Are you in a Perceived Staisfactory Relationship with your IT suppliers

In a recnt discussion with an IT supplier, he described one of the challenges that he faces when speaking to potential clients. They are in a perceived satisfactory relationship. They are not ready or interested in a new supplier.

Having worked for large companies with many suppliers, I can understand the situation. There are a lot of articles out there about customer relationship management that describe how it is easier and less expensive to keep and grow an existing customer relationship than it is to build one. The same is true of suppliers. I have had many poor supplier relationships that were turned around. It is much easier and I fully support it. Changing suppliers is a major distraction and keeps you away from your priority, building your own business. You focus on your major suppliers, who are very important to your business.

Unfortunately, computer support is not a priority for most businesses. They must use computers, but it is a distraction. We see this not only in small businesses, but also in large ones. Many CIOs (Chief Information Officers) have complained for years that they should be at the executive table. In those situations, since the experts are in the company, we can say that it is their own fault. They haven't shown how important Information Technology can be to the business, so why should be business care?

In a small business, there is typically no one with a good combination of business and technical skills to guide the company in exploiting technology, so perhaps that is understandable. But what is the impact?

Before discussing the impact, let's look at the source of the problem. Most computer support companies and staff that support small business are technically skilled and experienced. They speak technical language to their customers and expect them to do the same. They look down on anyone who can't speak their language and make their customers feel inferior.

Albert Einstein said "if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough". That is the problem. The suppliers and technicians don't understand the issues well enough and they need to show their superiority by using technical language. As a result, business people suffer from a low expectation of what they can get from an IT supplier and changing suppliers is painful and doesn't produce value.

There are a few suppliers out there that can speak the language of business. Business owners and managers need to start looking for them and expecting to be able to get the kind of service and language that they need.

Some of the expectations that you should have and should get:

• Your computers should provide a stable service. Failures and problems cost you time and money.
• New software should increase productivity, reduce costs or increase quality. There should be a rapid return on investment.
• You IT suppliers should be able to speak to you in your language, expalin the business issues without technobabble.
• Your suppliers should be coming to you with business solutions, not another sales pitch.
• Your suppliers should make it easier to make use of computers, not harder.
• Your suppliers should help you learn to adapt to the new technology, not drop it in your lap and have you learn through a fire hose.

There are probably more things that should be expected. Start not only expecting this, but demanding these from your suppliers. This is the only way things will change.