Avail is often classified as a software vendor, and that always makes me cringe a bit. Yes, there is definitely a large industry of software vendors out there – but we are not one of them.
So if Avail is not a software vendor, then what are we?
We sell what our customers – retailers – need: sales, or in more general terms, commercial success in the form of return-on-investment. You could have the best software in the world, but if you do not use it properly, it is nothing but a cost. It happens to everyone including Avail: costly software that is purchased but never used. It is sometimes called the “Flashing 12s” phenomenon, after all those VCRs that people bought but failed to set up, leaving them blinking.
Redefining ourselves as “success vendors” has been very important for Avail, e.g. in that we
- Measure ourselves on the basis of success delivered (i.e. documented sales generated – in fact, every employee at Avail is evaluated to some degree on their contribution to our customers’ uplift in sales)
- Prioritize our roadmap in terms of success added, not number of features
- Put just as much effort into developing our services as our software
Our recommendations engine is just part of how we accomplish it. What we really provide is a package of software, support, advice and partnerships that we call “Success-as-a-Service”, a play on the popular phrase “Software-as-a-Service”, to maximize our customers’ merchandising returns. (By the way – Avail customers, don’t miss to sign up for the April 15 Client Success event!)
I think the retail industry, and many industries with them, would be well served to stop buying software. For every piece of software that you currently use, ask yourself “What do I really need?”, and pick a vendor who delivers that. Force the software industry to change for the better.
