G-Special: Partnership Pays

Being a partner! How real has it turned? Or is it just another garb for a vendor?

Today, customers are seeking a technology collaborator, who will partner and complement with them in their business strategies, rather than just deliver technology or product solutions. By structuring engagements with customers, we are trying to become an extension of customer’s own product organization, sharing risk and rewards - all resulting in better business outcomes for customers. This change of perception and transition from a vendor to ‘partner’ approach is the ‘business transformation’ that Persistent is driving. It has also suggested new ways to be more agile and respond in real time to competitive pressures and ever changing consumer and industry demands.

Has recession acted as a driver towards the new models, from the vendor side, or client side, or both?

Now what has happened in the industry is a downward trend in revenues as well as a direction towards cloud computing. SAAS has brought many changes in business models. All of this has fundamentally driven transformation. We are spending more time with customers – knowing what their exact problems are and solving their problems.

How much can a partner fit into the client’s shoes?

The whole approach changes when one moves from being a product development company to a product company. Taking complete end-to-end product charge and working out the profit-and-loss dynamics, or having required capabilities, market need understanding, or being a product manager; it involves much more.

Is it challenging? How is it turning out?

We are having all sorts of new ideas and challenges. Like – why don’t we take-over this product, step it up, kick it off well and turn it profitable? Or how to improve profits on products that are not performing well.

There is also portfolio analysis to optimize profitability around the client’s portfolio and help them on the roadmap.

What is the extent of the proximity of this model to the business’s ‘core’?

No, it’s not a business model core to us. Sharing of profits requires a change in approach – to think like a customer, and we have been successful in evolving there. Yes, it’s a core area from a product perspective, because the knowledge and mechanics of developing a product is not much of a departure from what we already do.

Why and how it benefits clients?

Think like a customer helps in increasing the size of the pie. Customers can now see how to put the top line up, that could mean more features on a product or create a larger version of the product for more market segments. There are many ways we can help customer to pull up top line.

How similar or different is this ‘partnership’ model from Symphony Services’ ‘Guarantee’ offerings or Zensar’s Impact Sourcing?

This approach requires a very well knit transformative strategy and also a lot of proactive efforts. I don’t know if others are stepping up and doing it because the risk and revenue scenario get changed.