Product Type: Market Research Report
Published by: AMI-Partners, Inc.
Published: June 2005
Product Code: R149-314Description Report: U.S. Small & Medium Business IT Channel Partners: Attitudes and IT Sophistication-Based Segmentation
Name of survey: 2004-05 U.S. SMB IT Channel Partners
Country: U.S.
Number of pages: 53
AMI estimates that there are about 44,374 IT channel partners (excluding ISPs) in the U.S. that derive at least 50% of their annual sales revenues from sales to SMBs. Collectively, these IT SMB channel partners had annual revenues of $117 billion last year, making them a very attractive market for IT vendors.
As intermediaries between IT vendors and end-users, SMB channel partners play a crucial role in the highly dynamic IT industry. With different specializations like Value-Added Resellers (VAR), System Integrators (SI) and Network Integrators (NI), Independent Software Vendors (ISV), IT Consultants, Web Solution Providers and Communications Integrators, these channel providers sell a wide range of products and services to IT end-users. In addition, their proximity to, and close interaction with the end-users also provides them an opportunity to participate in, and influence their clients' brand selections. Thus, they are sought not only by IT vendors trying to reach the end-users of their products and services, but also by end-users trying to keep up with the ever changing technologies.
Like the customers they serve, IT SMB channel partners are a diverse group and, in many respects, the channel partners' industry mirrors the adoption profile of its customers. This is reflected in the products and services they offer, specializations they develop, size, location and attitudes toward new technologies, etc., a fact brought into sharp focus in the four segments of the channel partners' industry presented in this report. These four segments have a one-to-one correspondence with the four segments identified in separate reports by AMI for the end-users in the U.S. small business and U.S. medium business markets. By following a constant segmentation structure both for the end-users and the channel partners markets, IT vendors can develop a constant and highly actionable marketing strategy and also implement it with greatest effectiveness.
This report presents an overview of the U.S. IT SMB channel partners market segmentation. These segments, referred to as Tiers, represent a continuum from the technologically most sophisticated to the least sophisticated IT channel partners. Their technological sophistication is defined in terms of both the products and services they currently offer as well as their business attitudes (i.e. attitude toward adoption of new technologies, attitude toward marketing, and attitudes toward partnering with other businesses including IT vendors and other channel partners), which reflects their inclination to maintain their level of sophistication in the future. The Management Summary presents profiles of individual segments followed by detailed cross-segment analysis.Table of Contents - Management Summary
- Overview of U.S. Channel Partners SMB Segmentation
- Profiles of U.S. Channel Partners Segments
- Tier 1 Channel Partners: Enterprise Adopters
- Tier 2 Channel Partners: Value-Priced Service Providers
- Tier 3: Mainstream Service Provider
- Tier 4: IT Laggards
- Statement of Methodology for SMB Channel Partners Study
- Overview
- The SMB Channel Partners Study: Survey Methodology
- Universe, Sample Selection
- Data Collection Method
- Weighting of Survey Data
- Incentives
- Survey Instrument
- Issues Covered in Channel Partners Survey
- Margin for Error
- Channel Partners' Background: An Un-Segmented View
- AMI-Partners 2004-5 Channel Partners Segmentation
- Actionable Four Tier Segmentation Model
- U.S. SMB IT Channel Partners Market Segments
- Background & Customer Profiles
- Current and Planned Product & Services Offerings
- Business Models and Attitudes
- White Boxes Offered and Sold
- Decision Making and Vendor Selection
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- Average Gross Margins Earned
Use of Internet/Web Site
Vendors Used & Channel Partner's Satisfaction by Segment
Glossary
List of Figures
Figure 1 - Overview of 2004-5 U.S. SMB Channel Partners Segments
Figure 2 - Channel Segmentation: Mapping Partners to SMB Customers
Figure 3 - Summary of 2004-5 U.S. SMB Channel Partners
Figure 4 - Summary of 2004-5 U.S. SMB Channel Partners (Continued)
Figure 5 - Summary Profile of Tier 1
Figure 6 - Summary Profile of Tier 2
Figure 7 - Summary Profile of Tier 3
Figure 8 - Summary Profile of Tier 4
Figure 9 - Methodology
Figure 10 - Methodology (Cont'd.)
