IT suppliers survey - your votes count • The Register

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IT suppliers survey - your votes count

Another pulse check on the IT barometer

By Team Register • Get more from this author

Posted in Reg Technology Panel, 11th May 2004 13:47 GMT

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Reg Reader Studies is once again asking for readers' help in taking the pulse of the IT barometer, and this time it's all about suppliers.

All you have to do is complete the questionnaire below, and hit the "Submit Survey" button. And don't panic if you're hard-pressed for time: this exercise is considerably shorter (at 19 questions) than the previous half marathon which left hundreds of exhausted partipants sobbing uncontrollably by the roadside.

We are, as ever, grateful for your assistance in this matter. Enjoy:

1. Are you employed within the UK IT Channel? (e.g. working for a reseller, VAR, distributor, dealer etc.)

Yes
No

2. Which IT supplier does your company work with most?

3. What accreditations does you company hold for this supplier? (e.g.: gold, silver, premier, registered etc.)

4. How do you believe that your customers rate the value of the accreditations that you hold?

They don't care about them; it is our reputation that matters
They give us additional credibility when working with our customers
Our customers would not do business with us if we did not have them

5. How do you rate your main supplier's efforts to help you find new business?

They regularly pass us high quality leads
They pass us leads, but they are not generally that useful
They only pass us duff leads
We never get leads
They try to get leads off of us!

6. How do you regard sharing information about new business opportunities with your main supplier?

We trust them at all times and share all information
We share some information when we need to
We are guarded in case they pass leads elsewhere
We keep information to ourselves; we don't trust them in the slightest

7. How good is your main supplier at helping you in sales situations?

We work closely together during the sales cycle
We do most the selling, but our supplier helps when we ask
We don't get much help from our supplier
We keep them at arms length
They are a liability in front of the customer

8. Which of the following services does your company provide on behalf of your main supplier?

Technical support
Training courses
Consultancy
Rentals or leasing
Hosting services

9. How good is your main supplier at helping you with these services?

They provide pre-packaged services which we deliver
We develop service offerings together which we deliver
We develop our own service offerings with some help from them
We do it all ourselves, they are no help

10. How good is you main supplier at providing 2nd line technical support to your company?

Excellent, we can get through to an expert quickly at all times
They are generally OK, if it is an urgent issue
Our customers are often left in the lurch whilst we wait for help
They are as good as useless

11. What statement best matches your company's view on making a profit?

We get a good profit the from margin on our main supplier's products
Product margins are tight; we rely on services to stay in business
We make no profit from the products, but they just help sell services
Products are a loss leader for our services

12. Thinking about your customers spending on IT, would you say that over the last 12 months:

They have increased spending a lot
They have increased spending a bit
Their spending has remained about the same
They have decreased spending a bit
They have decreased spending a lot

13. Thinking about your customers spending on IT, would you expect that over the next 12 months:

They will increase spending a lot
They will increase spending a bit
Their spending will remain about the same
They will decrease spending a bit
They will decrease spending a lot

14. What is your position?

Technical support
Technical consultant
Sales
Owner/Director
Business Management
Product Management
Marketing
Purchasing
Administration

15. What type of channel organisation do you work for?

Value added reseller (VAR)
Value added distributor
Reseller
Distributor
Dealer
Systems integrator
Consultancy
System builder
Independent software vendor (ISV)
Mail order or catalogue reseller

16. Is your organisation an IT generalist or do you specialise in the any of the following areas?

We are an IT generalist

We specialise in:

Security
Data (IP) networks
Voice networks
Converged voice and data networks
Storage and backup
Office applications
Business applications
Other

17. What is your personal involvement in selecting products that your company chooses to resell?

I am the main decision maker
I am one of the main decision makers
I am an adviser to the main decision makers
I make the odd recommendation
Not down to me, I just get on with my job!

18. What type of customer organisations do you target?

Home users
Small office/home office (1 to 5 employees)
Small businesses (5 to 100 employees)
Medium business (100 to 1000 employees)
Enterprises (1000+ employees)
Local government
Central government
Education
Health care
Other

19. How many employees work at your company?

Over 1000
500-999
250 to 499
100 to 249
50 to 99
25 to 49
10 to 24
1 to 9