Choose the software company you will hate the least." This was some of the advice that my friend and industry consultant Mike Sheffield provided several years ago to his audience at an mlm startup conference in Las Vegas. I cringed and thought "Wow, did I pick the right business? The best I can hope for is to be hated -the least," As the president of International Direct Selling Technology Corporation (IDSTC), a direct selling software company, the message was disturbing.
Some time has passed since that experience, and the good news is that I now know, and I'm sure Mike will agree, that you are not doomed to have a contentious relationship with your technology partner or IT department. More importantly, it is possible to have a productive, cost-effective relationship with your partner, and - holy cow! - you may even like and appreciate them. But a little background first.
I began my career in the direct-selling industry as a bonafide idealist and network marketing company owner. You know the profile - an unbridled enthusiasm and naiveté to match, with a plan to address all the shortcomings of the mlm strategy. Not to mention a really fair and powerful compensation plan and a cool product, to boot. With inevitable exponential growth and truckloads of cash to divvy up, the sales force would soon get rich, and I would, too!
Admittedly, eight years of executive management for a company that grew to over 100,000 sales representatives came at the expense of some of my idealism. One of the first dents in that idealism came fast in those early days. Everyone and their brother didn't jump on board like I knew they would. My partner Chris Kent, who arranged most of our original funding, was quick to create a new company sales plan and motivational mantra - a survival mantra is more like it. "GET SOME REPS!" he and I would scream at each other repeatedly throughout the day as we stuffed mailers and compiled binders.
We didn't start in the proverbial garage, but our 493 square feet of "class C" office space was certainly humble enough. What we had to do first for survival - and ultimately to be successful - was obvious, and we couldn't state it (or should I say, scream it) enough. In case you are wondering, I'll clarify a little bit later just how this relates to creating productive and successful technology partnerships.
In 1994, Chris and I launched Optimal Telecom. We engaged a consultant, hired a local attorney and purchased mlm software. The software was developed and supported by Target Data. For nearly five years, the mlm software did exactly what it was designed to do. However, in the latter part of 1998, the Internet and the first generation of web-based applications were really starting to take off. The Internet and its new technology offered a fabulous opportunity for us to be a leading-edge organization.
That's precisely what we wanted. So, we set out to replace our existing mlm software system with a new state-of-the-art application that would enhance our operational efficiencies and allow us to deliver to our field the latest and greatest online direct-selling tools at the time - replicated websites and back offices.
We found the industry's hottest mlm software company right in our own backyard, based less than a mile from our headquarters in downtown Tampa. Over the next few weeks we enthusiastically, but cautiously, completed our due diligence and verification of the software company's capabilities. They had only been in business for a couple of years, but based on our research we decided they had a bright and successful future ahead and selected them to be part of ours. That turned out to be the wrong decision as the software company was out of business within six months of securing our payment. Adding to the injury was the fact that the company did not deliver to us any functional software before packing up shop and heading off into the sunset.
Compounding the disaster, we had made another classic mistake, one you might recognize. We had already promised all of these new resources to our sales force, and the excitement was palpable. The field was growing impatient and less and less empathetic. After reevaluating all of our options, we did what we thought we needed to do at the time; we did it ourselves. We hired an IT staff and developed a proprietary system. (I would not recommend this strategy for the inexperienced, those who are short on time, or for poorly funded enterprises!)
You see, I've been in your shoes - managing and surviving through every aspect of the software/technology experience: buying, implementation, support, migration, disaster, chaos, drama, rebuilding and a new successful implementation and operations lifecycle. Now I'm on the other side of the technology partnership as the provider, so my insights should prove quite helpful to those of you who work with software providers. These habits can also be applied to in-house IT departments or other partners in general.
The real question is: what real world, experience-tested strategies result in a successful, long-term partnership? You as the client and your provider have to be committed partners to that goal. But where do you begin? Here is a not-so-technical primer on how to do it.
