Working together to grow markets
by Valerie Cumming

We invited Valerie Cumming, Managing Director of the Computing Suppliers Federation to tell us how a trade association can deliver real benefits to its members and what the CSF does to help users of information technology.

The words “Trade Association” often conjure up a picture of dusty meeting rooms where the elder statesmen of the industry wax lyrical about all the things they have achieved during their career. You may think of tedious meetings about obscure points of commercial law. Or perhaps you envisage endless discussions about the problems of the industry without anything ever changing. Being the company’s representative at Trade Association meetings is often seen as a chore and something that comes a long way down the list of priorities.

Now think what you could achieve if you regularly met and communicated with others from your sector, talked real business, agreed industry-level action plans and then had a designated organisation to put those plans into action for you.

Also think about that over-used word: Networking.

Or, put more directly, “Its Not What You Know, Its Who You Know”.

Do you know the key players in your sector? Not just the companies, but the people in those companies. How often do you get to talk to them about your industry – what it is doing, where it is going and the challenges that you both face? If you’re lucky, you may get to chat briefly during the industry’s annual trade fair or awards dinner. In many cases, you may never meet them until you need to look for a new job!

And have you ever thought that the issues faced by your company are the same issues that other companies are dealing with?

Each company may be struggling on alone, spending precious time and resources. What about if you all got together and agreed to tackle the issues together, making more effective use of your time and money, and improving the situation for everyone concerned?

Now think about those words “Trade Association” again.

Isn’t a trade association exactly the right forum for you to achieve those goals? In your trade association, you have a ready-made organisation that is (or should be!) in contact with all the key players in your sector. It has the expertise to bring them together and to create a neutral setting in which to discuss and address industry-level challenges.

But our trade association isn’t like that, I hear you say.

My answer to that is – why not? It is, after all, YOUR trade association. Any trade association is what its members want it to be.

If you want it to be an administrative body, focusing purely on – for example – representation to government, then that is precisely what it will deliver. But it is in your hands – the hands of the trade association member – to challenge it to deliver what you need.

When it was set up, the members of the Computing Suppliers Federation (CSF) decided that they wanted it to be market focused. They wanted it to help them grow their markets. A simple mission statement and one that has been reaffirmed by our members over the years.

So how can a trade association help its members grow their markets?

The key words here are neutrality and independence.

Think about buying a new piece of equipment for your home – perhaps a home entertainment system or a washing machine. How do you go about gathering information about the choices you have? How do you learn about what factors are important and which are simply fancy-sounding features that you will never use?

Of course, you can browse the shops, look at products and perhaps pick up some brochures. You may do a search on the web to see what manufacturers have to say about their products. But how do you pick your way through all of the sales hype and the “special offers” that make comparisons virtually impossible? How do you work out exactly what it is you need, to the product to do, and how the products you are looking at match up to that need?

In a consumer situation, there may be independent reports that you can get hold of, such as a product assessment and comparison made by a consumer body.

But if you are buying IT equipment or software for your business, what do you do? How do you go about deciding your needs, gathering information and assessing products?

Nowadays, the first point of call is often the web. But what are you searching for exactly? How do you know that you’ve found all the right sites? Perhaps, you may visit a trade exhibition, pick up some brochures and hear the sales hype from a few people. How do you know that you’ve talked to the right ones and what about those that weren’t there? And, once you get back to the office, how often do you actually assess those brochures in any detail?

Now imagine that instead of surfing the web or traipsing round a vast exhibition complex, you could simply access independent reports about technology. Imagine independent reports that challenged you to think about how technology can develop your company’s competitive edge.

THAT is how the CSF helps its members grow their markets.

We inform potential customers about technology.

We provide independent guidance about what they should expect to achieve from their IT investments and how to make sure that they achieve their aims.

We help them develop checklists and criteria by which to assess the various product offerings.

We challenge them to raise their sights beyond their immediate problems and think about innovative but durable solutions.

So we get our members together, help them establish the common issues that they are facing and then deliver a solution to overcome that issue to the benefit of all – suppliers and customers alike.

Our members gain because the market is better informed – meaning more focused customers and shorter sales cycles.

Potential customers gain because they can save time and money by not having to search high and low for information. They can go to trade exhibitions better informed and have meaningful discussions with the right people. They can be sure that they are asking the right questions and setting the right priorities for their business.

And the CSF gains because, as a neutral not-for-profit organisation, we have fulfilled our mission to grow the market to the benefit of all.

So what kind of projects are we working on at the moment? The range is quite extensive.

On the engineering and manufacturing side, we have a host of materials about CAD – computer aided design. Why you should think about using it, how to assess the return on investment for your business, how to implement it successfully and how to share the benefits across the whole company.

We are currently updating this material with new information about three-dimensional design and the modelling of solids.

We are also working with organisations such as the DTI and Warwick University to guide companies through the whole electronic collaboration process – how to share design data and information online, how to exchange data and how to make sure that your company achieves that vital competitive edge over your key competitors by being more responsive, more accurate and more innovative.

In a completely different area, we have a range of independent materials about video conferencing. There is a basic guide as to why you should think about video conferencing and the benefits you can derive from it- and it is not all about saving travel costs! If you want more technical information, then that is available also, including guidance about the various standards that are relevant to this increasingly important business technology.

To supplement the video conferencing materials, we are about to launch a video conferencing newsletter that will update users and potential users about innovative ways to use video conferencing and how to achieve real business benefit from the investment.

Linked to the whole area of digital video, is another project topic – that of video streaming. This is all about bringing video to the desktop – alongside the telephone and the written word. If you want to broadcast the Chairman’s AGM speech to all staff or you want your staff to be able to access interactive training modules whenever they wish, then streaming is the technology that you need to think about.

And what about the ubiquitous screen on your desk? Chances are that you have a traditional TV-style monitor that is in need of a good clean and which you have never bothered to adjust properly! We have guidance on what to look out for in a monitor and how to make sure that yours is performing to its best.

And again, we are updating the information in this area to provide guidance on the new display technologies – what they are and which ones you should think about for your own situation.

Finally, in the area of information management, we have a range of materials to guide potential users through the concepts and the jargon. Whether you need to know why you should think about scanning documents, how to manage the flow of electronic documents in your organisation or what storage options are available, we have independent guides to help you.

We are also developing neutral discussion forums for users and suppliers to get people together in a strictly no-sales environment to discuss the whole topic of enterprise information management. What it means, how to think about applying it to your business, how to realise the full potential of the technology to the benefit of your business and how to implement it.

These are just a flavour of what the CSF does for its members to help grow their markets.

We help potential customers find their way through the confusing mass of information.

We help them to assess their needs.

We provide guidance on how to achieve the best from their investment.

We guide them through the sales process to the point where they are ready to make informed sales enquiries and investment decisions.

If you are interested in being part of what the CSF does and in having the CSF work to help grow your markets, then please email us on and we will send you an information pack about all of the benefits that our members get from being part of a vibrant, proactive and commercially-focused trade association. Joint marketing projects are just part of what we deliver for our members. There are vital networking opportunities as well as regular business updates, discounts on marketing activities (such as exhibitions and conferences) and a whole range of business benefits – all aimed at helping to grow your business and to make better use of vital resources.

If you want to find out more about the various projects outlined above or if you want to get hold of some of the materials that have been mentioned, then please go to www.csf.org.uk and click on the Free Downloads link. All of our materials are available free of charge. Some of the items mentioned above are in development. If the material you require is not yet available on our website, please email and we will make sure that a copy is sent to you as soon as it becomes available.