• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • The Gulf Between Buyers and Sellers Widens in IT,

    May 21, 2007 Timothy Prickett Morgan


    Says IDC

    The analysts at IDC spend a lot of time talking to IT suppliers to understand their strategies and products, and they spend a similarly large amount of time talking to IT managers and C-level executives to try to understand the challenges they face in their data centers. A new report put out by IDC this week focuses on the interface between the two–where IT buyer meets IT seller.

    As anyone who follows the quarterly results of the major public IT players can attest to, many complain from time to time–some, more frequently–about lengthening product sales cycles and smaller deal sizes and how these two issues affect their top and bottom line. In IDC’s view, this is a symptom of a different problem and not the problem in itself.

    “Sales costs continue to rise, yet IT vendors remain focused on transaction-oriented practices designed to drive revenue, and the gulf between the buyer and seller continues to widen,” explains Lee Levitt, director of IDC’s sales executive practice and author of the report, An Intensive Look at Corporate IT Buyer Requirements: Selling is Dead. It’s All About Relationship Management Now. “The IT industry as a whole has matured significantly over the past few years, but vendors’ sales strategies have not kept pace. While buyers express interest in a deeper relationship with their suppliers that includes increasing the pace of collaborative innovation, IT vendors continue to spend too much time in traditional sales team education and management processes.”

    The report was based on detailed interviews from 40 IT players in the hardware, software, services, and telecom areas and 25 IT shops that consume their wares and services. The majority of the IT shops surveyed said they spend more money with and work better with vendors that are aligned with their buying processes. In plain English, this means vendors that are willing to do deals that take a little longer to close as well as make smaller deals with companies will be more successful closing sales because IT managers are being scrutinized by bean counters for every dollar spent and are being asked to do more with less dough each year.

    Moreover, IT shops are worn out from “feature fatigue,” which is trying to keep track of all the new gadgetry coming out of their current or prospective vendors. When the CEO and CFO are asking CIOs to solve business line problems, talking about server virtualization (just to pick one) or some other new technology misses the point. IT shops also want their vendors to show up with the right technical people when they come to call, so they can get their questions answered as an early part of the sales cycle. They also say that while price and performance continue to be key differentiators when choosing IT suppliers, the performance of the sales team–in terms of getting the right solution for a particular problem and meeting budget and time requirements–is now a significant part of the buying cycle, too.



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags: Tags: mtfh_rc, Volume 16, Number 20 -- May 21, 2007

    Sponsored by
    PERFSCAN

    Revolutionary Performance Management Software

    At Greymine, we recognize there is a void in the IT world for a dedicated performance management company and also for a performance management tool that’s modern, easy to use, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. That’s why we created PERFSCAN.

    PERFSCAN is designed to make your job easier. With revolutionary technology, an easy-to-read report and graphics engine, and real time monitoring, tasks that used to take days can now take minutes. This means you will know your system better and will be able to provide better service to your customers.

    OUR FEATURES

    PERFSCAN is full of robust features that don’t require you to take a three-day class in order to use the product effectively.

    Customizable Performance Reporting

    Whether you are troubleshooting a major system problem or simply creating a monthly report, PERFSCAN lets you select any combination of desired performance metrics (CPU, Disk, and Memory).

    User Defined Performance Guidelines

    No matter if you are a managed service provider managing complex systems in the cloud or a customer analyzing your on-premises solution, PERFSCAN gives you the flexibility to define all mission critical guidelines how they need to be.

    Understanding The Impact Of Change

    Tired of all the finger pointing when performance is suffering? PERFSCAN’s innovative What’s Changed and Period vs. Period analysis creates a culture of proof by correlating known environmental changes with system performance metrics.

    Comprehensive Executive Summary

    Creating performance graphs is easy. Understanding what they mean is another thing. With one mouse click, PERFSCAN includes an easy-to-understand executive summary for each core metric analyzed.

    Combined Real-Time Monitor And Performance Analysis Tool

    With PERFSCAN’s combined built in enterprise real-time monitor and historical performance analysis capability, you will always know how your mission-critical systems are performing.

    Cloud Performance Reporting Is Easy

    Managing performance for production systems in the cloud can be a black hole to many system administrators. The good news is PERFSCAN analyzes all core metrics regardless of the location. That’s why MSPs and customers love PERFSCAN.

    Detailed Job Analysis

    PERFSCAN shows detailed top job analysis for any desired period. All metrics are displayed in two ways: Traditional Report and Percentage Breakdown Pie Chart. This toggle capability instantly shows the jobs using the most system resources.

    Save Report Capability

    Your boss lost the report you gave to him on Friday. Now what do you do? With PERFSCAN’s save report capability, any report can be retrieved in a matter of seconds.

    Professional PDF Reporting With Branding

    Creating professional looking reports for your customers has never been easier with PERFSCAN. Branding for our partners and service provider customers is easy with PERFSCAN.

    Check it out at perfscan.com

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Another Way to Retrieve i5 System Storage Space Rochester Alums Plan New Customer Care App for i

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

TFH Volume: 16 Issue: 20

This Issue Sponsored By

    Table of Contents

    • IBM Expected to Launch Power6 Servers Today
    • IBM Outlines its Long-Term Financial Goals to Wall Street
    • IBM Tweaks i5 515 and 525 User-Based Prices
    • Sirius Computer Builds Out Biz With DyComp Acquisition
    • An i5 Platform: Q&A with Marlin Equity’s Top Brass
    • Acquisitions Fuel Growth for Reseller Logicalis
    • The Gulf Between Buyers and Sellers Widens in IT,
    • Big Blue’s Transport Partner Loses Employee Data
    • As I See It: Operating on Overload
    • Developer Population to Grow to Nearly 19 Million by 2010

    Content archive

    • The Four Hundred
    • Four Hundred Stuff
    • Four Hundred Guru

    Recent Posts

    • IBM i Delivers Sizable Benefits, Forrester Consulting Reports
    • SBOMs Will Come to IBM i, Eventually
    • IBM i Backup Provider Storagepipe Snapped Up By Thrive
    • Four Hundred Monitor, June 7
    • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 23
    • Power10 Boosts NVM-Express Flash Performance
    • Fortra Completes Postmortem Of GoAnywhere Vulnerability
    • Guru: Binding Directory Entries
    • How Does Your Infrastructure Spending Stack Up To The World?
    • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 22

    Subscribe

    To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

    Pages

    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Contributors
    • Four Hundred Monitor
    • IBM i PTF Guide
    • Media Kit
    • Subscribe

    Search

    Copyright © 2023 IT Jungle