The Cloud made customers ‘choosy’

When I took my first job in business tech about 10 years ago, the whole “Cloud” concept was still in diapers and most of our customers were content building their own data and network rooms, usually within their very office building.

However, one thing was clear back then: if I brought in a decent client portfolio (10-15 clients!) I would be set for the next few years, occupying myself with license renewals, appliance upgrades and generally keeping a good relationship with the customer.

I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted back then what an impact Cloud services would have not only on the IT industry, but on other big ones such as Healthcare, Oil&Gas, and Manufacture, as well. It positively shattered my retirement plans from back then.

Today’s customers are more eager to try new things (and with them, new vendors), which keep most of us on our toes, and the strenuous task of continuously finding new customers is exhausting, especially in an industry where there’s a new product or solution coming out every other week.

When we started last year, the #1 objective of my company, RequestICT, was to build a tool that would allow customers build an IT procurement project (essentially, a very neatly-structured BOM) and then privately release it to a network of trusted IT vendors in their area, who would in turn bid for said customer’s business.

Such tool is live and well, however, there’s another side to this story: the IT vendors should also get something out of it, and that’s where buying engagement comes into place.

Customers are already 57% through the purchase process before they even approach a supplier, and this means you need to be ready for them in different ways than before. We want to give vendors a credible, simple way to attract engaged buyers more efficiently, tying our marketing methodology to your unique strengths as an IT solution provider.