I heard an advertisement on the radio a few weeks ago from a vendor of home appliances that read: “Quality appliances hold their value in any economic climate.” And, a few days ago, I saw a TV commercial for an automobile manufacturer that had a similar ring: “Finance or lease any new Hyundai. If in the next year, you lose your income, we’ll let you return it.”
I’ve got to give these vendors credit for applying ingenious tactics to lure buyers to purchase their products, be they assurances that the purchase will not be hard-earned money wasted, or easy exists for those who may realize in the aftermath the purchase was not such a good idea after all.
It’s no surprise vendors are addressing the economy in their advertising strategies. In the world of IT products and services, too, technology vendors are using the economy to sell their wares as I’ve observed in the press releases they send out. Some are capitalizing on tightened IT budgets and the need for IT departments to buy lightweight and affordable technology that will replace the previous cumbersome and expensive outfit. Others are tying the economy into green IT by selling their green technology as a purchase that will cut data centre costs for IT managers pressed with doing their jobs with fewer resources. And, others still, are selling services like outsourcing and software-as-a-service as more palatable and cheaper options to running an internal infrastructure.
But, as far as I’ve seen, no technology vendor has promised that an IT manager can return a purchase if the IT budget suffers a dramatic and unforeseen cut. While that sales pitch might work for hungry would-be owners of a new automobile, it probably wouldn’t work for IT managers. If an IT manager even suspects that a purchase would need to be returned in the event the IT budget can’t support it, he or she wouldn’t buy it to begin with.
With cut IT budgets, an IT manager is tasked with reviewing previously-planned projects and tasks and decides which gets relegated to the back burner to be revisited in better days. For any manager, an inability to parse the must-have from the nice-to-have could signal poor management and prioritization skills.
I also have not yet seen an IT vendor promote their wares on the reasoning that it will retain its value in any economic climate. While that holds true for home appliances, it’s also probably true for IT products and services. Actually, I think the value of a technology that renders cost savings in good times will do more than merely retain its base value in a rough economy. At the very least, the technology will no doubt prove even more valuable to an IT department in bad times.