Author: Howard M. Cohen
We touched upon this in a recent blogpost, but it bears repeating and expanding upon. It’s an old, old axiom in the IT industry but its as true today than ever, perhaps even moreso.
You really don’t want to be all things to all people.
The fact is that customers seldom benefit when you do, and you don’t really fare much better.
Here’s Why
First and foremost, being able to be all things to all people, meaning being able to do all the things people need from an IT resource, is a very, very expensive proposition. Each skill requires human resources, people, and those people need training, and tools, and support, and constant updating. Those IT service providers who focus on only one type of service, like security, can testify to how expensive and difficult it is to resource just that. Imagine trying to do the same for each and every type of service a customer might need.
The advantage of being a generalist is that you can answer every call yourself. But is that worth the extreme cost? Especially in a world where you can partner with others to obtain the services you don’t provide yourself? Hardly.
Second is the perception that you’re the “Jack of All Trades – But Master of None.” It’s the rare person who can achieve true expertise in more than one discipline, and the rare company that can do the same.
Consider the healthcare industry. Patients are far more comfortable working with a specialist once they know exactly what’s wrong with them. You’d hardly want your general practitioner, or primary care physician, to perform brain surgery on you. In fact, most patients would prefer an oncologist to help with their cancer diagnosis, or an endocrinologist to help them control their diabetes.
Two Ways to Address the Issue
What most people prefer is best known as “Best of Breed.”
Anyone will feel more comfortable when they know they’re working with the most renowned expert on any given topic. The best brain surgeon, oncologist, or endocrinologist. In fact, the best carpenter, plumber, car mechanic, or any other specialty.
Partner-to-Partner Partnering
The IT industry has long been the leader in fostering partner-to-partner (P2P) partnering. Microsoft is a good example of a manufacturer who has found many ways to encourage their partners to specialize and focus their energy on being the best at a limited number of things, preferably one. They have also encouraged those partners to seek out other Microsoft Partners who specialize in the things they don’t. By joining together, these partners deliver extraordinary projects than integrate many technologies and specialties, with each provided by a true expert in that particular field. This is a true win-win-win, with the customer receiving far better service, each partner succeeding in the overall, and Microsoft being able to maintain its reputation for excellent solutions.
In fact, the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP) was created primarily to promote P2P and has been doing so for decades. IAMCP members meet regularly, have the opportunity to evaluate each other’s services, and know just who to call upon to partner with them on broader projects.
Affiliations
The other partnering model, more prevalent in healthcare, is the large organization that incorporates many or all of the different healthcare disciplines under one brand. All the practitioners are connected to a common database through which they can share private health information (PHI) regarding patients they refer to each other within the practice while maintaining total HIPAA compliance. It becomes easy for a PCP to refer their patient to the right surgeon or specialist no matter what the malady. Patients no longer have to hunt for specialists when they need them. Doctors focus on patient care while the organization handles all the backoffice operations.
Some IT distributors have attempted to create informal networks of local or regional providers who can partner in this way, but none have yet achieved the cohesion of a Humana, Dignity Health, or other large affiliation. More recently, many smaller providers have been “rolled up” into larger organizations, but none yet resemble their healthcare counterparts.
Idenxt as Example
After decades of experience in the Microsoft Partner Ecosystem and the Azure Community, the team at Idenxt chose to focus on one discipline, application protection for workloads running on Azure. It’s what we do best, and all we do. We do it in partnership with many Microsoft Partners, and with many IT departments at large, medium, and small enterprises.
When you trust your Azure workloads to Idenxt you know your applications will run efficiently, with resilience and utmost security.
Finally, thanks to our long citizenship in the industry we often find ourselves recommending specialists in all the other related disciplines based on their expertise, their track record and, when appropriate, their geographic proximity to any given customer. Reach out to us today for help finding your ideal partners, and to learn more about the importance and value of the best possible application protection.
To learn more, contact us here.