In my field I don't have competitors. I have colleagues.
For years I've been working with another IT company — and I'll explain why I'm proud of it.
There is a word I don't much like when talking about business: competitor.
I find it limiting. It assumes the market is a fixed-size cake and that every slice taken by someone else is one slice less for you.
In the IT world — especially the SME world — it doesn't work like that.
THE PROJECT
For years I've been working on an ongoing basis with another IT company. They are good, well organised, with a solid client base. But as often happens to businesses that grow well, at some point the projects outnumber the available hands.
That's where I came in.
I work with them on their clients, under their name, as part of their team. Not occasionally — on an ongoing basis, on projects that need a dedicated and reliable resource.
WHAT IT MEANS IN PRACTICE
It means that some clients know me as that company's technician. They don't know I'm an external consultant — and they don't need to, because from their point of view they get the same service, the same quality, the same continuity.
For the partner company it means being able to take on more projects without hiring, while staying flexible.
For me it means working with different businesses, learning from a well-organised team and building a solid professional relationship over time.
For the end clients it means not waiting.
A THOUGHT ON THE MARKET
I've heard many consultants talk about their colleagues as if they were enemies. I don't understand them.
The IT market for Italian SMEs is huge and under-served. Demand exceeds supply. There are companies waiting weeks for a call-out, professional firms that still don't have a decent backup, businesses using tools from 2010 because nobody has ever suggested they upgrade.
In this scenario, a colleague who works well doesn't take clients away from me. He confirms that the market is there — and that there is room for everyone who works seriously.
If you are an IT company with more work than you can handle, let's talk.
Synergies work — I've seen it.
