM, Warranty, Procedures, Focus, Product, Customer, Return, Refurbish, Disposal, Process, Tracking

[like]

How Does a Tech Company Get Beyond Its First Partner / Client? Four Options

Situation: A company has a long relationship with its initial client, which provides the company with key intellectual property. This client handles all marketing, sales and distribution for the company’s principal products, but only accesses 20% of the market. The client is concerned about having its image associated with expansion into markets that the company wishes to pursue. How do you structure a deal that enables you to access the broader market without offending the client?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • The issues for the client are public relations and liability. They don’t want to be associated with certain segments of the larger market as it may compromise customer perceptions of their core business. Further, they want to be indemnified should they face damages from your forays into the larger market. It is important that you address their concerns.
  • Sit down with the key client. Pose a problem that will generate the solution that you seek and let them solve it on their own. Then seek an agreement with the client on carve-outs within the larger target market with which they are agreeable.
  • Build an external company with different branding to approach the larger market, without jeopardizing the relationship with the key client. If ownership and management of the two entities are the same be aware that this is a thin veil.
  • You may increase opportunity for success if you build your own successor product – one tailored for the larger market – while your key client is paying you for current business. Once the product is built, ask the client whether they want to be involved and if so, on what terms. This enhances your bargaining position and reduces your downside risk.
  • Expand your offering, where current products are part of a larger offering. You have two alternatives: go there anyway, or go there with the client. If the client decides that they don’t like what’s happening and opens the market this could be ideal for you.

Key Words: Client, Partner, IP, Intellectual Property, Image, Liability, Solution, External, Entity, Successor, Product

[like]