Does experience really matter?
Posted on Wed, Jul 07, 2010
This is one of those difficult & polarizing questions. Watching Kobe lead his team to another Championship this past week, I’m tempted to say that experience matters. Then, on the other side of the fence & only three days later, 30-yr old Graeme McDowell wins the US Open at Pebble Beach. I guess he’s been playing golf for 25 years so maybe he does have experience??? And how about those Blackhawks…young team led by 22yr old Jonathan Toews winning the Stanley Cup. Then again, Toews was on the Gold Medal winning Canadian Olympic Team. Hmmm…I’m still not sure if experience matters.
So now the natural transition from athletics to Managed Print Services. There are many companies promoting their abilities to deliver significant value in the MPS space. For smaller customers with limited complexity, I would agree that significant experience may not be an absolute requirement. There are off-the-shelf software and reporting packages available to support basic fleet reporting and billing. However, when customer demands span multiple buildings, city, & countries. When requirements include both on-site resources and the need to leverage your partner network. When the customer has a commitment to transform their print environment and workflow methodologies. And when they believe a cultural shift in print behaviour must occur, I believe experience is critical. If not, the inexperienced vendor may suggest they have the capabilities (and on paper, they may). Unfortunately, when it comes time to execute, the result may not be what the customer has expected to receive, leaving both the customer & the vendor feeling uncomfortable about the result.
As a recap as to whether experience matters…and I truly have gone back & forth, this was the clincher for me. A modest demolition company, in operation for about 3 years, felt they had the capabilities (and presumably the experience) to remove this building…and even after the ‘takedown’ went sideways, they stood by their processes saying that all safety measures were in place.
http://r32argent.blogspot.com/2010/06/global-excavation-and-demolition.html
For me, I’ll continue to err on the side of caution & select the company with a proven track record of delivering on both small & large complex projects.