Who Knows Your Customers?

The Enterprise Question
On the enterprise side, solution providers and vendors said there is generally less concern about sharing customer information, given the need to work more closely together because of longer sales cycles and more complex solution requirements.

Don Richie, president of Sequel Data Systems, a Hewlett-Packard exclusive enterprise solution provider in Austin, Texas, shares customer names with HP, Palo Alto, Calif., and it also has access directly to his CRM system so it can see his pipeline.

"In the past that was a definite concern," said Richie. "We always have been very guarded about releasing customer information to vendors. That has changed with HP. They always end up protecting us. We don't have to worry about sharing that information."

Another issue is that few vendors, particularly niche ones, have documented policies for customer information. For Paul Giobbi, president of Zumasys, a Lake Forest, Calif., solution provider, boutique vendors are more of a concern than major players.

"It's a real issue when you consider that the most valuable thing we possess is our relationship with a customer," said Giobbi. He said he's less worried about large vendors, which understand the waves they would create if they used customer information to go after that business, whereas boutique vendors that might be struggling to get a foothold in their market may be tempted to do so. "It is a concern for me," he said, "and it does keep me up at night."

JENNIFER FOLLETT, JENNIFER LAWINSKI & PAULA ROONEY contributed to this story.