Solutions Success Story: How Honeywell Provided Customers with a Full Solutions Experience

Dealing with Solutions Complexity

 The complexity of today's go-to market models for solutions can make heads spin within the marketing and sales groups of technology companies.  It’s very typical for a customer to deal with 3-5 separate companies in order to piece together their own solution.  One company might provide the hardware, another may provide the application software, and an additional 1-2 companies could  be needed to provide the full range of integration and deployment services that bring it all together.  It can be quite a smorgasbord of companies and capabilities.

In cases where the customer takes on the responsibility for creating the solutions from component parts, no one vendor “owns” the solutions from end to end. It is a long and sometimes risky process that many companies elect to take on by managing the integration of the solutions pieces themselves.

HSM and the isvSTORE.com: Integrating Hardware with the Software

Honeywell Scanning and Mobility (HSM) decided to create a method by which their customers could effectively manage at least some of the solutions provisioning themselves.   HMS, a leading manufacturer of scanners and imagers with a rapidly growing business in rugged, handheld mobile computers, sells its technology to many of the leading logistics, healthcare and retail customers in the world through a network of distributors, ISVs and resellers. Like many technology companies, HSM found it difficult to drive the kind of solutions their customers needed while only providing a single piece of the puzzle – the hardware. The answer they can up with was called the isvSTORE.com.

IsvSTORE.com is a deceptively simple website that has an intuitive front end which allows a user to select the industry they are in, the back-office system they are using and whether or not they prefer an in-house solution or a SaaS model. The site then provides a listing of all the ISV software that meets the user requirements along with a brief description of what issue the software solves. One click deeper provides greater details on the software's functionality and benefits as well as screen shots of the user interface. The page also provides a listing of the Honeywell devices that are compatible with the software. The most innovative aspect of isvSTORE.com is the opportunity for the user to take a live test drive of the software on any of the HSM mobility devices.

The Benefits of the isvSTORE

The isvSTORE solves many marketing and solution challenges:

• It provides the end user with a real time, live experience of how the hardware and software work together.
• It helps HSM promote and grow their ISV community.
• It acts as the focal point for bringing together the resources needed to deliver a complete solution.
• it positions HSM as a thought leader and as the preferred product for the solution.

Once the customer has decided on a possible solution they can contact either HSM or the ISV directly through the isvSTORE. With the exception of a few strategic accounts, HSM sells its products and services through its network of partners so the majority of these leads are send to the resellers. Many of the ISVs also work with the resellers who use their expertise to refine the solution, provide any needed middleware, and provide the planning, integration, and deployment services needed to complete the solution.

Lessons Learned:

In designing and implementing isvSTORE, HSM took away the following lessons:

1. HSM had to spend more time marketing the idea to the ISVs that they had anticipated.  There as a classic mentality of “if we build it, they will come”, and they discovered that…virtually no one showed up.   Many were concerned about competitive issues and the possibility of HSM implementing a “pay for play” search engine model to the site. Part of the HSM strategy for overcoming these concerns was to allow each ISV to provide their own copy and screen shots for the site so that they could highlight their competitive advantages and differentiators

 2. The ISVs needed a feedback mechanism so they knew the site was working for them.  It was critical to track the results of the site  -- otherwise the ISVs would have lost interest and let their content get stale.   Also, users of the site were given the opportunity to rate the applications which also helped the ISV determine what the strengths and weaknesses of their software were.