Service Providers - Differentiation

[dotbit (Dimitrios Josef Moustos)]

Following free-mentoring-programme, and especially the following post:

@ced

For me Tryton - Service Providers is the place for such referencing (there is no condition that the service must be paying).
So you just have to follow: Tryton - Become a Service Provider

I feel that it is already quite difficult for a new visitor to differentiate between Service Providers.
I think it will be even more difficult if we start adding the type of “free-mentoring-programme” service providers to the same page.

The reason why I am posting is that following Cedric’s recommendation I considered following Become a Service provider, but I think I do not have the necessary reputation/expertise to be listed in the same list as professionals, even if my description was something like “Technical user offering free mentoring.” I think this could lower the quality of the service providers page.

Here is an example of another person who could not decide: recommend-service-providers

Before I get further in this post I would like to point out that I am a new member of this community, so my opinion should have very light weight.

My experience/first visit to service providers page

First criteria: Location. I checked if there is a service provider in the country where I live/work.
If there would have been a provider I would get in contact almost indifferent of what their description would be. 1st criteria was location. This failed.

Second criteria:
I checked to see if there was a company that was specialized in exactly what I wanted to do. Because I wanted to do something pretty basic (replace excel proformas and SugarCRM) I figured that all of the service providers could do it. So this criteria was not useful.

Third criteria:
Highest Experience/Reputation. Because I want to learn I wanted to get in contact with the most experienced provider, which maybe is not the best because the most experienced is also most likely to be the most overworked.

Proposal

Add a section in each service provider stating what they offer: ex. hosting, free mentorship, development, consulting (just some ideas)
Add a section, or clearly delimit a paragraph in the description stating what the company is specialized in. ex: agriculture, vet, e-commerce

The descriptions of most companies include many words like: experienced, specialists, focus on open source. I guess we already know that you offer services related to Tryton, that is why you are on the service provider page. Of course, in a different context they sound good, but it gets a little bit old reading 10 times the same words.

Implementation difficulty: Easy

If it is necessary in the future a javascript filter could be added to make only the companies the visitor is interested in visible, or a form where the user requests to be contacted by a service provider based on some criteria.

[pokoli (Sergi Almacellas Abellana)]

@dotbit

I feel that it is already quite difficult for a new visitor to differentiate between Service Providers.

If we want to keep the neutrality on the webpage probably this is something that we should preserve. I mean we can not state the a provider is better than other.

@dotbit

Add a section in each service provider stating what they offer: ex. hosting, free mentorship, development, consulting (just some ideas)
Add a section, or clearly delimit a paragraph in the description stating what the company is specialized in. ex: agriculture, vet, e-commerce

On the other hand it probably makes sense that the service providers use a common list of services that provide but this only makes sense if we allow the user to filter based on the available criterias. Otherwise it does not make sense.

Also we need all service providers to update it’s own data. Currently anyone is able to update its own data so I’m wondering if we need to validate the services provided.

@dotbit

Highest Experience/Reputation. Because I want to learn I wanted to get in contact with the most experienced provider, which maybe is not the best because the most experienced is also most likely to be the most overworked.

Did you manage to find a provider using this criteria? I’m wondering if it will make sense for you to distingish a service provider for it’s experience (or contribution amount) or not?
I see other ERP manufacturers have a list of Partners of diferent types and normally ordered by the amount of money they pay. Have you considered this option?

[dotbit (Dimitrios Josef Moustos)]

@pokoli

If we want to keep the neutrality on the webpage probably this is something that we should preserve. I mean we can not state the a provider is better than other.

For me differentiate means to find the provider that is the most suitable for the user.
Not in the sense that some are overall better and some are overall worse.

I have noticed for example that the order of the providers is randomized, specifically in order to avoid the top ones getting more contacts. For me this is positive.

@pokoli

On the other hand it probably makes sense that the service providers use a common list of services that provide but this only makes sense if we allow the user to filter based on the available criterias. Otherwise it does not make sense.

At the end of my post I wrote that if we have a common list of services that are stated in the same place inside every providers div, then I could easily create a javascript filter, if that is desired.
However I think it will be useful even without the filter: the visitor can scan the provider much faster and decide if the provider provides the service they are looking for.

@pokoli

Also we need all service providers to update it’s own data. Currently anyone is able to update its own data so I’m wondering if we need to validate the services provided.

I hope some more providers will see this topic and comment.

[quote=“pokoli, post:2, topic:4084”]
Did you manage to find a provider using this criteria? I’m wondering if it will make sense for you to distingish a service provider for it’s experience (or contribution amount) or not?
It took me 9 years to decide I want tryton. Not at all efficient. After 9 years I could afford to spend a few days to research each provider on discuss, on bugs, all over the place and decide which one is best for me.

@pokoli

I see other ERP manufacturers have a list of Partners of diferent types and normally ordered by the amount of money they pay. Have you considered this option?

In the donations-for-the-foundation topic: I completely agree with the opinion that the foundation should remain free and open, and partners should not receive benefits based on how much they pay, if that was the question.
But again, my opinion does not matter so much, I think what matters more is a constructive discussion.

[pokoli (Sergi Almacellas Abellana)]

@dotbit

However I think it will be useful even without the filter: the visitor can scan the provider much faster and decide if the provider provides the service they are looking for.

Wow, didn’t tought about this possiblity So, yes it may be usefull without the filter also

@dotbit

But again, my opinion does not matter so much, I think what matters more is a constructive discussion.

All opinions mather. Thank you so much for being do clear in all your replies

[SISalp (Dominique Chabord)]

hello,

thank you for this conversation, I add my personal opinion here.

The “free mentoring program”, mentioned earlier is a good example. The funny thing is that it is what I deliver for Tryton since about 12 years in France, and french speaking countries

I’ve always felt good in the fact that Tryton service page precisely doesn’t ask for categories nor suggests a comparison between providers on criteria which correspond to Value-Added Resellers (VARS). I’m not in VAR business and don’t want to be categorized as such.

Organizing the service providers list implies that there is a shared definition of what a provider is expected to provide.
This implies a generic idea of what the product/service mix is supposed to look like.
And I think a differentiator of Tryton community is that we are business model agnostic, which means that all kinds are equal and that new models are welcome at anytime.

@dotbit

my opinion should have very light weight.

As much as mine.

[dotbit (Dimitrios Josef Moustos)]

@SISalp

I’ve always felt good in the fact that Tryton service page precisely doesn’t ask for categories nor suggests a comparison between providers on criteria which correspond to Value-Added Resellers (VARS). I’m not in VAR business and don’t want to be categorized as such.

This makes sense.
This is most likely the same reason why I chose Tryton instead of for ex. Odoo.

Basically I wanted to express some difficulties of a new visitor/user while my memory of my first issues is still fresh.