Marketing will win war with MS, Novell told

Aberdeen Group has warned Novell that it cannot rely on superior technology to compete against Microsoft ? it must overhaul its marketing.

Robert Sakakeeny, director of field research at the Boston, Massachusetts-based analyst, delivered the blunt message to Novell bosses in a comparative review of Novell and Microsoft products and strategies.

?Good marketing overwhelms good product every time,? he said. ?Microsoft does well because it understands that no matter how good the product is, if the message doesn?t get out there to the right customers then it doesn?t matter.?

Novell must must learn to sell to business buyers, rather than technical personnel. Sakakeeny said Novell had the right technology to exploit the business drivers for the late 90s, particularly in directory services where Intranetware has a clear technical lead over MS NT Server.

?But do customers care? That is the critical question Novell has to answer,? he said.

Novell also has a technology advantage in the groupware market, said Sakakeeny. ?Groupwise is a better product than MS Exchange, but far too few business customers know it. Microsoft has a product with less credibility, but with a good marketing machine behind it.?