ChannelTrends: Gaining Vertical Depth

With a variety of football training camps opening up, ranging from peewee league to the NFL, I thought it appropriate to use a couple of sports analogies in this post. When the games get into full swing, inevitably teams get into pressure situations on the field. Typically, it’s a tie game with just one score separating the winner and loser—and time ticking away. The coach often calls a play where the receivers “go deep” to get the ball across the goal line. Rather than spreading the options across all the players, the “long-ball specialists” are often called upon to step up in these situations. In the pros, that’s the reason it one of the highest paid positions.

When it comes to technology businesses, the scenario is often the same. There’s nothing wrong with being a generalist, supporting the basic infrastructure and computer needs for a number of disparate companies. Many great businesses were built on that philosophy and continue to do well, but in order to grow and prosper these days, focusing your resources on just a few vertical markets and have a greater affect on the bottom line. Rather than market to a broad audience with a message that’s hard to differentiate from the competition, a number of solution providers target key industries (often the largest opportunities in their geographic area) and “go deep” with the solutions they offer.

Discussions and training sessions at this month’s CompTIA Breakaway emphasized the benefits of building vertical practices, and some of this week’s news articles support the philosophy shared by many in the channel: providing deeper support for key clients is a major differentiator. The value comes from offering not only network and desktop support, but helping customers understand their workflow needs and the latest automation tools that can improve their business operations. Lawyers and doctors may benefit from industry-specific mobility solutions that connect them to their offices and clients/patients.

No matter what technology portfolio you offer, the first rule of business is to understand their business.

As a number of Breakaway speakers emphasized, when you understand the unique needs of an industry and can address them with a variety of customizable solutions, your value increases substantially. That’s why CompTIA, with direction from several of its communities, created a series of channel training workshops, webinars and other resources to help solution providers improve their industry knowledge and sales success. For example, if you’re interested in building or enhancing a medically-focused technology practice, sign up for next week’s Quick Start to Healthcare IT webinar.



Mobility Skills Valued

As mentioned previously, certain vertical markets are becoming dependent on mobile technology, including smart phones and tablets. According to a Channel Insider article highlighting a recent healthcare IT report from Frost & Sullivan, IT specialists who can support multiple mobile computing platforms are in high demand. Physicians and other medical specialists need more than iPad apps that can be easily downloaded and implemented; the industry requires healthcare-specific programs and support for a diverse number of devices. In addition to the consumer-oriented options, healthcare companies need push-to-talk and M2M (machine-to-machine) remote-monitoring devices.

If you don’t have mobility capabilities in house, consider partnering with another solution provider or outsource partner to meet the needs of your clients. One speaker at Breakaway suggested starting with a collaboration partner and then evaluating the relationship after the practice is able to support a dedicated resource within your company.  You may still decide the partnership option is best for your mutual businesses, but it’s still worthwhile to review these relationships every few months.

Review Your Vertical Technology Options

In addition to addressing specific healthcare IT needs, solution providers must assess the market-specific technology options for other industries they support. Law offices may not seem that different than an insurance company, and the basic network and computer infrastructure are likely quite similar. But when you listen to their true business needs, each is really very different and if you aren’t addressing the specific requirements another provider could get their foot in the door. For example, if you’re not providing e-discovery solutions for law office clients, they may get it from a competitor. That gives the new provider an opportunity to highlight the disparity between their comprehensive services and portfolio for lawyers…and yours.

John Moore offered a great example of the e-discovery opportunity in a ChannelPro article last week, highlighting the ability for solution providers to pursue increasingly sophisticated projects when they partner with the right vendors. In some cases, you may find a collaborator service that specializes in bringing together a number of tools for one specific industry, which alleviates the pain of building your own portfolio. This is especially valuable as you move up the food chain, attempting to sell to larger firms without making a huge investment to expand your technology team and services.

Whether you’re looking to build a specific practice, or just grow your business opportunities with a single client, researching your vertical options is a valuable process. Stay up-to-date on the latest tools and services that could help your customers, and make sure your competitors don’t “go deep” by adding them to their portfolios first.

Brian Sherman is founder of Tech Success Communications, specializing in editorial content and consulting for the IT channel. His previous roles include chief editor at Business Solutions magazine and industry alliances director with Autotask. Contact Brian at [email protected].