The technology sector has always carried a reputation for disruption — and volatility.
Sales and procurement professionals looking to ride the wave of rising trends and find footing in complex shifting environments must learn to leverage an ever-changing and diverse set of skills.
Negotiation training is a critical tool in that kit.
With complexity increasing, advancements in technology, and shifting business dynamics, tech sector professionals are in the business of doing more with less.
Managing this complexity while maximizing value hinges on the right processes.
Professional services, implementation costs, changing scopes, integrations, upgrades, PR and marketing agreements — an individual can provide a lot of value to a tech organization during negotiations.
They can lose that value, too.
It all depends on how organizations value Learning and Development efforts like negotiation training.
RED BEAR Negotiation Training focuses on tried and true negotiation processes used by 45% of the Fortune 500.
Our goal is to transform individuals into world-class negotiators.
“Our goal is to transform individuals into world-class negotiators.”
Let’s explore some of today’s tech sector challenges and discover how the right negotiation skills can make all the difference.
Industry Trends Shaping the Need for Effective Negotiation
It seems as if the tech sector is always making waves and dominating headlines.
These last few years, in particular, have seen a dramatic rollercoaster of market highs and sharp declines. In 2022 alone, Big Tech players took a combined market value hit of around $2.5 trillion.
An increasingly unpredictable macroeconomic environment, consistent supply chain issues, and a sharp decline in revenues all play a role in this recent market shift.
Even so, organizations are soldiering on, hyper-focused on advancement and recovery.
Weathering these conditions means developing robust frameworks for everyday processes like negotiation for sales and procurement professionals.
With the right processes and standards in place, when technology advances, or market conditions change, your team must have the power to navigate these situations and deliver consistent and scalable business results.
Rapid Advancements in Technology
While the technology sector thrives on fast growth, it’s not immune to the consequences of change.
With the rapid rise of AI and related machine learning technologies, more and more jobs are at risk. In fact, roles that use programming and writing skills are likely the most exposed to disruptions from technologies like generative AI.
In the past, the coming age of automation threatened manufacturing jobs. In our new AI reality, it’s information processing industries like tech that will see the most uncertainty.
This will undoubtedly be a challenge for tech sector professionals, but not one without opportunity.
Sales and procurement teams with the right negotiation training will be at an advantage with a set of dynamic and universal skills that outlast trends in tech.
Unfortunately, they’ll need to do more with less.
Organizations need to develop rigorous processes that leverage tools like AI while still harnessing the powerful principles that drive success.
Moreover, trends in Big Data and analytics mean sales and procurement teams have more statistical power in their hands.
This can be a double-edged sword, though.
If used strategically alongside the right negotiation processes and methods, this kind of information can drive strategic choices and an understanding of the other party's motivations and standing.
But, access to complex information in this way can easily lead to data overload.
Having a strong negotiation process in place helps simplify the complex and maximize value even as products continue to innovate and evolve.
The Rise of Remote Work and Virtual Collaboration
Just a half-decade ago, the idea of mainstream adoption of remote work technologies was almost science fiction.
Even though the technology to virtually communicate existed long before COVID-19, the global pandemic catapulted remote work to the forefront of modern workplace trends. But, while many are cheering the return to the office, many workers in the tech sector are staying home.
Research from 2021 suggests around 73% of organizations see remote work as changing the competitive landscape — meaning potential hires are looking for these options more often.
In fact, data from 2023 suggest remote work is here to stay.
Trends show that job-seekers are looking for remote work options now more than ever.
Onboarding top talent and keeping them might mean offering robust employment packages, added value for workplace flexibility, and, more importantly, personal growth and development incentives like negotiation training offered in-person or virtually.
From mastering the ins and outs of cross-cultural negotiation to understanding the dynamics of virtual negotiation sessions, RED BEAR Training can give your team an advantage in the new remote work paradigm.
Market Volatility
Amidst all the technological and cultural changes are the market conditions that affect overall industry growth.
So far, in 2023, recent layoffs in tech organizations tally over 130,000 workers. That is a significant number and a metric that has real-world consequences not just for those laid off but their employers.
Employees are looking for much more than a paycheck. They need to believe that an organization has their own growth in mind — especially in the face of job market volatility and advancements in AI tech.
Companies that do more to provide valuable training to their teams tend to attract better talent and keep them onboard. This is incredibly salient as we recover from recent market downtrends and organizations look to hire.
Tech Troubles: Conquering Pain Points
Every industry will face challenges. For tech, though, it seems as though these pain points are evolving as quickly as the technology behind them.
Take intellectual property (IP) disputes. Over the years, IP laws have become a standard protection for organizations looking to shore up their assets in a growing digital landscape.
But, in the advancing globalized world, these disputes are becoming cross-border in nature.
This emphasizes the skills and knowledge needed to navigate these often tense and complex cross-cultural negotiation situations.
For example, look at semiconductor manufacturing — a tech sector necessity.
Not only is the supply chain globally dispersed across thousands of miles, but national interests are proving to be thorny obstacles for organizations looking to manage IP in the digital age.
But negotiation training isn’t just relevant for cross-cultural and global business; it also plays a role in everyday operations.
Research from Gartner tells us almost half of IT spending on the cloud is over budget. While negotiation training can get to the core of this issue, price, the cloud computing problem is a bit more complex.
These platforms might feel separate, but in reality, they’re often connected through a partner ecosystem. Partners add another level of complexity to deal-making. You're trying to maximize your profits while maintaining the relationship with your partners. Instead of purely competitive goals, this ecosystem must also breed an environment of collaboration and discovery that benefits all parties.
Understanding both the competitive and collaborative dimensions of negotiation can give an organization an edge in partner discussions — not just to find a better price but to build valuable relationships that pay off in the future.
How Negotiation Training Can Help Tech Companies
With trends and pain points evolving year to year, tech sector professionals need to leverage tools like negotiation training to stay current.
The right training equips team members with the underlying concepts, skills, and tools that lead to more valuable and profitable client relationships — regardless of macro trends and industry-specific troubles.
RED BEAR Negotiation Training teaches organizations to sell value rather than price. This improves overall collaboration and teamwork within an organization.
There’s never been more complexity facing the tech sector, and it’s not stopping anytime soon.
Tech organizations are constantly doing more with less. This has strengthened the importance of establishing organization-wide processes that maximize the value in deals.
RED BEAR Training is all about providing tangible business outcomes like enhanced and consistent negotiation planning across global business units and scalable business results your team can count on time and time again.
If you’re ready to give your tech team an advantage in your next negotiation session, get in touch today.
