The magic isn’t necessarily in the customer service, although a fanatical customer service culture at a company can be a differentiator (just ask Zappos or Rackspace (News - Alert)). This magic is in making the technology invisible. The whole idea of being a technology provider is that you make the technology invisible to the customer. It becomes all about the user experience.

As technology providers, the tech has to work and the user has to be trained in how to use it. One of the downfalls for early virtual desktop deployments was that the users didn’t want to adjust to the new work environment. Even with training, it was a clunky and perhaps less efficient way of working. In early key system replacement deployments, employees were slowed down by the new phone system.

Training has to be part of the on-boarding process. Re-training and proactive customer care will help with the user experience as well. Yet setting proper expectations with the users will allow for a runway of adjustments on both sides.

The iPhone (News - Alert) takes most of the technology out of the way – after an adjustment period (and perhaps some kids showing you how to use it). People have expectations that all technology will be like their smartphone or their tablet or their camera.

Take that one step further: If you are a technology provider sales professional, you should keep the technology out of the sales conversation, too. Focus on business needs and outcomes. In a survey, 63 percent of business leaders agreed that cloud services will make their business agile, responsive, and competitive. One problem: We don't sell it that way. We sell it as a replacement service. We don’t talk about the on-boarding or what it will be like to own the service. Instead we talk about saving money, features, and how this service is almost like what you have now.

The true technology provider provides the technology in such a way that it betters the customer’s business while being invisible to the users. That’s what we should be shooting for.