All evidence points to line-of-business professionals having increasing influence over IT procurement decisions.
Analyst Gartner suggests that nearly three-quarters (74%) of technology purchases are at least partially funded by business units other than IT.
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But if that's the case, how can non-IT professionals know which technology provider to work with? Five business leaders share their top tips.
1. Collaborate with highly responsive specialists
As Vice President of Strategic Growth Initiatives at Freshpet, Jessie Sobel is tasked with finding technological solutions to business challenges. She said the right answer comes from a collaborative approach to sourcing and delivery.
“I'm not leading the technical discussions, but I'm leading the higher-level strategy and saying, 'This is what we're trying to accomplish.' We are leaving it to the technical experts to make it happen,” she told ZDNET.
“As a technology company, what's important to us is our responsiveness, our desire to innovate, and our ability to understand the specific needs of our consumers and what we want to offer them.”
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Sobel is helping her business identify new opportunities, such as the recently launched Custom Meal Suggestion, which creates personalized orders for customers' pets. Her team uses IT specialist Ordergroove's API technology to build bundles and subscription-based services for clients.
“We need a partner who understands our needs and continues to develop solutions,” she said. “And in production, technology has to address all the challenges that impact the consumer experience. The team at Ordergroove is very responsive to any questions.”
2. Commitment to a comfortable fit
Sophie Gallay, global data and client IT director at French retailer Etam, says finding the right partner to work with is important.
“This is something I have always practiced and recommended when working with clients in the consulting industry,” she said. “At the end of the day, implementation is a people project. After months, even years, of working on a technology implementation, the talent from the IT company you choose becomes part of your team.”
Gallay told ZDNET that professionals can go looking for references from customers who have worked with the IT professional before. This “super easy” strategy will help you decide if your partner is right for you.
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But the key to success, which was her focus during Etam's recent implementation of Snowflake's cloud-based data platform, is to work with an IT company with which she feels comfortable.
“For me, it's important to ask, 'Do I see a cultural and organizational fit between my partner and my company?'” she said.
“Because if you don't have a good fit, you end up wasting a lot of time on a project. And I've seen dozens of projects in other organizations where people mess everything up with a bad fit. I've seen it.
3. Find someone you can say no to.
Neil Silverstein, director of technology customer services at optometry and hearing specialist Specsavers, said his organization needs to work with partner IT professionals rather than providers.
“Cultural alignment is key,” he said, explaining how the company uses TeamViewer Tensor and Assist AR to remotely access and troubleshoot machines such as PCs and medical equipment.
“We are looking for partners who understand us, who understand our business and our customers, and who want to add value.”
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Silverstein told ZDNET that Specsavers needs partners who are always looking for innovative solutions to business problems.
He said the market research process requires a nuanced approach. Rather than pushing the latest and greatest technology, Silverstein is looking for partners who can say “no.”
“Knowing what's impossible helps us progress as much as what's possible. I've worked in other organizations where we had salespeople who promised the moon; You can't get it by scratching the surface,'' he said. “You need trust. That's why I say you need a technology partner who can say 'no' to outrageous demands. ”
4. Don't let size fool you
Hakan Yaren, CIO of APL Logistics, advises professionals to choose a provider that does not ignore challenges as they have other goals to achieve. APL Logistics uses Axway's application programming interfaces (APIs) to provide customers with end-to-end visibility across their fulfillment channels.
“Axway is the best solution provider. Their size and scale match what we're looking for, so they're not so big that a company like ours would get lost,” he told ZDNET. . “We have a lot of access to great people at Axway. We can sit down and discuss things. He's one of the things we look for in a technology partner we work with.”
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APL Logistics uses Axway's Amplify platform to manage APIs across several areas, including tracking and tracing shipments and providing inventory level information from the warehouse.
“This approach doesn't mean we won't work with large providers like Microsoft and Oracle,” Yaren said. “But if you need a specific engineering solution, I think the technology provider's decision can make a big difference.”
5. Aiming for a consolidated stack
Tim Lancelot, head of sales enablement at software specialist MHR, said the number of technology systems in his business has “exploded” over the past few years. “There are more and more solutions out there,” Lancelot says.
However, Lancelot said management now recognizes that purchasing technology does not guarantee success. As technology increases, so too can problems.
“This trend that I've seen over the last few years is consolidation, because business people don't want to put 12 different technologies together in a stack,” he said. “Business people like me are asking, 'Can I buy from fewer vendors and still cover all my bases?' Having fewer vendors means there can be integration issues. means low.
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MHR uses the Clari Revenue Platform and a variety of other data-enabled tools from IT companies to provide visibility into sales performance to people across the business.
Lancelot told ZDNET that by using a suite of tools from a single provider, his team now has a single view of sales. “So from a strategic perspective, we're very excited to integrate our technology stack and work closely with Clari on what happens next.”