Habit 1. Be a Team: The Same-Team Paradigm
The relationship between a technology provider and the client involves several dimensions. For the client, one of the most significant concerns is the fear of not having control, and even worse, being controlled by, and at the mercy of some evil and manipulative software company. Coming to terms with this fear is essential to having a successful relationship. While tactical practices should be in place to handle these valid concerns and issues, addressing this aspect is important for your relationship to be effective.
From my observation of hundreds of client relationships, they all begin with an enthusiasm to get the project underway. Most begin with what I describe as a Two Team paradigm: the client team and the provider team. What I have come to understand is that this paradigm usually results in unnecessary inefficiencies and frustration. Notwithstanding good intentions, by its very nature a Two Team paradigm can easily result in an us-against-them, win-lose relationship. In the implementation and support of technology services, challenges and issues most certainly will arise and they must be handled. A win-lose approach in problem solving won't save you time and money, much less solve the tasks at hand any faster. More often than not, it actually slows things down.
A subtle change in perspective can produce a profound paradigm shift that can significantly improve the effectiveness and the overall relationship in general. This can be achieved early in the partnership by initiating, developing and nurturing a genuine Same Team paradigm. Clearly two parties are involved here, possibly more when third-party providers are involved. But the Same Team paradigm is founded upon the principle that everyone is actually on the same team, with the same objective: getting the client's system launched and supporting the business through its various stages of operations.
A Same Team paradigm invokes a pragmatic solution-oriented approach to achieving objectives and milestones. The Same Team paradigm establishes a spirit of collaboration and cooperation with all the players. As your relationship progresses and support for your business is going well, the Same Team paradigm continuously reflects upon how you support your provider in their effort to support you. When challenges arise (and they will), stay calm - don't start beating up your team. Think how you can work with the team to help solve the issues. Collaboration and cooperation are the key elements to a successful Same Team approach.
Habit 2. Collaborate, Cooperate & Synergize
Having the right person responsible for coordinating between your company and your technology provider is essential to creating synergy between the organizations. Whereas having several individuals who may not be in sync with each other interacting with your provider may cause misunderstandings and disorder. Determine who within your organization will be the project manager to coordinate with the project manager of your technology partner. Make sure the project manager you appoint has the operations experience, ability, authority and time to be effective.
Project management is fundamental to a technology partnership, and it requires collaboration and cooperation from all parties. Your technology partner should provide you with a detailed overview of their project management process and requirements. This should define the client responsibilities, deadlines, milestones, and delivery dates. You should be prepared to provide any information or feedback your provider needs to move on to the next stage in the process. Whether it's a clarification or a specification document authorization, being expeditious and responsive will enable the team to meet deadlines. This is of critical importance because many steps in application development are sequential in nature and dependent upon prior action or steps being completed.
Habit 3. Know the Rules, Play by the Rules.
Let's assume you've adopted a Same Team paradigm with your technology partner. The team needs to operate by a predetermined set of rules. These include the project management procedures and requirements, support policies and procedures, billing policies and payment terms, services available and pricing, terms of the agreement, user's guides, instructions and more. Your expectations for service, support and costs should be based entirely on this body of information; the rules. Software providers have policies and procedures in place that enable them support numerous clients simultaneously. Make sure these rules are compatible with your requirements and that you're able to comply with them. Of course you should expect great service and hold your partner to the same standard of compliance. Know the rules and play by the rules.
Habit 4. Get Some Face Time.
Have you experienced an email miscommunication, where one of your messages was taken out of context and a well intentioned message instead offended someone? Have you ever taken someone else's message out of context where the intent of the message was lost in interpretation? Have you worked long and hard through teleconferences and thought that the other party doesn't get it or just doesn't care? The reality in our business is that most communication takes place through online messages, email and phone calls. Not only does this invite a significant margin for error in the interpersonal experience between the staffs of your company and your technology provider, it lacks a fundamental ingredient for a great relationship: some face time.
So build into your schedule and budget a day or so to spend with your technology partner in person. The earlier in the relationship you do this, the better. Onsite visits, when practical, help build trust and friendship in a long term relationship. Visit a couple of times a year to continue building upon this important, but often overlooked personal foundation. In my experience, any rough patches in a client relationship are typically dissipated when working together in person.
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