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Welcome to the Era of Commoditization
By
Nirendra Dev
Mumbai, Jul 21, 2007
There's been an overwhelming increase in sponsorship advertisements from the likes of IBM and Intel on television and even on Radio FM. On the one hand Intel co-sponsored an all-time favorite Madhuri Dixit starring blockbuster, while on the other, a high-end flavor of Unix is being sold by radio jockeys to those tuned in to their favorite Bollywood classics.
Then there's another one: the Lenovo laptop comes to the rescue of a prodigal husband when his wife and dog fail to recognize him on his return after being untraced for years.
It's an altogether different issue that many viewers of the weekly movie on television on Sunday or ardent listeners of FM radio pay little attention to the use of the advertised products and the less said about the content of these advertisements, the better it is! The commoditization trend is truly here to stay.
End users are already discussing the brand of Linux or Unix that one should opt for. However, are most of these users aware of the differences between Linux and Unix or for that matter, can they distinguish the features of one brand from the other? But that again brings us to the very vital issue of 'branding'.
IT resellers across the country are gearing up to meet the growing demand generated by the rapidly increasing commoditized IT world. Today, the appearance of the cabinets or the mouse is an important element. The IT hardware vendors also regularly flood the market place by unleashing new products and introducing new technologies. As a result, the partners need to have good innovative schemes to push for normal usage and the high end products.
For the desktops, partners need to realize that an enterprise customer looks for such designs, etc in solutions as are attractive and suit his/her lifestyle. In the laptop category for instance, the FAQ would be 'What should one do for a long battery life?' For optical disk drives again, you need to have innovative schemes to push high end products like DVD writers. The demand is dependant on factors such as suitable credit terms, timely settlement of claims and secondary sales driven by geographical exclusivity.
For cabinets again, the unorganized nature of the market only reflects how vendors and new players have created their own selling points. As mentioned before, the computer cabinets are no longer mere accessories. End-users have become choosy about color and looks resulting in increase in demand of sleek looking cabinets. The percentage of colored cabinets has gone up drastically and nearly 50% cabinets are either multi-colored or preferably black. The prime driver in selling cabinets is good power supply and adequate cooling, complimented by sporting and colorful looks.
Now, consider the situation if this 'commoditization trend' seeps into the software market? The pointed question gains its relevance all the more as we already have the application software; while the software as a service (SAAS) is also gaining popularity.
During last year's annual worldwide partner conference in Boston, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer addressed a number of issues including the future of SAAS and how the software giant will work together as and when the model materializes.
Therefore, it becomes imperative for the channels to identify the challenges that confront them while selling commoditized IT products, and importantly, how they can prepare for the market.
We have heard partners repeatedly emphasizing that the name of the game is satisfying the customers.
Therefore, you can't afford to ignore the simple questions on the battery life of a notebook or about the latest market demands for ODDs; nor can you afford to care less whether your cabinets are black and white or suitably colored to suit the taste of the customers.
But it's true that amidst these challenges, the changing landscape of technology is opening new avenues for channels. But most importantly, the channels need to build value across the consumer spectrum to keep themselves on track not only to make profits but also to survive.
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thank you
ganesh.b |
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- ganesh,
netcore system, maduari
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