Comergent_Case_Study_Anaylsis

Key Issues Having conducted SWOT, PEST and Customer analysis the following issues became apparent for Comergent: Customer acquisition and Retention The nature of Comergents product dictates that they have a small number of high net worth customers. Securing and maintaining these customers is a major focus and issue as one customer leaving or joining could mean a huge financial loss or gain. Growth strategy Comergent have an aim to grow 40-50%.There is an internal debate whether Comergent should concentrate its marketing effort on highlighting the organisations core competencies to existing and potential customers or if they should work on tailoring their approach towards customer problems and then building on this relationship. Comergent need to decide which of these strategies is best to drive growth. Partnering In order to have a more extensive offering a number of key partnering decisions need to be made. The software industry has so many opportunities partnering and synergies the decision on who you pick is vital. Weighing up the options “Need to remember it is a marathon, not a sprint, customer acquisition and retention will help us win the race”. As stated in the case it is important to note that the decision should not just be made based on the need to grow immediately, but the need for customer retention and long term growth. Customer A: Alpha Co-operative. Pro: Quite attractive as is a $750 million cooperative. The sales team of Comergent had looked into it and had concluded that it there was potential involved here. However on the downside to this option as it is a co-operative any major decision with regards to capital spending would have to be passed by the membership. In the case where Comergent were to use the “land and expand “strategy as a method of building customer loyalty early, although the $300,000 licence fee might be passed by the membership, the idea of trying to grow over time would be a lengthy process as any spending would have to go through the procedure of Comergent suggesting it to Alpha company, Alpha company bringing it to their membership, Membership discussing and coming back and so on. This would take from the overall experience and could provide Comergent with quite a tricky prospect to work with. Customer B: Beta Corp Here we have an extremely interesting prospect. The positives of this prospect being that its worth is $20bn which dwarfs option 1, and also as they are a Fortune 500 Company with sister division involved in supplying to the U.S Defence Department there is room for high-profile potential expansion for Comergent using a “foot in the door” technique. However on the downside to this option, there would be a need for Comergent to partner up with an ERP firm as the Comergent system would need to be compatible with an already installed ERP system. Also it seems to be quite an unstable environment to be involved as we are told that Beta Corp have quite a rocky relationship with their key distributors, which indicates that they could be quite difficult to work with. Customer C: Gamma Company The one pro of this company would be that they are said to be a “fast growing” company. The cons include its worth of $100m in comparison to $750m (Customer A) and $20bn (Customer B). They also appear to have poor communication and tend to be quite slow to react to changes, as we are told that they have lost many orders due to poor communication, improper configurations and out of stock positions, due to increased complexity of the packaging. However this would also indicate that this company would benefit greatly from implementation of Comergent Products and the sales process would be not as difficult as option A and B for this particular reason. Recommendations and Implementation We recommend that Comergent follow the sales lead with customer Beta. The reason we have decided to recommend this is we feel that Customer Beta offer Comergent an opportunity to expand their business and also their contacts. They are the most lucrative and there is the chance to expand through ERP here also. Implementation: Comergent need to move the sales process from stages of development (C/D) to A, Sold and negotiating signing in order to add to growth of 40-50% as intended. In order to do so Comergent need to acquire new customers, and must undertake all actions in order to retain this customer through creating value for said customers, and any future customers, In order to do so Comergent need to implement the following suggestions: Partner with an ERP Company: As this is a crucial element of closing the deal with Customer Beta Comergent should partner with an ERP Company who can provide them with the expertise they need to seal the deal with Customer Beta. Comergent should bring a representative of the ERP firm with them to their Sales Pitch meeting to convey to Customer Beta that they are taking an active interest in pursuing their business. Ensure clarity in Sales Pitch: During the case we are told that Comergents’ prospects don’t understand, and therefore it can be difficult to get customers to come to the table and discuss. Therefore when pursuing Customer Beta Comergent should ensure that they have very open and cooperative approach to their relationships with existing and potential customers. Instead of focusing on the product itself Comergent should begin with selling the concept, and the value that customers can gain from using their product such as cost saving, it can be used within the framework of existing channel partners, , it provided a single face to the customer for the ordering process even in situations where multiple partners might be involved etc. Once you have the customer understanding that your product is of benefit to them and their future growth they are interested enough to come to the table to discus, and this is where the hard sale can be made. Lack on Internal Concensus of Future Growth: We are told during the case that there is a severe lack of Internal Consensus in the company as to what future strategy ought to be implemented and they were too “focused on today’s particular plan” and that a Kovacs said they would rather spend time lead prospecting than strategizing the future. This is an issue that needs to be addressed as if there is no future looking strategy not all of the employees will be involved in future growth of the company whereas it is imperative to enable each and every employee as an internal marketer, and they need to be completely on board, and involved in future decision making in order tosuccessfully accept change that may come with partnering with an ERP Company and so on.