 The top concerns for the CIO in choosing servers are the product features
followed by post-sales services, a trend that sees a precedent in the desktops
space too. While HP-Compaq retains the top slot in servers, HCL and Wipro carry
the desktop
momentum forward to make an appearance at the number two and three spots
respectively. The attack of the Indian clones has the pushed Big Blue out of the
top three. And this is when IBM’s performance over the last year has shown a
marginal improvement.
IBM failed to even match the average industry expectation in all of the
parameters in the servers category last year, while this year around its
performance on the product attribute is above the industry average. It matches
the industry average score in the price and commercial parameters and does an
encore of last year’s performance in the other parameters. Looks like the
desktop syndrome is at work here too.
| The
Servers Scorecard |
| |
2003 |
2004 |
| HP–Compaq |
1* |
1 |
| HCL |
NA |
2 |
| Wipro |
NA |
3 |
| IBM |
2 |
4 |
| Sun |
NA |
5 |
| SGI |
NA |
6 |
| Acer |
NA |
7 |
| *Compaq
was no 1 |
Barring the exception of HP-Compaq, which beats the average industry
expectation on all the studied parameters, no other company in this category has
matched that. But even then HP-Compaq’s top showing comes through just by a
whisker, essentially because HCL’s satisfaction score on the both the product
features and price-performance parity (the top two concerns for the CIO) are not
only higher than the industry average but better than HP-Compaq.
And in the price-product parity and commercial terms offered parameter, Intel
architecture servers clearly outperform Sun, which incidentally just about
manages to meet the industry average.
| Servers:
How CIOs Rate the Vendors |
| |
Industry |
HP-Compaq |
IBM |
Sun |
SGI |
Wipro |
HCL |
Acer |
| Product |
| Product
reliability |
4.1 |
4.2 |
4.2 |
4.1 |
4.1 |
4 |
4.3 |
3.8 |
| Technology |
4.1 |
4.1 |
4.1 |
4.1 |
3.8 |
3.9 |
4 |
3.7 |
| Product
performance |
4 |
4 |
4.1 |
4 |
4.1 |
3.9 |
4.3 |
3.8 |
| Maintenance
need |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3.8 |
3.9 |
4 |
3.8 |
| Pre-Sales
& Marketing |
| Responsiveness
to |
4 |
4 |
3.9 |
4 |
3.8 |
4 |
3.9 |
3.8 |
| Quality
of interaction |
4 |
4 |
4.1 |
4.1 |
3.8 |
4.1 |
4 |
3.6 |
| Final
product vs need specified |
4 |
4.1 |
4 |
4 |
3.8 |
3.9 |
3.8 |
3.6 |
| Proactiveness
in assessing needs |
3.9 |
4 |
3.9 |
3.9 |
70 |
4 |
4 |
3.7 |
| Dataquest-IDC
India: Customer Satisfaction Audit 2004 |
| The satisfaction scores are
on a five-point scale with five being the highest—very satisfied. Base:
391 |
|
HP-Compaq meets or exceeds the average satisfaction both on the top two
parameters and also on all the sub parameters to emerge at the top of the
CSA Index 2004 for the servers category |
|
Like in desktops, post-sales support emerges as one of the top two concerns
for the CIO followed by influence of pre-sales and marketing, for the initial
handholding, as is commonly referred to, is what helps the CIO get the right fit
for his company.
| How
the Brands Fared |
| |
Industry |
HP–Compaq |
HCL |
Wipro |
IBM |
Sun |
SGI |
Acer |
| Product
(100) |
80.6 |
81.5 |
82.2 |
77.8 |
81.3 |
80.6 |
78.4 |
74.3 |
| Post
sales support (81) |
77.8 |
78.9 |
79.0 |
78.4 |
76.9 |
77.1 |
73.8 |
74.6 |
| Pre
sales and marketing (73) |
79 |
80.1 |
78.0 |
80.3 |
78.9 |
79.7 |
73.5 |
73.2 |
| Delivery
and installation (72) |
78.7 |
80.1 |
77.7 |
80.2 |
78.2 |
77.6 |
75.5 |
75.3 |
| Price
and commercial (61) |
76.5 |
78 |
79.3 |
76.3 |
76.5 |
75.6 |
72.8 |
75.8 |
| Note:
The table indicates the overall satisfaction scores of the server vendors
on the listed parameters. Base: 391 |
| The
parameters have been ranked according to the order of importance and the
red numbers in the brackets indicate relative importance. |
| The
figures in blue are for the vendors with the highest satisfaction scores
for that particular parameter. |
|
Like in the laptops category, the CIO’s satisfaction with the price and
commercial terms is also the least here. This seems logical, especially when the
satisfaction scores on the pre-sales rank higher than post-sales, which
incidentally is the second most important thing on the CIO’s mind for servers
typically moving into mission-critical areas.
| 
Special Issues 
