Later that day, Acme received an e-mail from its account manager at OTG stating that OTG was withdrawing local support for Acme and that Acme should not expect anything from OTG beyond what was specified in any existing support contracts. In effect, OTG was gathering up its marbles and going home, despite the fact that Acme was still their customer and would continue to be for several years.

Now, we've seen two different approaches toward Acme. R&S chose to be flexible and accommodating toward Acme even when it knew it had lost the original VOIP deal to OTG. R&S knew that it needed to cultivate its relationship with Acme in order to put itself in a position to win future business.

OTG, on the other hand, didn't do a very good job reacting to the changes in customer expectations with regard to customer service and support. The company blindly held to its old support-distribution models that required customers to seek help from a reseller first. That sort of support arrangement used to work well because everyone else was doing the same thing. However, in a rapidly changing marketplace that is beginning to place more emphasis on support quality, those old monolithic approaches to customer interaction and support are starting to show their age.

The market is overflowing with players -- such as Cisco Systems Inc., Avaya Inc., Nortel Networks Corp., Alcatel, ShoreTel Inc., 3Com Corp. and Mitel Networks Corp. -- and they each have something different to bring to the table with regard to technology. But I feel customer service and support is a key differentiator that is becoming increasingly important.

Sure, customers are interested in the technology, and they want to pick the best systems for their needs. But what they really want is a business partner, someone who's going to be with them side by side for years to come. They want to know that they've got the support of a company they can trust, an ally to guide them as this new technology continues to evolve and mature.