Case Study - US Owned IT Hardware and associated Services Vendor

We were asked to develop an articulation of the value to be derived from a radical new way of charging for IT storage solutions and services. Below is a brief outline of the major 'Before' and 'After' positions of this Lucidus intervention.

Before... .Existing Position

  • Our client was competing solely on price - resulting in lower margins
  • As a reaction to this position, their sales teams were demanding an ROI tool to explain and calculate the value that they brought to their customers
  • Several attempts had been made to create an ROI tool in-house (using Excel) with little success as none were able to outline a clear breakout of benefit logic
  • Management believed that they needed to articulate their full value in order to differentiate themselves from competitors but had found that this was too difficult for traditional toolsets to achieve

After... Lucidus Value Simulator

  • End consumer value was clearly articulated both upstream and downstream of the purchased product
  • Significant levels of previously "hidden" value were uncovered and subsequently validated by sales prospects
  • Flexible business case evaluation periods were provided for use by the end customer - between 2 and 10 years
  • The resulting toolset could be operated effectively by sales force in the field - both with, and without, sales support.
  • Multiple currencies were catered for
  • Flexibility was built into the system to ensure that local variations in sales offerings could be efficiently provided
  • Easily operated system - fully operable after just 2 days of training for sales personnel
  • System maintenance/enhancement could be undertaken by client's personnel after just 4 days of training
  • Significant additional sales and marketing benefit was derived from the client's use of the toolset at Trade Shows and for providing specific quotations
  • The new ability to track value proved to be a significant sales differentiator