The Meaning Behind The Numbers

Drawing meaning out of our annual CRN Channel Champions Survey data is a bit like painting by the numbers.

For one thing, there are a lot of numbers: If you add them all up, solution providers delivered more than 2,000 ratings across all the criteria for all the vendors considered in all the categories. In the report, we boil these down to 396 composite channel, technical and overall scores. If you’re a by-the-numbers kind of person, you can read about the methodology at the end of the report.

But the real value of the Channel Champions Survey comes from adding color and texture to this blizzard of statistics and seeing the pictures that emerge. This requires not only talking to a lot of solution providers, but also stepping back from the canvas to view the patterns.

One image that leaps out immediately: IBM, with its top channel scores in a stunning 11 categories, is delivering consistent value to partners in its server and storage lines—and is beginning to unlock that same value in software.

Another is that Cisco Systems, which won four categories, continues to deliver high-quality products and channel development programs, although it is still battling price/performance issues.

Microsoft, which won or tied in five categories, earned praise from partners for both product quality and its educational and certification programs. Partners, though, were not as happy with its licensing policies and sales margins, which dragged down its channel scores.

While these three vendors dominated the survey, the data put the spotlight on rising vendors for an increasingly diverse channel: Rookie of the Year Sony emerged as a first-time Champ, as did Belkin and Sprint.

Although each vendor in the Channel Champions Survey is considered separately, all ratings are relative. Being good isn’t always good enough. The vendors in this survey are all important to the channel. But right now, IBM, Cisco and Microsoft are setting the standards by which their competitors will certainly be judged in the coming year.