What it means for the vendor and what it means for the customer.
In the software industry, one of the biggest challenges is to deliver on time. Why this is such a challenge is well known to anyone taking part in one of these endeavors: resources, planning, requirements, bugs, surprises, you name it.
Intraway, as always does, pushes itself out of its comfort zone and set Delivery on time as its brand promise. We pay special attention to the way our customers receive our products and the professional services related to them. It is not easy. It means sharpening the pencil in every step of the delivery process. We worked and worked on this and then we realized it is necessary to extend this concept to the whole company and of course, involve the client as well. Delivering on time needs both, the vendor and the client. There is no way to achieve it by oneself.
Commitment
When it comes to Delivery on time, one of the first things to consider is commitment. Vendors make commitments with their customers all the time: they agree to deliver products and complete projects on a certain date, within a certain scope and a certain quality. Of course, vendors have to accomplish these commitments with the resources available. Then the famous triangle in project management appears:
You can work all your magic, but still, this triangle needs to close in 3 angles.
So, knowing your Hogwarts degree won’t be saving you this time, let´s work on your commitments as common muggles.
Honoring commitments is not only related to customers, but it also means you have to work to get things done internally in the company. Skills to execute tasks in a coordinated way should be adjusted as much as possible. The orchestra must perform at its best: from top management to deployment team, through all the people involved in any project task. Building the best team is at its greatest expression. Vendors should find the exact tune where their team live up to the engagements with the customer and what the customer expects to receive.
Expectations
In order to commit themselves, vendor and customer must set their expectations at the beginning of the process. Expectations, even though they are not so obvious, are both ways: the customer expects the vendor to deliver something within certain parameters; and, on the other hand, the vendor expects the customer to provide certain tools and resources to assure that deliverable.
Assuming is a very dangerous weapon in communication, and in this case, it is not the exception. A well-defined scope, an agreed schedule with realistic dates and durations, and the value the new product represent for the customer the fundamental elements when expectations are analyzed. From the quote to the deployment, this will summarize the quality the customer will perceive from the vendor.
Of course, expectations may change with time: flexibility and effective communication come in hand every minute of the way.
Future
In business, if you don’t have a future, you don’t have a business. In software production for telecommunications community, this is as true as it can get. Vendors see their future in their customer’s eyes.
Delivering on time is a differential advantage from other players. It is a key factor to develop that future together. Customers and vendors become partners in every project they decide to execute side by side. Respect and trust appear naturally. It is evident that the vendor should put all their efforts to respect customer requirements, deadlines, and priorities in order to help the customer’s business grow. Without this, there is no growth for the vendor. As we say it at Intraway, becoming trusted advisors is the best approach to the first step towards tomorrow.
