Hi David,
Maybe we should move this to another topic “NAV Expert Alliance”. I believe a few regular contributors to this forum have the technical competency, dedication, and are well-qualified to form alliance and become a NAV “powerhouse”. A true “powerhouse” is a very good selling point. It sometimes makes me wonder why MBS partners and NSCs are able to run their consulting practice with much higher profits while individual consultants get paid by hours. I think software technologies/solutions are sometimes over-rated and their pricing of course is as artificially inflated as your customer’s ignorance can allow you, rather based on the true cost of developing and delivering the technologies. Often some MBS partners have little responsbility in capping project costs or interest in putting themselves in the customer’s shoes because all they’re concerned about is billable hours. It translates into $$$ every time customers changes their requirements, which is good for [the MBS partner’s] business because a lot of customers do not project-manage well. How many MBS partners truly think they are in a highly competitive business? I came from an apparel manufacturing background and value proposition is not an easy sell compared to other service sectors like consulting.
Being able to resell or license something you’ve already done years of R&D in would only make you and your solutions even better. I think all NAV techies deserve to be compensated for their knowledge in a more lucative way. However we should also learn to package and present ourselves better. One thing I commonly found our local MBS partners is that their Web sites often lack quality contents and case studies. Not all MBS partners have blue-chip customers in their portfolios but I think there is a much better way to sell technologies and services than telling people you have a proven SW process or methodology which many customers are not even familiar with (come on, when you sell a technical solution shouldn’t you and your customers expect that it is proven and will be successful if they use it?). I certainly want to contribute more to the NAV community. I would be very interested in writing about the technical solutions I developed for my own industry. Do you collaborate w/ other NAV guys in writing short articles?
But I think it takes more than just a few like-minded and enthusastic individuals to run the show like the biggest NSCs around. I have yet to find a NAV authority to join like Photoshop with their National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). What do you think we are missing? Maybe we can draw a parallel to the open source business model (the technologies are open and out there in the most raw form) but it’s putting them together and ability to implement them as real business solutions is what makes the practice profitable - so customers can reap the benefits of cost savings and operational effciencies. Being “community-driven” may be a good thing or bad thing.
What’s your take on this?
Scott