January 27, 2017
As Chief Technology Officer, I have helped provide the strategic direction of the technology and related services that Marco provides. In recent years, that role has become more demanding due to the explosion of technology applications and integration in the marketplace, as well as our significant growth as a company. Taking an idea to execution and into the marketplace no longer can take years.
So, this year, my job responsibilities have changed to allow me to focus all of my time and attention on identifying, building and bringing new products and services to our clients.
The major industry shifts and trends that I’ve shared in this blog (like in this recent post) are changing how we do business. Today, I’m letting you in on some of the ways:
- Research & Development Labs: Instead of relying on others to do the research and development for new technology applications and integration, we’re taking a lead. We’ve found that our clients are best served when we can create a test environment to evaluate how everything will work. We developed labs with highly skilled engineers running extensive tests on integrating existing solutions. In these labs, we’ve also begun to hatch our own ideas.
- Product Releases: For the first time in Marco history, we’re turning some of the ideas we’ve hatched into new products to bring to the marketplace. As we have grown and technology has advanced, we’ve seen a greater need to bring new solution offerings to our clients – not simply wait for others to do it. We have outlined an enhanced product portfolio designed around the needs of our clients, making it easier for them to get the technology and services they need when they need them. We will launch a variety of new services in 2017. I will be sharing more about some of these in my next blog.
- Product Managers: The development and release of new products have led us to add a new team of product managers. They are responsible for development, training our staff, pricing and bringing the new products to market. In the past, we have relied on our vendors to do this work and will continue to partner with them in many areas. Having our own team of specialists on staff helps us to deliver our clients with the specific services they desire faster.
- Managed and A la Carte: Over the past decade, we have developed a series of managed service offerings that give our clients the technology and support they need for a predictable monthly cost. We started with Managed Print and Managed IT. These all-inclusive offerings soon became one of our most desired services. This year, we will continue to provide more managed offerings like Managed WAN. But we also are responding to the market’s desire for a la carte. Our new product portfolio includes the ability to access needed traditional offerings as well as a la carte options.
- Full-Service and Self-Service: We have worked to become a full-service technology firm that not only provides clients a single source for technology services but also is known for achieving high customer satisfaction. In the past, that has meant having a team of professionals walk alongside clients to identify, implement and monitor solutions. In addition to that full-service approach, we’re beginning our rollout of self-service options for solutions like IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and Cloud Voice.
Technology is adapting and advancing quickly. The products we’ll be providing this year did not even exist a couple years ago. We’re consuming technology in new ways and it’s our goal at Marco to stay relevant and continue to enable our clients to leverage technology to take their organizations further. That means we can’t get stuck in old roles or routines. We’ve got to constantly explore ways to reinvent ourselves, too.
