Vechi si NouAGORA - Channel Partners Distribution1 august 2008http://www.agora.ro/index.php?qs_sect_id=3317&qs_f_id=101&qs_art_id=10840
1. Mihaela Maxim: I could say that hardware distribution is simpler, you know what you buy and you have an idea bout prices. On the software market is a liitle more difficult from the start, because all solutions are customized. Each company has something new , but the competition does not alow information to be open, and most cases you find out what you have bought after purchasing moment. The prices are high, often. If you want to develop on a local solution, any of them is with you up to a point, after which either you change your business, either there are big changes that imply a new more powerful software purchasing, process that will take too long and too much, taking into account also a new analysis. And more often, the result is immediately reflected into your business. So if you can afford to change hardware more often, the software will came to define your business. 2. Mihaela Maxim: Cubiform is the Romanian distributor of Greek mainly ERP software solutions. This application is on the Romanian market sice 4 years ago. At the beginning we had only big customers, after which we tried to see how can this solution tobe sold to smaller companies, whichcannot afford these high prices and support. After we saw approached EU Funds solutions, we saw also which could be the effect on smaller companies, and finally we came to a compromise: On one hand, we are a Microsoft Partner, by SoftOne (There is an agreement which alows buying On the other hand, to help more these customers, I’ve tried to convince them buying the license, by giving them free implementation services. This in the sense of standardizing as much as possible, and reusing the implementation work: project management, training, configuring the application (start-up databases), closer to selling into a physical or /virtual shop, all inclusive. We have a demo package CD that can be used before buying. We guarantee the standard minimum implementation - for example, on the commercial package, for 5% from the license cost, we will insure - customer and supplier management, banks, cash movements, and full inventory: inbound-outbound, inventory cycle. We try to offer this complete package also to the reseller, through which we also try to make vertical packages to enlarge application, on the other ahnd to support as much as possible the customer requests for specific verticals. We have companies that start with only one or two users, after which, little by little, depending on the size and power of the company, we add other services, we show them optimizing alternatives, more powerful reports, closer to what they want. I believe that on the market you have to look both at the customer, and producer. My oipinion is that we shall look from their point of vue, some times – smaller companies, that need our support: Extraordinary big and often law changes. As these small companies grow, I believe that their first intention will be to spend more on a much better and dynamic software solution, because this helped, and they know now what they buy. They will want to see in a glance what’s happening with their business, which are the indicators, whhich are the best practices on market that brought the best result. Personally I don’t believe in competition, just in bigger projects. I think that after all, starting with very focused soluions, software houses come to building their own flavours of groups of focused soutions. For example, we have software solutions for customers starting as physical persons, to big international customers, that bought SAP and rather make their reports and developping schemas with our program (there is an internal SAP protocol, dedicated to this). Practically now, with us, you may have a chance to use a software solution, even if you don’t have the possibilities yet: It’s a win-win moment: users have what they need, producers sels their licensees, distributors have a sane network, and resellers have dedicated customers.
C.P.R.: How have you built your partners network? How do you stimulate them, how do you make them dedicated to you? What do I do to become your partner? Mihaela Maxim: For our company, just to be dedicated to use it. C.P.R.: Is it enough? Shouldn’t I have any certification? Mihaela Maxim: Practically we have many running projects, I’d be happy to have reselling companies managing them. So, if that person or company is decided to use this software and make a real business with it, he will have all the necessary support, and practically he will pay by participating to these projects. There is all about collabration. We also try to implement here, in From our point of vue we shall offer 99,99% security and access availability degree; We will take another company to “be” the data center for us. Everybody is certified for a specific zone that can be used. There are opportunities that will be certified by the market, at the right moment. Now, România is still at the beginning. We actually make efforts to isolate small things from the application to be externalised. Practicaly, we don’t have yet a natural partners network, we started with friends, if could say that, very small companies of Microsoft certified bright people, that started to build something from scratch and saw in us a good starting point from now on, they don’t have big developing teams, just searched the internet for a solution and never find what they needed. We have participated to CERF and I was surprised that from 200 presentations, 50 were for small alike IT companies, that were already a legal entity and searched to a business opportunity to develop. It will be hard, buyt actually fast enough for us, to build that network. First of all what it takes is a good proven model, to given them the chance to manage real projects, with their forces. For me also it will be easier to bring them to a round table and teach them in group, for time to time, to make those implementations, and see all which are the critical points in each and any of them, after which we can start thinking at a call center, to give the right information to any user. Of course for the first main resellers we will arrange some training sessions in C.P.R.: How do you certify them, which level is differentiated, which trainings will you m ake, if you provide them, how do you keep them close and how are you sure they will always buy from you? Mihaela Maxim: The product is the answer. You are a young company, willing to produce something new, but technology already has invented the wheel, and new ones are still to come quickly. Probably we shall not reinvent the wheel. Starting from scratch on a new adequate technology, using modern instruments which could provide you a huge start in software development, you could get higher than any starting you could have by yourself. Probably showing this will become obvious for any company that is more tempting to have already good roots to start from, not to raise from zero. In this case, a lot good proven things, are already in.
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