Competition is Good - Important lesson for GroupWise partners

Have you ever been to an AutoMall?

This is where car dealerships, fighting for your money, line themselves up like wall flowers at a high school dance, hoping that they get picked to go home with the prom king.

Why on earth would such competitive companies subject themselves to scrutiny by a cautious public?

Because they sell more cars. In truth, by clumping themselves together, it makes it easier to be found, it qualifies the buyer quicker, and it increases their overall sales.

In this case, they all come together knowing that if you are in the car buying mood, they stand a better chance of being seen, if they are seen with their competitor than if they are isolated by themselves.

GroupWise Community

This is a great lesson for the GroupWise community. GroupWise customers tend to be isolated. There are fewer of them than Exchange customers, and they tend to not congregate.

Two places you can easily find GroupWise technology partners and GroupWise customers in the same place - BrainShare and GWAVACon

The new GroupWise Open Horizons magazine is the only GroupWise publication and Cool Solutions and NGWList are about the only place that you can find them talking to each other online.

This is the reason for the GroupWise treasure hunt at BrainShare and the creation of GWAVACon, the Novell GroupWise Technology conference. A place to bring buyers and sellers together.

But you would not believe how hard it is to convince competing companies that it is in their best interest to get ALL GroupWise 3rd party vendors in the same room. That a GroupWise Partner Mall is better than attempting to go it alone.

Both GWAVACon in Las Vegas in January and BrainShare in Salt Lake City in March will be a big party for the launch of GroupWise 8.

Here's hoping that everyone comes to the party.