In today’s "anytime, anywhere" and always connected world, how can channel service providers help their customers leverage mobility? That was the question of the day during CompTIA’s Mobility Community session, held Wednesday during CompTIA’s Annual Member Meeting in Florida. The lively panel discussion led to many suggestions and recommendations, but it all came back to one core premise: keep it simple.
Mobility is an important factor in today’s business world. The technology is commonplace to most consumers, and they expect the same at work. According to CompTIA research on the small and medium business market (SMB), many of today’s technologies also can enable SMBs to compete with larger enterprises. However, the multiple technology platforms, consumer downloads and connectivity to enterprise applications can seem to be a daunting task for service providers to manage.
So is there potential in providing mobility services to channel customers? Panelist Brittani Von Roden, chief marketing officer for VAR Dynamics, said the answer is an unequivocal “yes.”
“Customers are interested in three things: how to increase revenue, how to decrease costs and how to manage risk,” said Von Roden. “A mobility solution addresses all three.”
Other panelists agreed and highlighted other benefits that mobility provides. Bruce Enright of Tallgrass noted that a robust mobility environment can provide customers an advantage for attracting and retaining staff. “It’s important for everybody entering the workforce,” said Enright. “New generations expect it.”
Difficulties in Monetizing Mobility
Just because something is a good idea doesn’t mean it’s easy. Many in the Mobility Community meeting brought up the difficulty in monetizing the offering. A lot of customers think they can handle mobility in-house, while others consider it too difficult or expensive implement a comprehensive solution. However, since almost everyone operates in a mobile environment, most customers will need help at some point.
During the meeting, panel and audience members came together on several steps to help providers develop a successful mobility practice.
Keep It Simple It’s not about the technology, it’s about helping your customer achieve their objectives. Work as a facilitator, using a question-listen-respond process to find how customers currently leverage technology and what their pain points are.
Don’t Lead With “Mobility” Mobility is a tricky proposition to define. Is it limited to hardware, apps or multiple device connectivity? The Mobility Community agreed that the term comprises a great number of activities. Today’s workers take their assignments on the road as companies want employees to be both mobile and accessible at all times. By leading with objective-based selling and focusing on concepts like collaboration and accessibility, the discussion can become more productive for everyone.
Partner Up In some cases, vendor partners may have better leverage to discuss mobility with a customer. However, they don’t often have the contacts and the SMBs who are your sales target. By partnering with device vendors, there may be an opportunity to become the integration expert while the vendor can be the hardware provider.
Use Your Playbook Begin with CompTIA’s Mobile Device Management (MDM) Playbook to begin to develop a mobility service practice. This playbook will help you understand your customers’ business and the technology trends that impact them, helping to close the sale. Use additional CompTIA resources such as buying guides, quick start guides and our research to gain in-depth knowledge about the mobility market and its opportunities.
In addition to existing materials, the Mobility Community also discussed creating an updated mobility toolkit that includes best practices for the sales process to help members better-implement an MDM practice. This is one of several 2015 community initiatives, in addition to understanding the transformation of retail, Internet of Things, digital home/connected car, mobility policy and security.
Mark Chesney is CompTIA’s senior director of corporate communications.
