Why has the pandemic devastated some companies while lifting others? According to University of Miami Herbert Business School Marketing Prof. Arun Sharma, it’s all about “liquidity.”
Listen to this episode of The SAMA Podcast here.
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Why has the pandemic devastated some companies while lifting others? According to University of Miami Herbert Business School Marketing Prof. Arun Sharma, it’s all about “liquidity.”
Listen to this episode of The SAMA Podcast here.
By Nicolas Zimmerman
Editor-in-chief
SAMA
It’s widely accepted that the introduction of new technologies like blockchain, Internet of Things, augmented reality and others is changing business faster and like never before, creating uncertainty for customers and suppliers alike. But if you’re unnerved by this state of uncertainty, good news from the front lines: Your customers are looking for help navigating the complexity of digital transformation, and if your company can provide answers, you’re going to be sitting pretty.
At a recent SAMA Executive Symposium, Anton Chilton, the global head of field operations for manufacturing software company (and symposium co-host) QAD, offered a comprehensive take on his company’s approach to dealing with the changes wrought by new digital technologies. (QAD makes ERP software for manufacturers.)
He outlined three of the biggest high-level challenges facing his customers:
What does this mean for you, as a strategic supplier? Chilton suggests that adaptability will become (if it hasn’t already) the new competitive business advantage. He suggests four key traits to maintain your organization’s agility.
For QAD, this has created a host of new business model imperatives. As Chilton says, these things have always been true. But they’re “even more true now.”
Research reveals that the only way to grow business with existing customers is to bring them new ideas and fresh perspectives. That is the strategic account manager’s raison d’etre. Good SAMs are experts at taking their company’s existing capabilities and leveraging them to solve their customers’ problems. But increasingly, customers look to their suppliers for a distinct point of view on digital technologies whose business impact may be an open question. Suddenly, a SAM can find himself in uncharted territory.
So how does QAD attempt to navigate this untrodden train? Chilton’s team puts emerging technologies in one of four buckets, based on how close they are to having real-world impact: (1) research/monitor, (2) educate/evaluate, (3) innovate or (4) productize. Chilton likens the framework to a “virtual time machine,” which helps QAD keep tabs on emerging technologies while staying focused on the ones most likely to yield dividends.
Of course, it’s still up to the SAM to ask probing questions with her strategic customers to tease out which emerging digital technologies could be leveraged to solve a customer’s business problems.
“It’s a difficult conversation to have,” Chilton admits. “You don’t want to give the impression you’re out there just fishing. You don’t want to seem clueless.”
This new paradigm makes it more critical than ever to find and develop SAMs with the right blend of traits to have productive, probing conversations with customers around future challenges.
What follows are the traits Chilton prioritizes when adding new talent to his strategic accounts team. For the most part, these attributes have always been important to SAM, but they’re doubly so now as interactions shift from the known to the unknown.
Chilton ended on a note of fierce optimism. While digital transformation may be disrupting industries, including yours, the fact is that no one has the answers. Your customers know this, and they’re looking for help from their suppliers. If you can empower your SAMs to help customers navigate this uncertain time and start developing answers, your company will be primed to take advantage of the uncertainty created by digital transformation.
Wish you could have seen Chilton speak in person? SAMA’s executive symposium series is open to all SAMA Corporate Member companies. Want to become a member? Contact Chris Jensen, SAMA’s Director of Membership & Strategic Accounts, at jensen@strategicaccounts.org or +1 312-251-3131, ext. 10.