IT Vendor Raves

Worst of TechEd 2008- IT Vendor Rankings

I've debated about how much I want to throw stones on this blog.   My primary intent is to focus on top performing vendors. After all, the title is Vendor Raves, not vendor rants :-)   However, all our data is transparent, and the scoring information shines light on both the excellent vendor and those who need to improve. 

There were two frequently ranked vendors at TechEd who had "Poor" overall customer satisfaction scores as rated by their current customers.   I've listed them below. Not coincidentally, they received all  "worst in category" totals, tying with 5 each.

Symantec Enterprise Storage/Backup		48.6
EMC Corporation		51.2

Top IT Vendors- TechEd 2008 results

Just a quick summary of the top customer satisfaction scores for ITvendors as rated by TechEd attendees. The list was derived from frequently rated vendors, and it only shows vendors with "Excellent" overall scores. I'll release a list of poor performing vendors a bit later.   Isn't it nice how numerical scoring make comparing vendors easier?!

            Vendors with "Excellent"  summary scores

     Company                                                                            Score

Hewlett-Packard  Desktop/Notebook	87.3
Dell Storage-Networking	84.5
VMware	83.8
CDW	83.4
Dell Server	83.2
Microsoft Server/Infrastructure	81.5
Network Appliance	81.5

	Best in Category
Category			Company	Score
Recommend			VMware	8.9
Integrity	(tie)		VMware	8.5
			HP Desktop/Notebook	8.5
Communication			CDW	8.4
Timeliness			HP Desktop/Notebook	9.5
Usability	(tie)		HP Desktop/Notebook	8.8
			Dell Storage/Networking	8.8
Reliability			Dell Storage/Networking	9.0
Budget			HP Desktop/Notebook	9.3
Customer Service			Dell Server	8.3
Expertise			VMware	8.8
Effectiveness			VMware	9.0

Top 5 things I learned exhibiting at TechEd 2008

I just returned from 4 days at the Microsoft TechEd conference in Orlando.  Here are some observations

1) Customers continue to compliment as well as complain about their vendors.

     The raters at TechEd were thoughtful and diligent. They really wanted to share both their good and bad vendor experiences with others.

2)      Good vendors don't ignore their bad scores. A few well known vendors took some big rating “lumps” during the show. Their management dropped in to learn about the VendorRate system. They really wanted to know areas to improve. This echoes a conversation I had with a senor sales exec at a Fortune 100 company a few weeks ago. When I asked his biggest challenge, he answered “My #1 problem is in understanding what the customers are really thinking about us.”

3)      Ease promotes use. 

       We had several “serial” raters who evaluated 3-5 vendors each of the four days. They commented how the standardized rating form made rating vendors easier each time they used the form, and how it made them think more deeply about some of our rating criteria.The more frequently someone rates, the easier it is to rate the next vendor.

4)       Rating comments are a source of buried treasure.

     If a rater takes a few extra moments to enter comments, the rating's value increases exponentially.  We think this is so important, that we are changing the comment field titled "Product or Brands Used" to be a required field.  We will also be moving all comment boxes below the rating grid to prompt users to enter comments more frequently.

5)      The attendees at TechEd were the absolute sweet spot for gathering rating information on vendors.

The attendees seemed particularly motivated to rate vendors compared to other shows. In our first 100 days of being live, this was the best group by far and away. These are the workers who came to learn hands-on at the labs. They are also the implementers, those who get things done and keep the systems running smoothly for their organization.  I thought this group was generally more committed to remain actively involved for the duration of the event. 

6)      (BONUS) The bottom of a mouse pad can be used as a great jar opener!

Yes, it’s true. The rubberized bottom of a mouse pad is perfect for opening tight jar lids. Try it!    Then ask me to send you a VendorRate dual function mouse pad and jar opener J

A big thank you to everone at TechEd. We'll be back. 

And to anyone wondering which vendors got the best scores, I'll be posting TechEd results later this weekend

Microsoft TechEd 2008 - The Frenzy

It's the morning after Microsoft's Partner Expo evening reception.  It was extremely busy all night, and we were near seating capacity in our little 10x10 rating booth for much of the time.  It was very helpful for me to look over the shoulders of first time raters, and I observed a few spots on the rating form where people repeatedly paused to ask questions.   

Users usually don’t tell you where they get stuck, and on the web, they’ll often just move on to another page or leave the website altogether. Last night was a great education for me, and we'll be making minor tweaks to the website in the coming weeks to help speed users through the rating process.   I may also embed 10-20 second video commentaries that quickly answer frequently asked questions.

And “the frenzy” doesn’t just describe the schwag-hungry crowd last night. It also refers to

1) The ongoing battle all exhibitors experienced trying to keep our internet connections live as Microsoft and the Convention Center internet provider crashed each other’s systems. 

2) Driving to the convention through the worst thunderstorms I’ve seen in 10 years, resulting tornado warnings a mere 30 miles away

Vendor Raves- Making life easy on the IT customer

Hello to the renamed VendorRaves blog.   

The Institute of Supply Management for Silicon Valley has asked us to share new vendor selection tools such as VendorRate at an upcoming lunch meeting. Their email announcement went out with an obvious typo in the first sentence. Now, here's the rub... it's my typo. ISMSV asked me to help them create the promotional email, and they thought well enough of our content to copy and paste it into their email blast as written.

This got me thinking. It was obvious that the group was time constrained, and they were only able to launch the email quickly because we had done the work for them.  And then I remembered the numerous times my companies have received "Top Vendor" honors because we did as much work as possible for the user.   

It's more than just customer service, it's more than good communication, and it's more than just quality. Vendors get rave reviews when they make functionality EASY. IT Vendors get top ratings when a vendor understands what the business customer really wants to accomplish and then does most of the heavy lifting. 

And guess what?  Customers are willing to overlook a small flaw, the tiny imperfection, or a minor typo when companies meet their major needs. In fact, they don't even see them!