Flaunt your Assets

“Nothing has happened until it has been recorded”– Virginia Woolf.
One of the most common constraints that I face while giving coverage about our solution providers and partners is that some good success stories are getting left out. In fact, most of the criticism that we get are about what we should have done, rather than what we have done. And it is very often from the guys who have directly or indirectly worked on those projects that have got left out-the SPs, partners and so on. The dichotomy though is unlike vendors who are proactive (and sometimes launch aggressive PR campaigns) to get these case studies covered, the solution providers are reticent, not sure or downright indifferent. But then again they cry that their successes are not getting adequately covered. And let me admit at the fi rst count, very often a lot of those claims are fairly valid. There are many good stories we often miss out. But having said that, I would like to quickly add thatit is despite our best efforts to get as many deserving stories as possible. The reason some get left out is because unlike in the corporate sector, in the channels, there is no organized machinery working out full time to ensure media coverage, or even to
respond to media queries. Very often, missing out good stories by us (or by any media) is because of lack of basic information.

Of course, as journalists, it is our job to get to those information. But I must take this opportunity to make a strong point: it is also the job of those who put a lot of efforts to make those projects work, especially the solution providers and their marketing people involved in the project. To many Indians, this would sound like the anti-thesis of what they have often believed: if you do good work, you do not need to talk about it. That is a mindset we need to challenge. Karma defi nitely does
not work the ancient Indian way anymore. Why was Gandhiji going from place to place speaking to as many Indians as possible? We have an answer there. Without people's active participation, the freedom struggle would have remained just that: a struggle for ever. Media is an important vehicle. But I am not becoming too pompous pretending that it is the only vehicle. The stakeholders in the success of solution providers are many: SMBs, even smaller partners down the line and yes even the vendors...The better they know about your work, the better is the possibility of overall success. A project's success is not just about how smoothly and how effi ciently did the rollout happen. Not even, for that matter, how many people have used it in the fi rst few months. Today is the day of marketing yourself...otherwise, however good may be your work, you would stand nowhere...If you have the right assets, fl aunt it....only then you will make them attractive to the right suitors.

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