Three Ways Vendor Neutrality Helps Your Business

May 9, 2019

When a professional hockey player chooses his equipment, he doesn’t usually buy all of the items from just one manufacturer. He may, for example, choose a hockey stick from one company, skates from another and a helmet from a third. This is because the player has looked at all of the options and chosen the best equipment to get his best results.

Similarly, your business should be free to source the best equipment for the job, regardless of the vendor. That’s the principle behind vendor neutrality.

“You should find the solution to gets the best results,” says Bob Reitenbach, Vice President of Business Development at True North Solutions. “Vendor neutrality opens up the possibility for custom built systems and technologies that will work for your company.”

Vendor neutrality means that your company chooses the most suitable technology, hardware or software without a bias towards a particular manufacturer or provider. There are several key advantages to designing and using a vendor neutral system.

When you aren’t tied to a particular vendor, you can

1. find the best solutions. You can choose suppliers based on their strengths and core competencies as opposed to relationships. You can research individual companies, technologies, software and hardware, and choose the pieces that will suit your operation’s specific needs. Vendor neutrality allows your business to choose the right solution for your operation.

2. design solutions that work. You can compare and contrast items available from a variety of vendors and take the best pieces to suit your needs. Vendor neutral hardware and software are designed for compatibility, which means you can combine pieces from several vendors to make a custom solution that solves the challenge at hand. Vendor neutrality allows you the freedom to create the exact system that you need instead of relying on an out-of-the-box solution.

3. use leading technology and innovations. Instead of waiting for one manufacturer to develop new systems, you can incorporate cutting edge and emerging technologies to your existing custom solutions as they become available. This allows you to consistently adopt best practices via best-of-breed technology.

“Vendor neutrality is a key aspect of every system we design and deploy at True North Solutions,” says Reitenbach. “We are purposely structured to provide innovative, thoughtful and client-based solutions. A vendor neutral approach allows us to sit at the table as a trusted partner and make the decision that’s best for your business.”

This article was first published online by True North Solutions.
Photo source: Timothy Muza on Unsplash