What do customers REALLY think of the channel?

And what should both VARs and vendors be doing to ensure they keep winning vital business? Find out in CRN's brand new report due before the end of September

With one IT manager describing VARs and service players as ‘greedy incompetents wearing expensive suits and muttering inane management jargon' it might appear that the channel's image needs a bit of a polish.

CRN is set to release a groundbreaking piece of research this month after speaking to both IT managers and financial directors over the summer about their IT buying habits and where the pain points are with their IT suppliers.

This is then compared with the results of similar questions asked to the IT suppliers themselves about where they think they are going wrong. Some of the findings do not make pleasant reading for both VARs and vendors alike, particularly when it comes to the issue of value for money.

Because we have allowed our respondents to anonymously write down the feedback will be some of the most honest and hard-hitting that you will have seen.

So where are things going wrong? And why do 20 per cent of the 350+ IT managers that we spoke to refuse to use the channel, with a significant number of the rest feeling that their IT suppliers are failing to add value?

Also how important is it to create the right image? Did you know that 64 per cent of the IT managers and 64 per cent of financial directors questioned rely on peer recommendations when choosing their suppliers? How confident are you that your customers would recommend your services to someone else?

This report is not only packed with key information such as the main concerns for IT managers going into 2014 and beyond, how IT budgets are spent both in the public and private sectors and why relationships are souring, but it also features Q&As from a sample of all three groups digging deeper into some of the issues raised, along with expert tips on how to get things right.

It is not only a guide to show VARs and vendors where they are going wrong, but it contains actionable points, based on actual feedback from customers, that can easily be tailored to meet individual businesses' needs, or a vendor's entire approach to the channel.

This report can only be obtained from CRN Intelligence and we are limiting the number of vendors that can get their hands on this crucial piece of information to ensure maximum impact.

To find out more please contact [email protected].