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July 29, 2006
Win Clients in Federal Government
Last year I was in charge of implementing a BI pilot for a federal government agency. It was my first real client so I was very excited about the opportunity and put the best effort. The pilot was a great success and the client decided to move on to a full-scale BI implementation. My team was preparing to begin the work in the following month after the pilot.
However I was too naive about the business in federal government. To my surprise, These were the five main factors that indefinitely delayed the contract process for the BI project.
1) Unexpected budget cut
2) Government employees taking vacations
3) Long, often frustrating government contract process
4) Inefficient coordination among government personnel
5) Slower pace (compared to the pace in the private sector and to the rate at which my heart pumps)
Anyone who does business with federal government agencies must be already aware of these risks, but I learned it the hard way.
Because of the unexpected delay, I was sitting on the compapny overhead for many months without any job security. Had I anticipated these risks earlier I would have better allocated my billable hours.
Well, only thing I could do was to make the best out of the situation.
These were three things I did to ensure we do not lose the contract.
1) Proactively keep in touch with my client - Persistenly sent emails and phone calls to show my passion for the project. Eventually my client became my best supporter in pushing this project forward.
2) Promptly respond to any client requests - "Promptness" has been the best weapon in building a sound relationship with all my clients.
3) Patience (most important) - Just did what I knew was the best and waited for the result to come
Thank God. These initiatives paid off. Last week we won the contract: over $300,000 for 4 months.
Doing a business in the federal government sector can often be a frustrating experience with numerous challenges that are beyond our control, but once materialized the reward will make you feel very excited for a long time.
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Posted by William Cho at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2006
Paramount Success Factor for BI Implementation Companies
Many large BI software vendors such as Cognos, Hyperion, and Business Objects depend on their strategic partnerships to sell products and grow revenues. For example, Business Objects have formed more than 3,000 partners and 120 Education and consulting partners as of December 31, 2005 according to their annual report.
Strategic alliance has become a key sales and marketing strategy for the leading BI software makers. The BI software vendors spend an immense amount of corporate resources in creating and maintaining long-term strategic relationships with their partners that include ISVs, hardware vendors, system integrators, distributors, strategy consulting firms, and many more. Why is this partnership strategy so attractive? Because convincing a partner who already owns 1000 customers is more cost effective than going after the 1000 customers individually through various expensive marketing initiatives.
What is the implication of this trend to all BI implementation companies? Once they build a fine reputation in the market of consistenly delivering excellent services, they will win more customers and attract many hungry BI software vendors. Then the BI implementation companies can formulate an attractive partnership deal with the software giants and continue to gain their support.
Paramount success factor for BI implementation companies - "Unwavering Commitment to Excellence in Service"
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Posted by William Cho at 7:45 AM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2006
Threat to BI? Not So Sure.
Two days ago I had a chance to participate in a webinar sponsored by Business Objects. The title of the event was "Data Integration Best Practices Panel Discussion" and three DW/BI experts shared their ideas and opinions to answer each question from the audience.
Many people raised very good questions which were all answered specifically by the panelists. Everyone was very enthusiastic in sharing their DW/BI experiences and very optimistic about the future of the DW/BI industry. Most agreed that, high quality data (accurate & concise) was the one of the most important success factors in any BI strategy. After all there is no such thing as a great decision if it is made based on false data.
Everything seemed to flow smoothly until the following question was raised - "What are the market risks and threats to the DW/BI industry? e.g. Internet was the main driver behind the growing damages inflicted upon the Newspaper industry." One of the panelists briefly mentioned 'open source' could be somewhat a threat to DW/BI but none of the experts could answer this question with a clarity.
Well, this turned out to be the most difficult question of the event. I am glad the panelists struggled to answer this question because it means DW/BI will be around for many years to come. Great news for all DW/BI professionals.
Posted by William Cho at 7:15 AM | Comments (0)
