18 Aug 2008 12:16 PM EDT

A somewhat frequent conversation I seem to have with new acquaintance's not familiar with our industry often turns to a discussion of   " what does Citrix do ? " After a brief elevator pitch on fast app delivery, centralization, security, and minimizing the need to install apps, etc, there is typically a point that they can relate to in their own situation. It may be a failed hard drive, a desire to work from different devices or locations, or the frustration of waiting for IT to come fix their PC. You can tell when the light bulb goes on and they start to envision being able to utilize the benefits of what Citrix ( and our community ) could provide for themselves or their company. 

If the discussion goes further a common question comes up that goes something like " If it's so great , why doesn't every company do this ? " sometimes followed by, why is Citrix only a $ 1.5 Billion company ? why not a lot more ?    

These are some of the objections I have heard  along the way as to why more companies don't adopt Citrix, or the concept of App Delivery on a broader more strategic scale. What is the top objection you hear about ( beyond initial cost ) ?  

Top objection or barrier to Citrix implementations Choose
Awareness of what is possible and valuing the benefits
Problems with a past implementation
User experience concerns
Application compatibility and/or ISV support
Risk of change from the status quo

Others ?

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"Only $1.5 Billion"? No matter what standard one uses, Citrix has been a huge success. The fact that not everybody is using Citrix products presents enormous opportunities for the wonderful products Citrix has. Out of the five objections, I think "risk of change" is the most important one and most difficult to overcome. I suspect it is the root for many other objections as well. Great questions!

Posted by John Yin at Aug 18, 2008 17:15 | Reply To This

Chris 

I have to agree with John's reply above.  I see this "change" aversion everyday.  Even people that don't currently have an application delivery strategy are fearful of changing the status quo.  And the people that do have Citrix in their environment, fear changing it to make it better.  I don't usually do this, but I posted over on www.brianmadden.com a post titled: Change: It's Happening and it has your CEO worried I have also stated at the beginning of every customer meeting (before I kick off the whiteboard conversation) this little tidbit of wisdom:  "with almost perfect certainty that over the next decade your company will be challenged to change in a way that you may never have thought of and for which there is no precedent"

You will be amazed that you start a conversation like that and then show them a better way to deliver applications, desktops, server OSs, etc and they get excited very fast and then back it up with a proven best-in-class plaform and best practices, the "fear of change" is gone and the idea of how to better deliver apps, desktops, etc dynamically really comes out.  I guess to make a long story short....it comes down to educating the customer and showing them that you either adapt or risk losing competitive advantage.

Cheers

Posted by Michael Keen at Aug 21, 2008 10:20 | Reply To This

Great comment Michael, that also seems like an effective way to start an engaging customer meeting.

Posted by Chris Fleck at Aug 25, 2008 08:00 | Reply To This

Great point.  I think it is very smart to use the risk of not changing to conquer the fear for changing.

Posted by John Yin at Aug 25, 2008 12:15 | Reply To This