SO HOW DO YOU GET 300 GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY SUPPLIERS TO WORK together on a single challenge—in this case, the challenge being business model transformation? It’s not that high-tech and near-tech industries are replacing the traditional product business model we are all used to; they are just struggling to add a profitable “asa-service” business model to it.
This book presents a narrative more than a theory. It chronicles the industry shifts and discusses how they are leading, at least in our view, to a logical conclusion. That conclusion is simple, yet fundamental: The product B2B model was designed to sell things to customers, whereas the new B4B model will be about delivering outcomes for customers. This one simple statement will lead to a fundamental change in the thinking of both suppliers and their customers. Change isn’t always easy for executives. Sometimes you have to believe that people, organizations, and companies can play roles you never thought they could play. Sometimes you have to take a deep breath when you realize that your company may be completely missing critical capabilities, or that entire organizations must be redirected or resized. If you are a tech supplier, at some point you have to consider whether adding feature number 1,723 and sales rep number 1,634 are still the best investments. This change will require you to consider all of the above.
It is important to note that this book was not just written by the authors or by a single supplier that had a vested interest in the message. Instead, we wrote this book from the thousands of dialogues we have had with those 300 suppliers, complemented by conversations with hundreds of business customers.
Change is coming. Of that there is no doubt. For suppliers, optimizing their product-attached services business probably represents the short-term solution to the growth problems that will confront them this year and next. In the longer term, we hope the direction proposed in this book provides the strategic answers that the industry seems to be struggling to clarify. We are the Technology Services Industry Association, and we think it is our job to leverage our unique platform that connects leading suppliers with our world-class research experts to lead the debate about service business models. Tech suppliers can choose to figure things out for themselves, of course. But most suppliers we know are so busy peddling harder, trying to keep the old business model growing, that they don’t have much time to think about the new one. Instead, they should join the industrywide discussion. That is exactly how 300 global companies are going to accelerate their transformation: by coming together to work on a single challenge—one that may likely determine their future.
—JW, TH, TL