DocuWare: Mindset, not tech, holds back channel automation

For channel businesses in the UK, the greatest obstacle to delivering automation is not the technology itself - it is the willingness to change how they engage with customers.

That is the view of Marcin Pichur, Vice President of Sales for EMEA and APAC at DocuWare, the document management and workflow automation company that routes nearly all of its UK and Ireland revenue through the channel.

Pichur estimated that almost all of the company's revenue in those markets comes through partnerships. Globally, the figure stands at over 80%. Leads are routed through partners who are matched to opportunities based on industry expertise and integration capability.

"Customers are starting to look for trusted advisors. They are not looking to collaborate with companies who can deliver them another product, deliver them another demo. They are looking for someone who will focus on their outcomes. They are looking for someone who will help them understand their processes, understand their challenges, and help them deliver the outcomes that improve their day to day business," he said.

In terms of sector focus within the UK, Pichur identifies manufacturing as DocuWare's largest vertical amongst the company's global customer base of 21,000 businesses. Historically, the company's core automation use cases have centred on accounts receivable and accounts payable processes, but Pichur says the company is expanding further into purchase-to-pay and order-to-cash workflows.

The case for automation is rarely straightforward to make inside a customer organisation. He said that recent Gartner research shows technology purchasing now requires alignment from as many as 12 internal stakeholders, up from 3 to 5 at previous estimates.

"You not only have to talk to 12 people, you have to actually get them aligned, find common ground between them, you have to convince them and the whole organisation that this change is not scary and will deliver the results. Because if you don't do this, the organisations will fall for the biggest trap ever, which is called indecision - they will just decide not to change anything," added Pichur.

This dynamic, he argues, is why channel partners cannot rely on technology alone to drive transformation projects forward. The commercial and human dimensions of a deployment matter as much as the product itself.

On the channel side, DocuWare uses a structured benchmark system to guide new partners through the early stages of building a pipeline. Pichur describes the starting framework as a 10-4-1 ratio: ten leads generate four opportunities, which yields one customer. After two years, the expectation rises to a 10-5-2 ratio. Alongside this, he is clear that a qualified pipeline must be at least 1.5 times a partner's target at all times.

He also raises a less discussed issue in pipeline management: the statistical reality of replacement. If a business closes one deal from four opportunities at a 25% rate, and eight opportunities remain, the instinct is to replace only one.

"The answer is wrong. Because statistically you won one, and if your closing rate based on other opportunities was 25%, you have to replace all four opportunities, because three of them are anyhow dead already. You will lose them statistically," added Pichur."Sales is a number game. Building a pipeline, advancing the pipeline is absolutely mandatory, especially in such turbulent times. People have to be focusing on the basics,."