Competition
There are a range of different competitors providing organisation management tools to non-profit organisations or even just service organisations - we're not the first people to tread upon this ground. We entered this market not only because we care about the world that we live in and believe in the work of the organisations we work with but also because we don't think there is enough competition.
"Competition creates better products, alliances create better companies"
- Brian Graham
Competition drives innovation, it drives companies to work harder to provide better service and better products for all involved. Competition can drive down prices and increase quality - which is exactly what this market place needs right now.
We welcome competition because it means that we have to work harder to get and retain customers, we have to listen to their needs and address them. We need to find the right solution for their problems before someone else does.
My belief in competition can sometimes cause me great frustration. Frustration at barriers that are thrown up to retain the status quo, to drive down competition. These barriers will only benefit the incumbents who have been able to get by without innovating in their products or service for too long.
Stifling competition leads to poor quality products, bad service and inadequate solutions.
We're here to change that.
Our advice for non-profit organisations:
1. Seek multiple tenders for your I.T. infrastructure needs. Even if you've selected a supplier already it's always good to get some outside opinions, firstly for reasons of corporate governance and secondly to make sure you're getting the best value for money.
2. Create ways for a range of providers to interact with your organisation. This could be by allowing different providers to securely access your data (with an API for instance) or by creating comparison charts to help your members make their decisions by.
3. Create a clear process for selecting I.T. providers for your organisation. Make these publicly available - transparency leads to better solutions and, again, better corporate governance.
Ned
*image courtesy of Flickr user foto43
