Have you ever heard the quote, “What got you here, won’t get you there”? With all the changes happening today, we should really be examining how and what this can mean to our businesses sooner than later. As humans, we can tend to view change with an air of concern or fear, rather than embracing it and looking at the opportunities and advantages that it can bring to our lives.
Brexit is a good example. Following the surprise vote for Britain to exit the European Union, I saw multitudes of news outlets and scores of tweeters announcing the end was coming. When did we get so fearful of change instead of embracing the value that it can potentially bring to our businesses?
As companies in the technology industry, we need to come to grips with the fact that our clientele are changing, how they do business is changing, and technology is moving at breakneck speeds to support these efforts. The speed in which business can take place is expanding. People want things now, in a business model they can appreciate, that makes their lives easier so they can get on with what’s important to them–growing their business. We need to hustle to keep up, appreciate that the buying experience is changing, and pull our heads out of the sand. We need to stop holding onto old models for fear of change, and think about the way we go to market today. Is it really going to support the next wave of buyers’ needs?
A small business today can have upwards 30+ SAAS or cloud applications running their business. It’s become an unprecedented way for the small business to play and compete in areas they couldn’t afford to in the past. By paying for these services monthly, they get the benefits of big business solutions, at a fraction of the cost, allowing them to save precious capital for growing their primary business. Cloud tools and subscription services are becoming the standard operating procedure. Simple, clean and easy.
The growth in these applications does come with some caveats. Company infrastructure must grow to be able to deliver these tools and apps at the speed in which our millennial clientele have become accustomed. So the software market leads, the hardware market must follow. Infrastructure, and particularly the network, should become the next source of electricity to help deliver the growing number of applications that will need to be run over it, and it should be sold in a manner conducive to the new way of doing business. When you turn on your light at home, maybe via your Phillips Hue app, or Alexa, do you worry about whether your electricity is working or are you anxiously awaiting the hue that turns on? The same should hold true for your Wi-Fi. Change is opportunity. The Hustle is on. Here at ADTRAN, we’re taking on the challenge. Go to adtran.com/msp to see how we can help your company thrive in these changing times.
About the author
As Vice President of Business and Cloud Sales for ADTRAN, Meggin Sawyer leads a team of sales and engineering experts dedicated to creating value through cloud and network solutions for end users around the world. Prior to her current role, she was Vice President of Carrier Sales at ADTRAN, where she led a team of sales and engineering experts responsible for supporting the build-out and sale of business network services with the largest US based Service Providers.
