Providing solutions to address an ever-expanding list of customer concerns will often top your list of business priorities, but when you're deep in that development process, there are opportunities to secure additional revenue streams that often go unnoticed. Building a unique new revenue stream while you're developing services and solutions may seem complex, but with some planning and preparation, you can secure that new asset to support business growth in the process of addressing your customer's problems. At the AMM 2016 Power Talk session, Building Revenue While Solving End User Challenges, an expert panel took the stage to discuss experiences with opportunities of their own, exploring how they turned them into new offerings with the potential to further drive revenue.
Take how we normally approach innovative new offerings, for example. While we often hope to be the first to offer some groundbreaking solution that proves incredibly attractive to end users, we often miss out on opportunities to build revenue through resources we already have access to. After all, innovation doesn’t have to be the sort of thing that disrupts your entire business model—it could instead be a refinement at the margins. Amy Babinchak, president of Harbor Computer Services, understands that notion well. As the first member of the panel to speak at the session, she related how Harbor worked with a client to introduce a new hybrid cloud-based service that took advantage of resources they already had.
Babinchak had been discussing with a manufacturing client moving some services to the cloud for some time, a conversation that was usually met with a laundry list of reasons about why it was never the right time. But while they were hesitant to make that move, her client recognized there was opportunity in the cloud, and because of that, they were willing to keep the that dialogue open. What secured the way forward for the two? “I pointed out that 60-70 percent of the cost would paid by eliminating previous disjointed solutions,” said babinchak. While her client had previously secured a variety of outsourced solutions to address some of their needs, Babinchak worked with them to illustrate how her hybrid offering would streamline services while delivering something new: an optimized service suite that provided the tools the client wanted, and then some.
Of course, hunting for these opportunities means more than just developing a new suites as the need for them arises. There’s plenty to be said for expanding existing offerings in preparation for growing demand. Jessica Nava, director of Carrier Sales for Finger Lakes Technologies Group, illustrated how her company had seen new opportunities in a steadily growing market demand. Here, Nava illustrated the importance of reading your market and predicting where demand will drive services. While her company has a strong history in telecommunications, they recognized early on that they needed to offer attractive cloud services.
So how have they adjusted? The company 
now owns a 625 acre park containing 60 blast-hardened bunkers, which they’ve turned into the staging ground for ongoing cloud services support. Each bunker offers 1,600-2,000 sq. ft. of space, and is connected directly to the Finger Lakes Optic Network. Not only does the park offer extensive space to house the servers that support their cloud services, it also provided them ample space to secure their hardened data center usage.
So why is that important? “It’s what our customers needed,” said Nava. Today, they can offer solutions that are turn key, proven and tested. In recognizing an opportunity in that growing demand, they are now prepared to further leverage this space with new customers down the road. And as an added bonus, they also offer portions of the park for commercial lease.
Sometimes discovering the right solution means realizing you need help. Toby Palmer, principal and managing director for Vault Consulting, discussed how they met the challenge presented by a new customer demand by partnering with a VAR. One of their clients, a medical association, was seeking to retire the printed version of an annual research report and replace it with an interactive user experience. Right off the bat, Palmer and his team identified two main problems.
- The solution would be too cost-prohibitive to build in-house
- No off-the-shelf solution would suffice
And that’s where the VAR came in. After a lengthy search, they were able to locate a partner who was not only able to offer the services they desired, but who also shared their economic interests. By identifying the VAR that was the right fit for their needs, they were able to develop a new interactive version of the research report that met their client’s extensive criteria without going over budget. Of course, because this replaced a familiar service, there were some road bumps. “When there’s change, you’re bound to get some negative feedback with a new product,” said Palmer. Of course, Palmer and his team were able to take this hiccup and turn it into an asset as well. By addressing these concerns up front, they were able to assuage those early concerns and position themselves as highly receptive to client feedback, improving their reputation and further securing that client relationship. They also reached an agreement with the VAR that financially benefits both, the foundation for a new relationship that should serve the two well in the future.
While these stories represent different approaches, they all revolve around the same idea: discovering opportunity in the process of delivering a new solution. What does that mean for you? It means that it pays to always be on the lookout, to be willing to try something new and keep your pulse on industry trends. New opportunities to generate revenue may sometimes seem elusive, but as any successful channel firm will tell you, when you keep your eyes open, you’re bound to spot some yourself.
