There’s a saying: To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together.
One of the realities of modern business is the advantages of building strong partnerships. Few organizations have the talent, expertise, resources or capabilities to do everything they need to satisfy their customers; smart partnerships close the gaps with symbiotic relationships that help everyone. Businesses that can’t thrive in this scenario are rare and getting even rarer.
From our point of view, there are three things driving the growth of partnerships:
First, customers’ expectations of organizations are shifting. The world is moving faster, and they want business to move just as fast. In the past, they may have tolerated companies operating in silos, but now that it seems everything is at everyone’s fingertips, those walls between companies, features and capabilities are causing headaches. For example, in our business it used to be common for customers to jump between as many as five or six software applications in the course of their workday. Now, they expect the applications they use to work seamlessly together, so that data flows across their business without them having to stop and open a new app or go to another website.
Second, the growth of specialization in companies has made everyone in business refocus on what we do best and make hard choices about what to let go. Competition between best-of-breed companies in every category has ramped up demands on those organizations. The level of talent has grown, the specialized expertise among that talent has become more difficult to find, and the pace of innovation is unrelenting. Doing it all is no longer the best option. The better way is to align with complementary companies that share values and objectives and leverage their competitive advantage.
Third, the realization that “co-opetition” works. This mash-up of “cooperation” and “competition” isn’t a new word, but it’s one that reflects the new reality. We’ve seen that it’s more effective to go together with strong organizations that we might have once seen as competitors than it is to go alone and try to build the set of specialized, integrated services or products customers demand. We’re convinced that going together is more than a saying. It’s a winning formula for business. Your thoughts? We would like to hear from you. Join the conversation on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Solatech Teams Up with Dispatch to Solve the Last Mile
The last mile in delivery and service presents some of the greatest challenges to retailers, and frustrations for customers. That’s why we’ve integrated Dispatch with Solatech software to help retailers create better customer experiences from start to finish.
Window fashions retailers can use Dispatch’s mobile and desktop apps to facilitate the service experience, and seamlessly integrate with Solatech for estimates, product ordering and invoicing. Once a project is completed, Dispatch can prompt retailers’ customers for reviews on jobs, which can be passed on to online review sites.
Learn more about how Solatech and Dispatch are helping window fashion retailers tackle the last mile.
Meet our QuickBooks Online Integration
QuickBooks Online integration has been one of the most sought-after features from Solatech Focus users, and now it’s here. This capability creates an end-to-end workflow solution for window fashion retail professionals, powering a streamlined flow of information from the point of sale to the back office. Customer and order information that’s entered into Solatech Focus while estimating and selling products seamlessly transfers to QuickBooks Online without the need for salespeople or back office staff to reenter it, eliminating duplication of efforts, saving valuable time, and reducing errors.
Did You Know Solatech Focus Can Do This?
Jumping between point of sale and calendar software doesn’t seem like a giant burden. At least, until you no longer have to do it,and then you realize how much time you save. That’s why we’ve made it possible to schedule appointments within Solatech Focus and SalesPRO, and have them appear on Google calendars. It’s a small but mighty way we’re helping our users take back time.