The 800 Pound Gorilla vs the Canary

This is a story about two companies, each sell similar products and services. Both companies have been around for many years and address a specific market niche. Each company has good products, loyal clients, and a high retention rate for repeat sales. The gorilla has an aggressive marketing department. The canary is singing a song of warning.

The gorilla is pushing company leaders to standardize on their products. The gorilla states they are a very successful company that collects, stores, archives, analyzes, and displays time series data. One person within the gorilla company claims they only make profit by having little to no competition. They also shared that they have a decrepit code base, poor communication, no innovation, and overall the company is flat. This is proof that the gorilla will tell others, even inside their company, inaccurate information to make it seem like they are the only company in the market. 

In the great free enterprise system we are in, sometimes the gorilla wins and sometimes the canary wins, all depending on which company best fits the needs of the client. The canary gets frustrated on projects when existing clients are blindsided with corporate standardization that has chosen the gorilla over the canary. The client is upset because they had not been notified, by their corporate management, of any evaluation or were allowed input, but were told to accept the results after the fact. Now the client needs to move many years of data from the existing canary system to the new mandated gorilla system. Being under support, the process can be done quickly with the canary tools at a minimal charge. When the roles are reversed, the gorilla needs to be fed with a lot of lettuce to use his tools.

Many companies are taking shortcuts and are not doing the proper evaluation process to determine what is the best long-term solution. The decision determines direction for 10 years. Once it is made, it is hard to reverse or admit it was a mistake. When a company decides to collect and utilize the value of historical data, do a full evaluation and focus on the important needs that are used daily. Don’t be distracted by the minor one-time decisions or listen to misinformation, do your research. For instance, the gorilla claims to have many direct connections that are more efficient than standard protocols. This may or may not be true. Has anyone challenged this? The gorilla claims they have many analysis tools, but in reality, it is their third-party partners that own these tools. These partners are not treated as partners, as pricing information is withheld from them. The partner is forced to only sell their part of the solution and not get anything for the total solution.

Don’t complain about the lettuce to feed the gorilla if you are not willing to make a change. Some companies make the canary fly through hoops and the gorilla may come back with pricing concessions. If you want competition in the market place, it is there. Do the proper evaluation; there are better companies and solutions available. Don’t believe everything the gorilla tells you. Make the long-term decisions that are best for your company, not what is comfortable for you for a short time.

In conclusion, bigger is not always better. The flexibility and personalized support of smaller organizations can provide a lot of value. It comes down to what your preferences really are: the grunting of the gorilla demanding lots of lettuce or the sound of the canary singing a sweet melody of valuable solutions. The choice is up to you: let those who have ears hear.

Success Is the Journey, Not the Destination

Ed Stern, the Vice President at Canary Labs, gives us some insight on his past experiences and how they have effected his work ethic and productivity in starting Canary Labs, with his brother Gary. While travelling across the United States by bike, Ed learned some tremendous, yet simple lessons that would play into his future career. You can read the full article on Ed’s blog.  

“I had just graduated from College with a degree in business administration and decided that I wanted to see the USA up-close before starting my business career. I joined a group called 'Wandering Wheels' and signed up for a Coast to Coast trip on a bicycle... yes, a bicycle! The trip was to last 6 weeks. 

The trip started in the Pacific Ocean, by dipping the back tire of the bike in the water. There were 5 or 6 people in about 10 groups that traveled together at a group pace. We tried to average about 100 miles per day, except for Sundays which was a light day, typically 50-75 miles.   

I chose the 2^nd fastest group to travel with. The support team checked between the teams and provided two meals a day and found places for us to stay at night. We slept in community centers, gyms, churches, and in the open west, camping in several large tents. We were responsible for one meal a day. 

I remember riding through and stopping at several great landmarks in downtown Washington, DC. Our group of 50 bikers would draw a crowd when we stopped and many people would inquire about what we were doing. It was always a great opportunity to interact with the people of America, being an encouragement while finding that we were encouraged at the same time.    

What I learned from this trip was something that I would use for the rest of my life, the encouraging fact that big things and hard tasks can be accomplished. It took consistency to climb on the bike seat every morning, but soon it became routine. Likewise in business, when you keep doing the right things, be consistent and disciplined and soon enough, your goal will be accomplished. It was a reminder to not be overwhelmed by the weight of the task, but dividing it up daily to complete your goal. I have also learned that the important thing in life is the journey and experience, enjoy the moments and hard work that life demands instead of wishing life away to get to the end goal. Success is the journey, not the destination. It is nice looking back on the overall accomplishment for a little while, but then it’s time to move on to your next goal!"