Welcome Greentree Partners
Critical mass is becoming… maybe critical?
In the Partner News section we highlight the merger of GlobalTech and Endeavour Solutions. This continues on from lots of previous similar news, Enabling in NZ combining with 3 Australian companies, Verde and Addax expanding into Sydney, Endeavour also combining with Gretal Consulting in Melbourne and Hugh Petchell in the Waikato, Ray James with BlueStar in Queensland, and going back a bit the very successful combination of Delta Sierra Consulting and SupportNet forming Addax Solutions in Perth. I’ve skipped many other changes but you get the flavour.
This is not just an ANZ trend as we have been lagging the same sort of activity in the US and Europe. Our key partner in the US, ERP Visions, recently acquired another even larger consulting group and overall business consolidation has been huge in those markets.
Greentree has a fantastic partner community that works together like no other entity in the market. This includes all our partners, those of larger, medium and small enterprises. However, it’s important to recognize that these partner changes are being driven by market forces and the reality is everyone needs to have their own plan as to how they are going to be successful and meet the challenges of today’s exciting but demanding market.
We see three drivers behind the trend of partner channel consolidation:
Firstly it’s about truly servicing the breadth of the customers’ needs and today this is a big challenge. Unless you decide to narrowly specialize this means real competencies in financials, distribution and supply chain, manufacturing, HR, CRM, service management, BI and just around the corner EDI, BPM and lots of mobile systems. How are you coping with all the acronyms let alone delivering this range of systems to customers?
Secondly the standard of service and depth of knowledge being demanded by the market has risen significantly. We are all often dealing with much more savvy, experienced customers who expect to engage with a real depth of expertise; for example if you don’t truly understand the fundamental key impacts of a successful CRM rollout you are unlikely to get the business.
Thirdly it’s economics. If you want to compete and grow in today’s market you have to invest in growth strategies. Marketing activity followed up by professional sales engagement - recruiting and training consultants – slick systems and methodologies. These keystone investments require a larger, sustainable base to leverage off.
In summary the world has become more demanding. Although this can appear daunting there is a real growth opportunity for those who can truly deliver to those higher expectations. Big is not automatically beautiful but having enough of the right capabilities, while continuing to be incredibly customer focused, is critical.
Peter Dickinson
Chief Executive, Greentree International |
