As I’ve said in previous posts, technology is driving what I call The Great Leveling Of The Playing Field. Economies of scale are becoming less and less relevant, and the reasons for building large organizations are becoming less and less compelling. Smaller companies are exploiting technology to level the playing field and negate the supposed advantages enjoyed by larger organizations.
Look at the example of Tesla Motors, which has less than 1% of the total employees at GM. Their new Model S sedan was recently rated by Consumer Reports as not only the best electric car they’ve ever tested, it was the rated the best car they’ve ever tested.
Nowhere is the trend more evident than in the IT industry. (And it’s no coincidence that Tesla is a Silicon Valley company.) In my day-to-day life, supplying storage and backup solutions to small & medium enterprises (or SMEs), I compete almost daily with what I call the Big Seven: HP, Dell, IBM, Oracle, Cisco, NetApp and EMC. I can honestly tell you that I rarely lose. Why is this the case?
Three Things You Won’t Get From Them
I tell prospective SME customers that if they’ve acquired a storage or backup solution from one of the Big Seven in recent years, I can pretty much guarantee there are three things they did not get with that acquisition:
- A better product.
- A better value.
- A better customer experience.
The sad reality is that hardly anyone ever disagrees with me. We have arrived at a state of affairs in IT where the Big Seven are peddling products that are sometimes a full generation behind the technology curve, are often priced and licensed in ways that make them outrageously complex and expensive, and are backed by just-plain-lousy customer service.
The Level Playing Field
When I started Southern Data Storage in early 2012, I sought out vendors who represent a 180 degree shift from the offerings of the Big Seven. I had four specific criteria in mind:
- Strong financials with a deep management bench.
- State-of-the-art feature sets combined with groundbreaking ease of use.
- Aggressive pricing and simple licensing.
- A passion for excellent customer service, whether in day-to-day interaction or in technical product support.
Those four criteria are still the cornerstone of my business philosophy, and while nobody is perfect, the limited list of vendors I chose to work with have turned out to be great choices, and have resulted in some great customer experiences. The current list:
To have a discussion about alternatives to the Big Seven in storage and backup, reach out to me by clicking the “Contact Us” button below or by calling me at 888-255-6889.
