Gloom pervades the computer services market as it struggles to come to terms with the inevitability of strategic partnerships, given the innumerable sources of components and the inability of any one company to cover all areas. John Curran, chairman of Granada Computer Services, spoke at the Sixth European Service Management Exhibition and Conference, and pushed home the point that strategic partnerships are difficult to bring about. In the 1980s, 80% of such partnerships failed within three years, he said. Flanked by colleagues and competitors, Henk Ankersmid, from Digital Equipment Corp, Peter Van Voorst, of Getronics NV and Terry Hannington, of Olivetti Service Division, Sweden, Curran articulated the underlying message of the discussion, adapt or die. Systems used to be driven by technology, customers were at the mercy of the hardware companies. Now the boot is on the other foot and systems are user and task-oriented. Change is the order of the day as users regard the system as a set of resources that can be selected and configured at will, Curran says, and that the most trivial of components may be critical one day and immaterial the next. Mainframe suppliers are hedged in by reduced margins and lower revenue per account. Less free support is available, at a time when users require more knowledge, Curran says. He outlines the various types of partnership, starting with that between the service provider and the customer. A short-term buyer-seller alliance will suit only small companies. In order to meet the requirements of large companies, the service provider must form partnerships with companies with complementary skills, such as software houses or specialist maintainers. However, this must include alliances with rivals such as competitors or manufacturers, he says. He stressed that partnerships can only work if there is openness on both sides, a willingness to exchange sensitive information and a clear understanding of each company’s roles. These criteria should apply, regardless of geographical boundaries or specific contract dates, Curran says.
