Category Winner Also Bests Entire ARC
But the most amazing thing about the win is that Samsung is just so damn beloved among its VARs. It finished in a hard-to-believe first place among 15 of the 16 measurable criteria, including compatibility and ease of integration, ease of doing business, and product quality and reliability, in which it scored the highest number, an unequaled 93, among all products across all categories in the entire ARC competition. Samsung also finished first, again among all vendors in all categories, for its total overall score of 84—quite an accomplishment.
"Our customers like the quality, and the pricing is very aggressive. They get the products they need and are comfortable with the brand. Samsung is spending an absolute fortune on brand awareness," says Eugene Jacobowitz, general manager of KST Data, a Los Angeles-based solution provider with close to 100 employees. "We have a Fortune 100 customer that switched from another manufacturer about nine months ago. They are purchasing about 95 percent of their [display technology] from Samsung. That's hundreds of units every single month."
Jacobowitz also says his company is happy with Samsung's marketing and salespeople. "We find them to be creative and flexible," he adds.
Brad Faizy, president of Dallas-based reseller Signal Microsystems, which does business online as Techonweb.com, to the tune of $22 million per year, says that Samsung offers him the best incentive programs among all display-technology vendors. The margins in the category are usually pretty low—a couple of points is typical—so the robust back-end money Samsung offers becomes especially attractive. Faizy says that 30 percent to 35 percent of his monitor business is with Samsung. "About 25 percent of my customers come in asking for it. The other 10 percent, we persuade them to get Samsung," he says.
Like Jacobowitz, Faizy believes Samsung's display-technology quality is among the best in the country. "They are on top of things. We know there will be no issue with defective merchandise or returns," he says.
Rey Roque, vice president of marketing for Samsung's information technology division, says Samsung's mercury-busting ARC scores reflect partner recognition of the company's focus.
"When I look at our competitive set in the ARC, we are one of the most vertically integrated," Roque says. "We have better control, all the way from the component to the finished model...it's evident to solution providers that we are a clear differentiator, and they award us accordingly."