Getting naked and avoiding zombies
Time seems to be accelerating, even during the monotonous cycle of lockdown my weeks just fly by, which obviously means I’m having fun! The year has without a doubt gotten off to a fast start, and the vaccination program in the UK is giving us all hope of a return to normal just in time for summer.
International travel will be restricted for some time as not every country is on the same page, but there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel. Having my travel wings clipped by this pandemic has been a good thing, less time travelling has meant more time with my family, at the office and with my team, so when things do get back to whatever “new normal” looks like there are plenty of new habits which I will double down on, and a few old ones that I’m happy to leave behind.
The one standout theme that has been prevalent in almost every business, regardless of sector, during these past 12 months is the need to drive efficiency and save money. Whilst the initial stages of the pandemic had us all scrambling for cover and ensuring our team’s safety and productivity in their work-from-home environments, the past few months have been typified by our clients planning and preparation for what’s next.
Not all businesses are made equal and not all sectors have been impacted to the same degree, some have thrived, others have not. What I’ve noticed in our client engagements, which has stood out more than ever before, is the golden thread of transparency – where we are fully engaged, where both sides are ‘getting naked’ and revealing all, we save time, we make the right choices, we save more money and we deliver more value.
You are probably asking what on earth has this got to do with Zombies? Now, the sharp eyed amongst you will have noticed the theme of our current email signatures – ‘Avoid Zombie Renewals!’ Well quite simply by ‘getting naked’ with us we can help you avoid zombie renewals; I can hear some of you thinking what is he on about!? Let me explain, resellers are a necessary evil, but playing them off against each-other is not the way to optimise your spend, get the best discounts, or the right product mix. It only takes a cursory look at the public accounts of most vendors, hardware, software, SAAS or Cloud and you will see that their gross margins and retained profits run at multiples of those of a humble reseller.
Viadex has been in business for 20 years, many of our execs and senior consulting heads have been in the industry for at least that length of time. As a UK limited company our audited financials are a matter of public record, our operating cost model is lower than our competitors and our gross margin is also significantly lower than our peers and larger competitors, anybody who claims to sell to you at 5% or 3% or 1% margin doesn’t run a sustainable business and a look at their accounts online will tell you they aren’t being transparent!
In this month’s newsletter we are offering our clients a spot report on their O365 Microsoft license consumption. We saw in early lockdown companies that had to furlough and furlough hard, we have seen reductions in overall headcount and a change in usage for many clients. We have also seen that due to the mid-market nature of our clients that their traditional MS partner (LSP) largely ignores them, other than at renewal time. At renewal time their interest is peaked to upsell or cross-sell whatever the flavour of the month is on Microsoft’s agenda. By entering those renewals without having run your estate fully, during the entire year, you are entering a negotiation unprepared, our offer is to help you get ready, keep you on top of your spend at all times and it won’t cost you anything, in fact it will save you money…don’t sleep walk like a zombie into your renewal process, ‘get naked’ with Viadex and let’s save some money together!
As always, I would love to hear your feedback, good, bad or indifferent at dino.cooper@viadex.com
