GreenPages Sharpens Solutions Focus
(URL: http://www.crn.com/sections/vista/vista.jhtml?articleId=191801251)
By Steven Burke,
5:14 PM EDT Mon. Aug. 07, 2006
GreenPages is riding the solutions rocket.
The Kittery, Maine-based integrator has sharpened its solutions focus over the last year, with professional services-based solutions now accounting for 40 percent of sales, up from 12 percent a year ago, said GreenPages President and CEO Ron Dupler. And he said he expects a 30 percent increase in annual sales to $100 million this year.
What exactly is a "solutions focus"? Is that something you get when you read Encyclopedia Brown very intently? And why repeat this meaningless word twice?
"The technology solutions business is growing exponentially," Dupler said in an interview at the GreenPages Solutions Summit 2006 conference in Portsmouth, N.H., which brought together 70 of the company's customers and 42 of its vendor partners.
What exactly is a "technology solution"? Does that mean technology is your problem? If so, then maybe an abacus would work for you.
"There is a tremendous opportunity for our clients to leverage technology to drive their business. There are also significant challenges, because the technology is complex," he said.
Why use something when you can "leverage" it. How fancy of Mr. Dupler. Not only is the technology complex, the words used to describe it are complex.
Over the last year, GreenPages has doubled the size of its solutions architect staff, increased its project management staff to seven (up from four) and added field engineering talent.
Oohhhhhh... They're not consultants, they're solutions architects.
The company's solutions march was accelerated by its April acquisition of TenCorp, a solution provider based in Needham, Mass., that had a robust state/local government and education business. The deal also brought GreenPages a wealth of technical talent and an ISO-certified advanced project and configuration center.
The solutions march. Didn't Souza write that?
Even with its stepped-up solutions push, GreenPages isn't turning its back on its reseller procurement business, according to Dupler. In fact, the company has tripled the size of the ISO-certified center.
Just what the hell were they doing before they did solutions? Oh wait, they're in the reseller procurement business. Huh?
Dupler said that when he took the GreenPages top job nearly two years ago, he envisioned a 50-50 products-to-solutions business mix. But now he sees the solutions business exploding, noting that ultimately, "the external market will dictate what we look like as a business."
What are we up to, six uses of this meaningless word? Considering that a garbage man offers a sanitation solution and a car salesman offers a transportation solution, isn't a solution essentially a product?
"There's a tremendous hunger for our solutions expertise," Dupler added. "We're also good at supply chain, logistics and e-commerce."
Actually, I think there is a hunger for PR clarity.
The procurement side of the business is now "table stakes" for customers, who are increasingly relying on GreenPages to solve business problems with the best technology available, Dupler said. "The difference between GreenPages and the rest of the market is our solutions capability. We are farther down the road with the evolution of our business. We have an amazing technical staff that can guide our clients through the maze of choices available to them." At the heart of GreenPages' business model is a vendor-agnostic philosophy that puts the interest of the client above any single manufacturer, Dupler noted. "We weed through all the hype and select the best technology. Our first commitment is to the customer," he said.
Table stakes? A gambling term? Now I'm even more confused. As for solutions capability, what exactly does that mean? It doesn't define a difference.
As for vendor-agnostic, let's look at the definition of the word "agnostic" on m-w.com
1 : a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god
2 : a person unwilling to commit to an opinion about something
Okay, either they're saying they don't have a committment to the vendor being or not being a god, or that they're unwilling to offer an opinion on a vendor. If they won't give an opinion on a vendor, then exactly to they honor their committment to the customer?
In an age where many manufacturers are seeking vendor exclusivity, GreenPages has chosen to work with multiple vendors. Among the company's partners at the summit were Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lenovo, VMware, EqualLogic, 3Com, Radware, Internap, ScriptLogic, Fortinet, Zixcorp, Foundry and Utimaco.
As part of its professional services onslaught, GreenPages has reorganized its professional services group into practice areas, said Tobi Evangelisti, vice president of solutions at GreenPages. The company also has added telephony, wireless/mobility and technical staffing as new practice areas, she said.
Ewwwwww... a VP of solutions. Sweet.
In addition, GreenPages has revised its data management, disaster recovery, compliance and managed services practices. Other practices include security, network operating systems, network infrastructure and virtualization/server-based computing.
Including the TenCorp acquisition, Evangelisti said the data management practice is expected to hit $12 million this year, up from $1 million last year.
The solutions summit for the first time featured a demo center and IT lab. "This is a live network environment," said Glen Jodoin, vice president of operations at GreenPages. "Customers can play with and test new solutions like VoIP or an iSCSI SAN."
Great, I've always wanted to test new solutions. But if I have to test it, then is it really a solution?
Also this year, the summit featured more breakout sessions hosted by GreenPages solutions architects, covering topics such as "Getting To VoIP," "Data Management" and "Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Planning."
Man, I'm hopin' they can build me a solutions buildin'.
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Copyright 2006 CMP Media LLC.
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