I had written in this column about a year back, that one of the biggest challenges that SMBs face when dealing with small and medium solution providers (SPs) is consistency in delivery and quality of delivery across different customer sets. I must bring up that issue once again, but from a different perspective.

Corporate customers want the same experience from their SPs whether a network is being set-up in Hyderabad or Indore. That is because the customers' customers want to have the same experience whether they are accessing services in Delhi or Lucknow. That is only one part of the story. These corporate customers also want a lot of flexibility in their IT systems so that their customers with different requirements can also be served equally well.

A few experiences in some of the very advanced and mature markets like the UK and USA give me the feeling that they have become too dependent on the IT systems and processes they have set-up. For instance, air travelers with the traditional tickets (and not e-tickets), face a lot of hassles while checking in at the airports in these countries. The airline staff either refuses to help or says he is helpless before the IT system.

As a customer, I would never like to go back to an airline that makes my holiday a nightmare. I would prefer going to an airline whose IT systems could help me and not harass me. I see this both as a challenge as well as an opportunity for SPs. Challenge because they will not just have to ensure consistency in their product and service, but will now have to get into the customers' customer's shoes and offer solutions for them. Opportunity because I am sure in this competitive world, low-cost solutions, which are also centered around the end-customers needs, will be the order of the day.

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