John
McClane will rescue his wife.
Scrooge will avoid a bad end at Christmas.
And Dorothy will find her way back from Oz.
trust and services marketing related to enterprise SSD systemsby
Zsolt Kerekes,
editor - StorageSearch.com
- July 20, 2016 |
12 years ago a survey
by StorageSearch.com
identified that service related guarantees for enterprise SSD systems could be
among the pivotal market adoption disinhibitors. But compared to the fast
moving backdrop of enterprise technology it's interesting to note that the
way marketers behave has changed so slowly.
It takes a long time
for marketers to understand and learn why their potential customers aren't
buying.
Or why they aren't as excited by new products as their creators and
investors.
I touched on the deep seated reasons for this kind of
disconnect in my article -
decloaking
hidden and missing segments in the analysis of market opportunities for
enterprise rackmount flash (2014).
Pricing is an area
where we began to observe innovation in the SSD market at around the same
time and I wrote about some of the ways in which vendors were starting to
sidestep the issues of complexity (which arise from having to know too many
things which are unknown by most customers or unknowable) in my article -exiting the
astrological age of enterprise SSD pricing.
If you haven't read it
an inexact analogy is that if you're buying a plane you don't have to know
the physics about how it flies. Others who do know physics and how the bits
fit all together will certify that it's safe. The more important aspects for
you as a buyer are how it will fit into your business plans. It takes a long
time to learn those plane vendor things and become trusted. That's why in
mature markets where there are these high barriers to entry - you don't hear
about hundreds of new companies entering the plane market. Unlike the wild west
of SSD systems.
And if you're still with me at this point. Price is a
marketing service.
If you thought it was anything else and if you work
in SSD sales or marketing you've got a lot of reading or training courses to
get through.
Which brings me to a recent services related
press
release from Kaminario.
The
message essence is their headline...
"Kaminario unveils
storage industry's most comprehensive business assurance program."
How
much of that claim you agree with or disagree with is up to you. And don't
complain to me if you don't agree.
We've seen many similar sounding
service related assurance offerings from other vendors too.
They can
be summarized as - buy this stuff from us and we'll always look after your
interests and make sure you don't regret it.
The promise of such
service related offers reminds me of Christmas stories...
John
McClane will rescue his wife. Scrooge will avoid a bad end by giving away a
turkey. And Dorothy will find her way back from Oz.
But when it
comes to long range service promises from any SSD company you need to use your
common sense too.
Given what we've seen in the enterprise SSD market in
recent years:- the
acquisitions,
the EOL product lines and the
predictable
EOL and obsolescence of most current platforms and architectures -
it's worth reminding yourself that companies can only deliver on such
long term promises if they are still in business, remain profitable and remain
in control of their own destinies.
| | |
