Understanding Perceptions of IT vendors (Customer Focus)

Vendors can benefit greatly from understanding prospective customers' evaluation of IT selection criteria and vendor reputation. This brief discusses the assessment of vendor reputation and IT solution selection criteria provided by 800 IT managers interviewed during 2006 as a part of Datamonitor's Technology Trends Service.



Report Highlights
The average rating of technical and strategic selection criteria is closely matched. A successful vendor offering should combine technical, financial and support features in one attractive package. Although solution preferences do vary between market segments, criteria ratings are broadly similar. A comparative analysis of mindshare fragmentation within a technology market reveals the principal market dynamics within a market. Two principal market fragmentation parameters, monopoly tendency and market fragmentation, can be used to classify market forms into four types, each implying specific market conditions and competitor behaviour. The mindshare fragmentation pattern of most technology markets explored qualifies them as oligopolies, highly consolidated and competitive market forms. Other market forms are discernible as well, namely monopolies and duopolies, particularly prominent in less mature technology markets.


[Studien Infos ausblenden]

DATAMONITOR VIEW 1
CATALYST 1
SUMMARY 1
METHODOLOGY 1
ANALYSIS 2
Technical and strategic selection criteria are rated equally, with price and functionality ranked the highest 2
Functionality and price are the most important criteria when choosing an IT solutions provider 2
Leading edge technology and contract flexibility are secondary selection criteria 2
The importance of technology and strategy IT solutions selection criteria is finely balanced 3
Leading-edge technology and price criteria decreases with larger enterprises 3
Small enterprises are interested in price and leading-edge technologies 3
Sector-specific variations do exist, but attitudes to the selection criteria are comparable 5
Industry-specific volatility and budget pressures are most likely to impact selection criteria 5
Vendor mindshare fragmentation reflects market dynamics within a particular technology market 7
A comparative analysis of mindshare fragmentation reveals interesting variations in market forms 7
Monopoly and market concentration indices define the mindshare fragmentation and market form matrix 8
Oligopoly is the most common mindshare fragmentation form in the eight technology markets 9
Mindshare fragmentation forms differ considerably among the technology markets under investigation 9
Voice / Data convergence - Ciscopoly? 10
Business Intelligence - towards a perfect market 12
Mobility - consolidated duopoly 13
Enterprise applications - consolidated oligopoly 14
Summary: Vendors can fine-tune their market approach through better understanding of market dynamics and selection criteria 16
APPENDIX 17
Further reading 17
Ask the analyst 17

[Inhaltsverzeichnis ausblenden]

Table 1: Please rate the importance of the following criteria in choosing an IT solutions provider? 3
Table 2: Please rate the importance of the following criteria in choosing an IT solutions provider? 5
Table 3: Please rate the importance of the following criteria in choosing an IT solutions provider 7
Table 4: Mindshare fragmentation and market form matrix 8
Table 5: Monopoly index and concentration ratios for the eight technology areas investigated 10
Table 6: Please pick two firms which you believe to be 'leaders' in the field of voice / data convergence 11
Table 7: Please pick two firms which you believe to be 'leaders' in the field of business intelligence 13
Table 8: Please pick two firms which you believe to be 'leaders' in the field mobility 13
Table 9: Please pick two firms which you believe to be 'leaders' in the field of enterprise applications 15


Figure 1: Price and specific functionality are rated as critically important selection criteria 2
Figure 2: When choosing an IT solution smaller enterprises value leading-edge technology more 4
Figure 3: Market volatility accounts for a specific pattern of selection preferences in energy / utilities 6
Figure 4: Monopoly index and concentration ratio tend to be inversely proportional 9
Figure 5: A long tail of vendors trails behind dominant Cisco 11
Figure 6: Business intelligence mindshare is highly fragmented and distributed relatively evenly 12
Figure 7: Mobility mindshare fragmentation forms a duopoly of IBM and HP 14
Figure 8: Microsoft, Oracle and SAP dominate mindshare in the enterprise application market 15

[Tabellenverzeichnis ausblenden]