Research and analysis

Resellers give their views on vendor SME initiatives

Higher awareness of the small

Awareness of vendor SME programmes by resellers has risen significantly since last year, according to channel watcher Context. While overall positive awareness response rates were high, of the resellers responding to the question in France, more than half said they were not aware, an increase on last year.

Response levels were particularly high among UK resellers, with 78 per cent being very aware of initiatives designed to support their sales to SME customers.

Not getting with the programme

The results of this will be a disappointment to Hewlett-Packard (HP). While the percentage of respondents saying HP's SME programme had a negative impact fell from nine per cent to seven per cent, those stating the programme had a positive effect on their revenues fell, from 70 per cent to 60 per cent.

Meanwhile, other vendors - most notably Microsoft - gained, according to Context. Intel and IBM's SME architects also have good reason to be happy, with their initiatives being cited as having a more positive effect on sales in 2005.

Ratings feel a whole lot better

With the exception of HP, all vendors mentioned in the survey improved their 'well' ratings. Despite Acer's sales success, it has not broken free of the 'others' group. Toshiba's 'well' rating shot up by 20 points, which was the best improvement among the named vendors. Microsoft scored the best 'communications' rating in Context's study.

Best put to the test

HP held onto the high score again, with 39 per cent of respondents saying they believed it had the best SME initiative in January 2005. This number is down from January 2004, when 44 per cent of respondents were impressed.

IBM's rating has suffered, while other vendors have caught up. The two most significant mentions in the 'others' segment, which made up 28 per cent of respondents in January, were Acer and Dell, which had ratings of about 30 per cent each.

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