Creating an army of complementary suppliers will overthrow the traditional boutique AIDC reseller, says Honeywell

For many years, the small boutique partners specialising in wireless networks, point software solutions and deployment services have been successful by trading on and using their independent experience, focus and subject matter expertise.  Honeywell Scanning & Mobility maintains that, by working with a variety of such specialised suppliers for different components of their businesses, customers and end users have been forced to tap into the specialist expertise of many different supplier companies.

 
However, the company adds that the landscape is changing. It believes it is becoming increasingly evident that successful integrators and resellers of auto ID solutions are feeling the pressure to build a wide ecosystem of complimentary suppliers, of the kind highly prized by larger multinational companies and end users. Honeywell comments that the small boutique partners are suddenly finding themselves overthrown by competitive consortiums of complimentary partners offering larger integrated solutions that encompass not only the integration and supply of hardware but also the software, consultancy, delivery and smart financing capabilities.
 
Dave Sharratt, EMEA Channel Director at Honeywell Scanning & Mobility, commented, "There is certainly a growing demand and a higher prize for immediate ROI with little or no involvement of customers' own IT departments. We're also seeing heightened demand for strict service level agreements with penalties attached for non compliance. Only the bigger consortiums have the ability to offer this level of security, as their size means that they are able to spread both the risk and penalties for non performance evenly over many different suppliers."

So what should the smaller boutique AutoID resellers do to stay afloat? Sharratt concludes, "There is strength in numbers, and this is something the smaller boutique AutoID resellers could benefit well from. Such resellers should consider joining forces, or building consortiums of suppliers with varying areas of expertise. The marketplace is fierce, businesses are getting smarter and buyers are getting more demanding. Being left behind is not an option for anyone in this economic climate."