“While the mantra of “sell solutions, not products” has been oft
repeated by sales gurus during the past 30 years, it seems that in
today’s light-speed technology marketplace, a renewed focus on
providing value has become critical to VAR success. The VAR
re-emphasis on selling value to customers arises out of three
rapidly emerging business trends:
1. The quickening pace of technology innovation
2. The dramatic shrinking of product life cycles
3. The rising customer demand for integrated whole solutions.”
“First, the widespread acceptance of open architecture
solutions means that a supplier’s odds of ‘locking in’ customers
with a proprietary technology are now extremely remote, and
becoming quite rare. Even powerful Microsoft Corp. feels
threatened by upstarts like the Linux phenomenon these days.
Common standard technology platforms, most pervasively exemplified
by the Internet itself, have leveled the playing field, at least a
little bit, for most technology innovators. With fewer market
restrictions, the pace of technology development is increasing
dramatically.”
“Second, now more than half of corporate profits in the United
States are generated from new products, and this proportion is
expected to increase during the next few years. According to
industry research, the number of new products introduced into the
market has risen by 21 percent during the past five years, and most
executives anticipate that this rapid pace will continue to
accelerate. As a result, the average product life cycle of high
technology offerings, once measured during many years, now has
shrunk to months–and in the most extreme examples, such as some
Internet utility software products, the total life cycle is just a
few weeks.”