The years or maybe even till the recent past many brands only believed in associating with other brands when it came to choosing their technology vendors/partners. The trend seems to be changing for good with more and more establishments evaluating in great depth the advantages of associating with start-ups. The question that you need an answer for is whether your technology partner (large or small) is excited about your business journey and sees value as opposed to merely adding one more client to the list. This issue of merely adding a number without really caring for a customer’s business journey is widely seen across the spectrum and thus it becomes really important for you to make the right choice when it comes to your technology partner.
Some key advantages with good start-up organizations:
| Established player | A good start-up |
|---|---|
| Treats you like just another customer | Treats your business with great importance |
| Sales team passes on the engagement to the delivery team and moves on | Sales team stays through the handshake & delivery process till the completion of delivery & continues the association |
| Inflexible when it comes to modifications for business needs | Displays great amount of flexibility considering your business requirements |
| Standard operating procedures where the customer’s interest normally is insignificant | Standard operating procedures are followed to the extent that it enables seamless delivery |
| Your business is yours and not mine | Your business is ours too. Your success is of paramount importance |
| Deliver & move on to the next | Deliver & continue supporting through success |
| Standard product offerings | A certain amount of customization for each business |
While these are some great advantages they also come with their own set of disadvantages. Sometimes, the disadvantages weigh over the advantages and that’s a business evaluation one needs to perform. You may not find the strongest of pillars during many of your evaluations but if you believe your investment in the start-up could strengthen both businesses it’s worth the investment. Some of the criteria you may evaluate could be based on honesty, integrity, transparent disclosures, strength and experience of the founders, the financial viability of the business etc.
In testing times like that of the COVID-19 situation is the moment of truth of whether or not you have signed up with the right partner. The lack of flexibility to share the business impact is one such factor among others like the flexibility to payment, upgradation of the application without putting money first etc.
This “moment of truth” could be your beginning to evolve your journey with a more trusted partner that will offer more flexibility and treat your business to be as critical as theirs, In other words you need to see in a partner the value of “your success being theirs” and this should be true for many honest start-ups & their success.