What do education customers really think of you?

Education IT purchasing decision makers reveal their pet peeves when it comes to their IT suppliers in CRN research

Education IT managers questioned in recent CRN research let rip when it came to what they think of their IT suppliers.

As part of the 2016 CRN Education Report, 40 IT purchasing decision makers at schools, colleges and universities were asked if they had any gripes when it comes to how their IT suppliers behave.

Pushy or arrogant sales tactics emerged as the most-common beef.

One pinpointed "not giving their best quote the first time around" as the thing that drove them mad.

"Pushy sales when quotes are not accepted; pestering for more business," said another.

One education IT manager, meanwhile, said websites that monitor visitors' behaviour put him off.

"I can't stand being spied on when using supplier websites", they said.

A full summary of the responses features in the CRN Education Report, which can be downloaded for free here.

Respondents were also asked what most influenced their choice of IT supplier.

Given the straitened spending backdrop, it is perhaps little surprise that respondents to our survey rated cost/value as the most important factor.

Cost-value received an average score of 4.4 out of five, with 25 of the 40 respondents giving it the top score of five.

Financial stability emerged as the second-most important of the eight variables listed, with an average score of 3.6. Whether suppliers have technical expertise across a broad range of technology (3.5 per cent) and referrals and reputation (3.4 per cent) were also valued highly by the respondents.

When we asked respondents for more details on how they choose their suppliers, word of mouth and referrals were cited repeatedly.

One university purchasing decision maker who took part in the survey said he chose his based on "recommendations from tech staff, special offers for education, and general reputation".

For another secondary school/college respondent, it came down to "partly previous experience, partly recommendation", while the performance of suppliers are judged on "fulfilment of brief and quality of follow-up support".

Click here to view the CRN 2016 Education Report - which was sponsored by Tech Data - for a full summary of what suppliers are looking for from their suppliers and what technologies they are spending on, as well as insight into trends such as BYOD, academisation and apps and a breakdown of the top 50 UK university suppliers.