CHANNEL SATISFACTION SURVEY 2006: HP Wins, Again!!!

And Lenovo, after donning the IBM brand image with a
takeover of its PC division, got the Channel Champion Silver award.

The DQ Channel Satisfaction Survey 2006 threw up many
surprises. Cisco, for one, surprised everyone with three Gold and one Silver
award in the main categories. Another surprise came up from APC, which also
received the Silver in the main categories and one Gold in the product
categories. And the biggest surprise of all was that Samsung, Seagate and Intel,
all failed to get any awards this year.

HP received one Gold award in the main category and six
Gold awards in the product categories. It may be noted that the criteria for
giving the Channel Champion awards has nothing to do with the number of awards
received in the product categories. This point will surely make us think why HP
got the Channel Champion Gold, which has got only one award in the main
categories?

The reason is simple. According to the evaluation of the
survey results, one will find that HP has consistently scored above the industry
average and has figured in the list of top five vendors for most of the main
categories. However, Cisco, despite getting three Gold awards has got very low
scores in all other main categories. For the final evaluation, the weightage of
each parameter were also considered.

DQC Channels' Choice Award

     Last Year                           Category                              This Year Gold           Silver                                                          Gold          Silver Â

HP             IBM              Channel Champion                     HP            LenovoÂ

-                  -             Best Product Quality                 Cisco         HP      Â

HP             IBM              Best Hardware Products             -             -       Â

Microsoft    Symantec      Best Software Products             -             -       Â

HCL            Seagate/HP   Best After-Sales Support          HCL            HP      Â

Intel            HP               Best Brand Image                     Cisco          HP      Â

HP             Seagate         Best Marketing Support            HP             LenovoÂ

IBM            HCL             Best Commercial Terms            Lenovo        APC   Â

Intel            IBM             Best Relationship Management  Lenovo       Cisco  Â

 HP            Samsung       Best Online Support                       Cisco          Lenovo

 

 

 

 

 

 

The same applies to Lenovo receiving the Channel Champion Silver award. Apart
from this, Lenovo also received two Gold and two Silver awards in the main
categories. Most of the wins for Lenovo seem to have lingered from the IBM's
brand image that it was carrying soon after the takeover.

IMPORTANCE OF CHANNELS' SATISFACTION

In an economy that is constantly looking up, technology vendors from across
the world are pouncing on the lucrative Indian market to grab that lion's
share. Competitive is fierce and so is the spirit for survival. The past year
saw vendors going out of their way to present themselves as the best.

The Channel Satisfaction Survey (2006) - commissioned by DQ
Channels and conducted by IDC (India) - is the only survey of its kind in the
country, which gauges the satisfaction level of the channels with regards to the
products and vendors they deal with. Based on the outcome of this survey DQ
Channels presents the Channels' Choice Awards.

The survey is in its sixth year. Over the years, customer
preferences have matured and the demands have increased. Both partners and
vendors kept pace with this changing preference. Like in the past, vendors are
sure to use the results of this survey for retrospection. The survey also gives
an overall satisfaction scores as an indicator to performance of vendors as seen
by channel partners.

Top-rated micro attributes
1st	Ability to provide satisfactory repair and replacement service
2nd	Availability and competence of account managers and helpdesk services          Â
3rd	Technological leadership of product      Â
4th	User friendliness of the product
5th	Turnaround time
6th	Presence of vendor's service center in locality/city/region
7th	Price vs performance ratio

         Â
Top-Rated
Macro Attributes     

Rank

2004Parameter

Normalised scores

 Â
Rank

2005Parameter

Normalised scores

1Product
Quality100.00% 1Product
Quality100.00%2After
Sales Support97.50% 2After
Sales Support99.30%

3Brand
Image92.60% 3Brand
Image94.70%4Marketing
Support90.90% 4Marketing
Support94.60%5Commercial
Terms84.70% 5Commercial
Terms92.50%6Relationship
Management80.30% 6Relationship
Management86.80%7Online
Support75.50% 7Online
Support85.20%

 

 

 

 

 

The reason this scores are important is because, the
observation are made on the basis of 25 micro parameters under seven macro
parameters. The score show where a company stands in the eyes of the channel
partners they deal with. These scores also help companies to work on their
strengths and weakness and ensure better growth.

Surprisingly, the ranking of the seven-macro parameters did
not change this year. A clear affirmation that channel partners still give a lot
of weightage to Product Quality as the most important macro attribute like last
year. After-Sales Support was the second most important attribute gained a
little more importance than it had in the previous year.

Similarly, Brand Image, Marketing Support, Commercial
Terms, Relationship Management and Online Support, all gained higher importance
than it earned last year, but in the same sequence.

MICRO ATTRIBUTES

The survey sheds some light on the important micro attributes that partners
view as parameters for measuring satisfaction. According to partners, ability to
provide satisfactory repair and replacement service is one of the most important
micro attributes which vendors should pay more attention to.

Availability and competency of account managers and
helpdesk services, comes a close second while evaluating satisfaction levels.
Technological leadership, although in the third place, is crucial according to
channel partners while dealing in a particular brand.

Surprisingly, partners have ranked User-friendliness of the
products as the fourth most important micro attribute, above Turnaround time. In
the past surveys, Turnaround time used to get more importance in gauging
satisfaction. Looks like, partners are either happy with the current turnaround
time or are getting used to practical realities.

      Â
      Â

The presence of vendor's service center in
locality/city/region may not be the most crucial one for channel partners in the
A-class cities. However, partners in the B-, C- and D-class cities view this
attribute on a higher scale of importance.

