Consolidation « Dave Stelzl's Blog

My business planning podcast will post on Friday – regardless of whether you listen to it or not, you do need a plan. You are sure to be inundated over the next two to three months with economic woes and tips to keep your business running. Some will be worth reading; others will just spur more whining. As I come across meaningful input I will be sure to pass it along. Here are some considerations for 2009 – along with a link to eWeek’s Channel Insider – Factors for Profitability in 2009. It’s worth a quick skim – mostly bullet points as follows:

– Mergers and Acquisitions; this is a time to pick up new clients as unhealthy companies fold. Make sure you’re healthy, invested in marketing and branding, and are keeping you sales efforts well tuned and focused.

– Managed Services; I’ve been preaching this for over five years now. If you don’t have it your company may be in trouble. If you are still approaching this as a monitoring or ROI sale, the same is true.

– Cloud computing; this will be interesting. I think Microsoft is in trouble with Vista…do you have a strategy that includes SAAS, HAAS, and other Cloud Computing concepts. You may want to build some partnerships here that will allow you to play in the new world of thin client computing.

– Virtualization; this isn’t new but you’d better understand the value proposition and how to get it sold in a weak economy. The last thing you need is a big ROI study on your hands.

– Server and Storage Consolidation; this is obvious – are you in the storage game yet?

– Compliance; what was once a hard sale may be required now. Make sure you at least have a partner that can do this.

– Security; this should be no surprise.

– Database Consolidation; expect some consolidation as new releases come out and better management of data is required.

– License management; here is an area of waste if there ever was one. Partner with companies like SoftwareOne and get some benefits out of software mismanagement.

– Video conferencing; and other technologies that help people stay home. Sales people need to learn how to sell without leaving the office. Did Cisco see this coming when they bought Webex? Smart move on their part!