2012 Channel Champions: Technical Satisfaction

How Did Your IT Vendors Perform In Technical Satisfaction?

Solution providers selected CRN Channel Champions by voting on the capabilities of more than 100 IT vendors in 27 product categories. VARs rate vendors on a number of criteria, which may be different in each product category. For technical satisfaction, the factors may include: management and configuration features, security, serviceability, product quality and reliability, and price for performance (value for the money).

Were your vendors rated tops in technical satisfaction? Here are the 10 vendors who were.

10. Technical Satisfaction: Dell

Category: Volume Servers
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 84.1

Among the five criteria that comprise the technical satisfaction subcategory, Dell's best score was in price for performance with an 85.6, where it tied for first place with the Volume Servers' Channel Champ, HP (see slide 7). All of Dell's scores in this technical satisfaction subcategory improved from 2011.

9. Technical Satisfaction: HP

Category: Midrange Servers
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 84.3

HP won two of the five criteria in the Midrange Servers category: configuration or upgrade options, and management and configuration features. However, the winner of this subcategory, IBM, overshadowed HP's performance (see slide 6). Still, HP's scores improved year-over-year in each criterion.

8. Technical Satisfaction: Western Digital

Category: SATA Hard Drives
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 84.8

Western Digital's highest score in product quality and reliability in the technical satisfaction rating outranked that of the Channel Champ, Seagate (see next slide). The SATA Hard Drives' technical satisfaction rating subcategory introduced a new criterion this year, ease of use of advanced features.

7. Technical Satisfaction: Seagate

Category: SATA Hard Drives
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 85.0

Seagate narrowly beat Western Digital for this subcategory win. It won three of the four criteria: ease of use of advanced features, serviceability and price for performance—the Sata Hard Drives product category has four rather than five criteria in technical satisfaction—with its highest mark coming for its price for performance with an 89.8.

6. Technical Satisfaction: IBM

Category: Midrange Servers
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 85.9

IBM won the Channel Champ crown for the technical satisfaction subcategory in Midrange Servers, but it did not sweep the criteria, losing two to HP. Its highest score and widest margin of victory came in product quality and reliability with a 98.5, where it beat last-place Oracle by nearly 15 points.

5. Technical Satisfaction: HP

Category: Volume Servers
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 86.5

HP won all five of the technical satisfaction criteria in Volume Servers, tying with Dell for price for performance with an 85.6 (see slide 2). Its 100.5 score for product quality and reliability was one of the highest in the survey, and beat last-place Lenovo's score by 13 points.

4. Technical Satisfaction: ViewSonic

Category: Flat Panel Displays
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 86.6

Among the five criteria for the technical satisfaction subcategory, ViewSonic performed best in two: price for performance and image adjustment. That wasn't enough to beat the category champ, Samsung (see next slide). ViewSonic came in second out of five contenders in the technical satisfaction subcategory in Flat Panel Displays, as it did in 2011.

3. Technical Satisfaction: Samsung

Category: Flat Panel Displays
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 87.7

Samsung beat its closest competitor in the Flat Panel Displays category, ViewSonic, by roughly one point in technical satisfaction—a much slimmer margin than 2011's some four points. Samsung won three of the criteria: ergonomics, product quality and reliability, and image quality. The vendor's highest subcategory score, 99.0, in product quality and reliability, was roughly five points greater than ViewSonic's.

2. Technical Satisfaction: Cisco

Category: SMB Networking Hardware (includes wireless LANs and Voice)
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 89.4

In a repeat performance from 2011, Cisco came in first in the SMB Networking Hardware category. Of the five criteria in the technical satisfaction rating, Cisco won four: product quality and reliability, scalability, management and configuration features, and security. It lost price for performance to HP Networking. The greatest score difference was a nearly 19-point spread between Cisco and last-place D-Link in product quality and reliability.

1. Technical Satisfaction: Intel

Category: Processors
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 89.7

The chip maker crushed the competition in the product quality and reliability criterion, earning a survey-topping 109.3 in the Processors category. Intel's scores in four of the five criteria handily beat those of its rivals; however, as in 2011, AMD won the price for performance criterion by a considerable margin. Still, Intel's overall score for technical satisfaction was nearly six points higher than second-place AMD's.

More Channel Champs Coverage

2012 Channel Champions:
CRN's 2012 Channel Champions
Overall Winners
Financial Factors
Support Satisfaction