Gone are the days when price used to be one of the top
priorities while making a purchase decision. Customers now look at product
quality and features more than the price. People are now ready to pay a premium
in exchange for a better product. The survey results show that price vs
performance ratio is no longer one of the top priorities, but are still being
considered to assess satisfaction levels with lower weightage. Vendors too have
realized this and most vendors are striving to produce technologically superior
products.

One interesting thing to note is that all of the above
micro attributes fall under the two-macro attributes, viz: Product Quality and
After Sales Support.          Â
 

CHOOSING VENDORS

807 channel partners from 18 cities across the country were considered for
the survey. These channel members - comprising distributors, resellers and
solutions providers - came up with over 19 vendor names during the survey.

CHANNEL
PARTNERS SURVEYED

City

Distributor

Reseller

Total

New Delhi

2

96

98

Mumbai

5

92

97

Chennai

8

70

78

Bangalore

2

72

74

Kolkata

- Â

70

70

Hyderabad

1

65

66

Chandigarh

 -
  

25

25

Coimbatore

 - Â

25

25

Jaipur

 - Â

25

25

Lucknow

 - Â

25

25

Bhubaneshwar

 - Â

24

24

Goa

 - Â

1

1

Jammu

 - Â

1

1

Ludhiana

 - Â

1

1

Grand Total

 Â
19

788

807

Only the top 13 were considered for further evaluation of
overall satisfaction levels. It is disappointing to note that only six companies
have managed to get a satisfaction score of above industry average. On the top
was HP followed by Lenovo, Cisco, HCL and APC.

On individual macro parameters too, not more than 4-5
organizations were found to score more than the industry average. In fact, in
case of After Sales Support and Marketing Support, only two vendors have scores
above the industry average. After-sales support incidentally, was ranked as the
second most important parameters for measuring satisfaction.

Lenovo managed to get high score because of the flavors
that it was carried from IBM's Think brand which the former took over. The
survey feedback show that Lenovo partners are invariably continuing to use the
IBM's brand image that it created over the year in the desktop and laptop
business.

BEST PRODUCT QUALITY

Channel partners judged product quality on the basis of technological
leadership of the product, its user-friendliness, price vs performance ratio and
diversity of the product range. Keeping all these in mind, channel partners
voted for Cisco as the company with best product quality. This award category
was introduced for the first time given the important channel partners ranked
for this parameter. And Cisco bags the Gold award for this.

Needless to say, there is hardly any networking solutions
provider in the country who might not have felt otherwise. Cisco has been
consistently known for its tried-and-tested product offerings in the networking
space. With a large product range enough to suffice the needs of small offices
to large enterprises the company has also become quite competitive with its
pricings.

The silver award went to HP, who largely scored over its
other counterparts on price vs performance ratio. Despite its wide range of
product portfolio, it failed to enthuse channel partners for its technological
superiority that could match that of Cisco.

BEST AFTER SALES SUPPORT

For the second consecutive year, HCL bagged the Gold award in this category.
Maintaining a excellent after sales support network is not an easy task. Unlike
other company, HCL focused its effort not to forget its customer after the sale
is done. HCL knows very well that once a customer is forever a customer. What
can be better than partners acknowledging this fact by voting them as the vendor
providing best After-sales support?

The company ensured the presence of its service centers in
every place it did business. The focus was also on the availability and
competence of helpdesk staff. And most of all its ensured the best of turnaround
time to win this coveted award.

HP bagged the Silver award in this category. HP has been
winning the Silver award for this category for the last few years now. The
feedback is that HP too has given a lot focus on providing the best after-sales
support. The interesting part is that HP lost the Gold to HCL just by about a
point.

BEST BRAND IMAGE

Everyone knows that creating a brand takes a long time. It pays in the long
run. However, more important than creating the brand is to maintaining it.
Nothing could be more painful than to see a brand built over the years go down
the drain in minutes.

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       Â

This year's survey saw a surprise entry in this category.
Cisco displaced Intel to take the Gold award. Channel partners voted for the
principal with strongest brand positioning. There is no doubt Cisco made its
brand presence felt with a whole lot of events for the channel as well as
end-users. One unique event in the channel space was the Cisco Mastermind Quiz,
which also enhanced the recall among engineers and technical people within
solutions providing organizations.

HP retained its Silver position in this category. While
Cisco focused more on the communicating directly with the channel partners by
means of partner events, HP also did its share of endless campaign in print and
TV and other medium. With a wide range of products portfolio, it is impossible
that a brand like HP can go unnoticed. However, channel partners gave more
weightage to the strong brand positioning of Cisco, especially among the
solution providing community. For the channel partners it is like a prestige to
be associated with brands like Cisco and HP.

BEST MARKETING SUPPORT

For the fifth year (third in a row), HP won the Gold in this category, while
Lenovo edged up one level up by displacing Seagate to take the silver.
Surprisingly, Seagate did not even get a mention in the top 13 companies this
year for this category. Four sub-parameters that were taken into consideration
for this award were: vendor's advertising, availability of point of sales
material, innovativeness of market development programs and allocation of funds
for marketing. HP scored over Lenovo in terms on advertising and overall
performed much better than the industry average.

BEST COMMERCIAL TERMS

Lenovo got the Gold for the second time this year, while APC surprised
everyone with the silver. Last year, this recognition went to HCL. Product
pricing, profitability, transparency in policy and settlement of back-end
incentives-these were the key aspects that partners took into consideration
while voting for their favorite vendor.

BEST RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT 

The channel community works best when it shares a healthy relationship with
vendors. Similarly for vendors, maintaining good relations would mean being
consistent and effective in its communication with channel partners.

Lenovo deserves the Gold for the kind of investments that
it has done to build and sustain a healthy relationship with its partners. Intel
held thi