How do I differentiate our services?
As we enter another hyper wave of innovation in the IT industry, the word “services” has taken on a whole new meaning.
Companies that have traditionally provided IT Services find themselves running to develop a portfolio of services which must include process as well as technical innovation to a degree that the lines of product and service begin to blur.
For development houses, their ability to differentiate their Open Source and SOA offerings has become critical both to create true IPR and have a sustainable business model.
For ISVs the move into software as a service (Saas) can seem a daunting task – new operational models, mass marketing budgets. As everyone rushes to provide their own flavour of SaaS, achieving sustainable differentiation, to last beyond the hype, will determine who stays and who goes.
The reality is that wherever you happen to play in IT – hardware, software, distribution, traditional services – there is a need to re-evaluate the meaning of “service” in the context of your very own buyer. To do this we can’t “identify” markets as we have done traditionally in B2B. Instead we need to create a Market Collective that will derive true value from our services and repay us with loyalty.
