Business & Sales Transformation for iWMS solutions
Enterprise iWMS growth is becoming harder to achieve.
Even though the technology is better than ever.
And the conditions for selling enterprise-scale iWMS have never been stronger. But the foundations of enterprise buying have shifted — and that’s changing everything.
Most organisations assume this is a sales execution problem.
It isn’t.
This is a structural problem in the technology industry.
Video
See what’s changed – and why it matters
A concise market perspective on the structural shift affecting iWMS software vendors and partners.
The challenges of Enterprise selling today
First it shows up in your sales — but it doesn’t end there.
Sales cycles stretch. Forecasts are unreliable. Opportunities progress— unpredictably. Pipelines exist — but they’re light.
And at the same time, deeper challenges are building on both sides.
Inside your business
Revenue becomes unpredictable.
Profitability erodes.
Market position weakens.
Partnerships come under strain.
Planning turns reactive.
Growth slows — even when demand exists.
And for your customer
Decisions take longer — or don’t happen.
Value remains unrealised.
Projects underperform — or fail.
Opportunities are missed.
Time and energy are wasted.
Sunk costs increase, without ROI.
The real root of the problem
Enterprise technology — and customer sophistication — has evolved.
But customer decision-making capability hasn’t. And sellers haven’t moved to adapt.
Technology, and the way customers perceive it, has shifted over three eras.
In Era 1 customers understood their business needs, they were clear on how technology would help meet those needs, and the business value they anticipated from implementing solutions was obvious.
era 1 (1960s - 80s)
Automation
Early automation of visible, contained business systems.
Understanding of needs: Strong
Solution clarity: Clear
Perceived value: High
Complexity level: Low
era 2 (1990s - 2000s)
Integration
Client-server, ERP expansion, middleware
era 3 (today)
Transformation
Cloud, AI/ML, real-time data, microservices, platform economy
Understanding of needs: Fragmented
Solution clarity: Vague
Perceived value: Hard to define
Complexity level: High
And the level of complexity they had to deal with was comparatively low.
But complexity increased with each new era – and then, in Era 3, it exploded.
Why complexity keeps increasing
Complexity builds from both inside and outside the customer environment — and it increases across every era.
Internal factors
- Legacy systems, and cross-systems integration
- IT Architecture constraints
- Security and Risk
- inter -departmental challenges
- Workflow and BPM constraints
- Understanding own needs
- Change resistance
- Skills gaps
- Shadow IT
External factors
- Regulatory and compliance demands
- Market dynamics and competitive pressures
- Vendor ecosystem lock-in
- Rapid technology innovation
What customers need now
The ability to make confident decisions in a complex environment
Customers are trying to solve this complexity challenge themselves.
Buying groups have expanded to improve decision-making and reduce risk. But that’s introduced new problems – for them, and for sellers.
Large cross-functional groups → misalignment → disagreement → scope creep → indecision → decision delay → stalled or no deal
What’s missing is not more information. It’s:
Alignment — around what needs to be achieved
Value — that can be clearly understood and justified
Vision — of what success actually looks like
This is the new way of working with your customers — delivering the E3 Customer Experience.
Avvate enables the E3 Customer Experience
Avvate brings this capability into how iWMS organisations sell — and how they operate.
It starts in sales. Then it extends across the organisation..
Not “more training”.
And not another sales methodology.
It’s the way that complex opportunities are engaged, shaped, and won in the E3 era.
A>COM extends that E3 capability across the organisation.
You don’t implement it – you evolve into it.
Video
See what’s changed – and why it matters
A concise market perspective on the structural shift affecting iWMS software vendors and partners.