Thomas had not realised before that RedMonk’s model means we can help people at our clients help each other, that sometimes we play the pilot role. Its actually a core part of the service. I sometimes refer us to a corporate zip drive- we’re a removable lightweight tool which retains a corporate memory that the corporation itself might have forgotten. The thing is large companies change so fast these days, with constant reorganisations and so on, that people don’t know what has been tried before, and with who. We can take a longer historical view because our business triangulates domain knowledge with communities and toolsets. Because we’re not organised in silos, the relationshipships are long running. Frankly IBM is the company I can play zipdrive matchmaker most effectively with- 12 years of building knowledge and relationships across most parts of the company is an extremely valuable asset. I don’t know SAP so well, but I am already doing match-making there. We also match-make across organisational boundaries, but sometimes insiders need outsiders to make things happen. It can be be useful.
disclaimers: SAP is not a client, but soon will be.
the picture above is used courtesy of Pro-Zak, using Attribution creative commons license on Flickr.
What exactly is a relationshipship? Is that what The Love Boat was?
James – I imagine some of us might reduce this: “12 years of building knowledge and relationships across most parts of the company is an extremely valuable asset.” to one word: Rolodex.