Figure 11 - Issues Covered for the 2004-5 U.S. SMB Channel Partners Study
Figure 12 - Margin of Error
Figure 13 - 2004-5 Structure of U.S. Channel Partners Industry
Figure 14 - Summary of Findings
Figure 15 - Primary Activities of Channel Partner
Figure 16 - Geographical Location of Head Office
Figure 17 - Annual Sales Revenues by Primary Business and Customer Size
Figure 18 - Geographical Distribution of Revenues
Figure 19 - % of Revenue Derived from Different Sized Businesses
Figure 20 - Employee Size Distribution
Figure 21 - Number of Employees by Primary Business Activity
Figure 22 - IT Intensity of Different SMB Customers by Employee Size
Figure 23 - Avg. Customer Account Size
Figure 24 - Channel Partners Influence in Customers Brand Selection
Figure 25 - Vendor Communication Strategies
Figure 26 - Internet, IT Security & Services Offerings: Currently Offered & Planned
Figure 27 - Computing, Networking & /software Offerings: Currently Offered & Planned
Figure 28 - Business Attitudes
Figure 29 - Importance of Different Factors in Selecting a Supplier/Vendor
Figure 30 - Importance of Different Factors in Selecting a Supplier/Vendor
Figure 31 - U.S. SMB Channel Partners Segmentation Methodology
Figure 32 - Questions Used for US SMB Channel Partners Segmentation
Figure 33 - Primary Business of Channel Partners By Segment
Figure 34 - Location of US SMB Channel Partners By Segment
Figure 35 - Age of US SMB Channel Partners By Segment
Figure 36 - Annual Sales Revenues By Segment
Figure 37 - Number of Employees by Segment
Figure 38 - Number of Locations by Segment
Figure 39 - Number of Active Customers by Segment
Figure 40 - Annual Revenue Growth Last Year By Segment
Figure 41 - Expected Annual Growth Rate Next Year by Segment
Figure 42 - IT Intensity of SMB Customers by Segment
Figure 43 - Business Attitudes by Segment
Figure 44 - Vertical Markets Served by Segment
Figure 45 - Revenue Mix by Customer Size by Segment
Figure 46 - Avg. Annual Customer Account Size by Segment
Figure 47 - Channel Partners Influence in Customers Brand Selection by Segment
Figure 48 - Number of Products & Services Offered by Segment
Figure 49 - Effectiveness of Vendor Communication Strategies
Figure 50 - Current and Planned Computing Hardware and Software Offerings by Segment
Figure 51 - Current and Planned Networking & Internet Offerings by Segment
Figure 52 - Current and Planned Security and IT Services Offerings by Segment
Figure 53 - Channel Partners That Offer White Box Systems By Segment
Figure 54 - Channel Partners That Build Their Own White Box Systems By Segment
Figure 55 - Revenues Derived from Different Products & Services By Segment
Figure 56 - Revenues Due to Different Sales/Business Development Activities
Figure 57 - Vendor Selection Criteria by Segment
Figure 58 - Vendor Selection Criteria by Segment (continued)
Figure 59 - Vendor Selection Criteria by Segment (continued)
Figure 60 - Gross Margins for Computing & NW HW
Figure 61 - Gross Margins for Internet Services & Telephone By Segment
Figure 62 - Currently Have or Plan to Have a Web Site
Figure 63 - Percent of Revenues from E-selling via the Internet
Figure 64 - Semiconductor & Computing Vendors Used By Segment
Figure 65 - Networking & Storage Vendors Used By Segment
Figure 66 - Software & Security Vendors Used By Segment
Figure 67 - Satisfaction with Semiconductor and Computing Vendors
Figure 68 - Satisfaction with Networking and Storage Vendors
Figure 69 - Satisfaction with Software & Security Vendors
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