CMP Channel Research Shows Shift in Marketplace: Vendor/Solution Provider Relationships Are No Longer ExclusiveSolution Providers Align Products and Programs with Business and Growth StrategyPRNewswire-FirstCall MANHASSET, N.Y., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The CMP Channel today announced exclusive research results which identify a shift in the Channel marketplace. According to CMP Channel's data, for the first time Vendor/Solution Provider loyalty has moved from the vendor to the customer. It also highlights the characteristics of the Channel's partners and how each is responsible for growth, noting that prioritizing efforts around the top 20-30 percent of partners will not necessarily help them achieve their growth objectives. "Recruit, churn, refresh is what our research is showing. The partners of today will not be the partners of tomorrow. Solution Providers are aligning their products and programs with their business and growth strategies and customers' businesses; not a specific vendor," said Robert Faletra, president, CMP Channel. "Our research also showed that the top platforms Solution Providers use for information are websites, print, research and events. With a quarter of a century of delivering news and information to the Channel, we continue to offer them intelligence in the right media platforms." The research shows:
-- Fifty percent of Solution Providers rate current level of vendor
relationships as 'less than positive'
-- Solution Providers have been proactively changing their vendors at an
accelerated pace over the past two years. Fifty percent are targeting
new markets and 50 percent are expanding new product lines.
-- The top three most important program elements Solution Providers
evaluate when considering a vendor for a strategic partnership
include: product quality/reliability; technology relevance to
customer base; and relative profit potential.
-- The top three reasons Solution Providers add products and vendors
include: technology offering/customer requirements; aligns with
business goals; and offers a clear business opportunity.
-- The top three reasons Solution Providers drop or de-emphasize products
and vendors include: non competitive pricing; bad service; and adding
other vendors.
The research also illustrates that the Channel ecosystem is comprised of three kinds of Solution Providers, who can move from one mode to another. Growth is not a function of size. -- Lifestyle business: These Solution Providers have a desire to live a
certain lifestyle, offer personal customer service or are a company in
transition that is internally focused to get business models
structured right before entering growth mode.
-- Moderate growth: Solution Providers who expect to grow four to 15
percent over the next year based on targeting new markets, which is
primarily driven by adding expertise to their existing solutions,
making them specialists in a given category.
-- Hyper growth: Solution Providers who expect to grow more than 15
percent over the next year by adding practice areas or new product
lines so they can capture more customers and greater customer share.
The research study was conducted online in the second quarter of 2007 with 1,850 respondents. About CMP Channel (http://www.cmpchannelgroup.com/) CMP Channel is the one stop shop customers turn to in order to meet their global sales channel objectives from access to execution. Through use of its family of channel solutions which include CRN and VARBusiness, the ChannelWeb network, XChange Events and the Institute for Partner Education & Development (IPED), vendors are able to accelerate sales through the channel. CMP Channel provides a worldwide answer to advertising, branding and marketing services, lead generation, market intelligence, branded and custom events, education of solution providers and best practices for vendors. About CMP CMP (http://www.cmp.com/) is a media and marketing solutions company serving the technology industry. With the leading online, event and print brands in all technology market categories, and with services and tools that reach beyond traditional advertising, CMP shapes and influences the technology industry worldwide. CMP publishes highly respected media brands such as TechWeb, InformationWeek, ChannelWeb, CRN, EE Times and TechOnline; produces major industry events such as Interop, Web 2.0 Expo, XChange, Game Developers Conference and the Embedded Systems Conferences; and provides business information and marketing services such as the International Customer Management Institute, Semiconductor Insights and Second Life consulting for technology marketers. CMP is a subsidiary of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion. For more CMP news, go to cmp.com/news. Contact Kate Spellman CMP Channel 516.562.7383 kspellman@cmp.com SOURCE: CMP CONTACT: Kate Spellman of CMP Channel, +1-516-562-7383, Web site: http://www.cmp.com/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/181993.html |