Choosing the right services needed to deliver successful projects and support for the long term
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Introduction
To deliver successful technology-based projects the key is to ensure that services are available to support this before, during and post implementation. All too often a sales person will focus on the actual hardware and software that needs to be implemented but won’t spend as much time thinking how it needs to be implemented, and pre and post implementation support. This is key to consider to ensure long term success for the customer as well as for the partner delivering it. Doing this right means that the customer will see you as a trusted technology partner.
Also, let’s not forget implementing and supporting technology means new as well as future revenue streams, be that for implementation costs, support contracts or licencing of technology. Think of all the revenue you could end up leaving on the table for another competitive technology partner to sweep up.
What needs to be considered to ensure success
There are a number of factors that could influence a technology being successfully delivered and ensure you have the right services and support in place. In this section, we discuss a few of the things to consider as a partner delivering:
- Risk Management – As part of the project management process, it is essential that risks are identified and managed effectively. This can help with resource allocation, planning updates, production schedules, cost control measures, contingency planning and much more.
- Project Management/Customer Success Management – Whether you are a Project Manager or a Customer Success Manager you need to be able to manage project times properly so they can allocate resources effectively while prioritising tasks as necessary. It’s also important to understand how different aspects of a project will impact one another so you can make informed decisions about how best to proceed with each stage. This is key to ensure successful technology implementations.
- Post implementation support – Even when the implementation is delivered the customer is going to want to ensure that the technology continues to work and will be potentially looking for a support contract be that T&M, first line support, managed services, etc.
- Software development methodologies – If the technology being implemented included software development, then you need to consider; requirements gathering (including user stories), developing prototypes or wireframes before moving onto actual coding work.
- Support types – Customers will also need to consider what type of support they are looking for from their technology partner versus what can be done in house e.g.:
- Technical Support – will a support desk be required for users and will that be first line support or more?
- Does the support need to be backed by a managed services contract or T&M contract?
- What SLAs have to be in place to meet the needs of the customer?
- Experience in sector is important. For example, if your customer works in Health or Education and you are implementing a technology solution to improve services for these sectors, then it is important that there are people with relevant experience who can assist with the implementation of the solution.
- Training – There are many reasons why you might want consider getting training from the experts. If your customer is considering providing their own support to staff and other stakeholders then they need the know how to use the new solutions and/or process after it has been introduced. Expertise might also be needed for documentation and managing process change.
What types of services are required
As a partner providing services as a part of a sell, not only are you deciding the services you supply, you also need to decide if these are services you are going to provide with your own team or are your partners going to have externally contracted experts as a part of your team, be that the team needs to be bigger or you don’t have the skillsets. The keys points to consider:
- Technical expertise. This is the knowledge of how solutions work and how they can be applied to a business. It is important to choose the right technical skills, such as database design, software development or software architecture.
- Specialist services. This includes subject matter experts who are able to provide support in areas that aren’t core to the customers business, but which you need in order to get value from technology solutions (for example, business process management).
- Services by sector. Some services focus on specific sectors or vertical markets; for instance, if you are working with Healthcare then HiPAA regulations may be something you need to ensure someone on your team has detailed knowledge of to ensure all compliance requirements are met.
- A good service provider should have experience of delivering projects within similar sectors to your customers; this means they can understand some of the challenges faced by companies operating within those sectors and will use this understanding when designing solutions for them – helping them make decisions about what works best using best practices gained.
The next blog will go into detail and look at services, support and processes you need to look at to deliver successful projects in the Retail Sector.
Conclusion
The key message here is that there are many types of services and support needed to drive the business agenda forward. The key is delivering the right mix to ensure that technology is successfully implemented and supported.
Areas you need to be a specialist in include
- Retail Store opening
- POS & store management systems
- Payments solutions
- Fiscal Printers & tax reconciliation systems for local markets
- Ecommerce, PIM & Marketplace integration
- Omnichannel Devices & hardware
- Software and API Development and Integration
- Software and Ecosystems
- Fulfilment
- Supply Chain
Conclusion
Retail is a fast-moving sector that requires their service providers to have extensive retail service delivery expertise. TD Synnex can support you on your journey to being that expert in Retail Service Delivery