Channel Satisfaction Survey 2014: EMC wins the crown for 'Storage Solutions'

EMC and IBM swap positions from last year, with EMC regaining the #1 spot; however, the gap in this segment has narrowed down considerably giving EMC a marginal edge over IBM. As EMC continues to rule the charts with its online support featuring as the top priority among its channel partners, it is on the commercial support front that EMC garnered the maximum.

Respondents to the survey unanimously voted in favor of EMC over competition on all commercial support parameters including transparency in commercial terms and policies, Flexibility in Commercial Terms as well as its Back-end incentives and its settlement. EMC has also scored on the promptness with which the schemes/incentive programs are communicated and most importantly on the profit margins it gives to partners.

The system integrators also swear by the richness of online resources offered by EMC and are particularly enamored by the presence of its Online Partner Portal & its effectiveness. There is a big thumbs up also for its Interactive site for resolving queries as well as prompt online responses.

Most of the channel partners have vouched for IBM especially for its technical expertise, geographical reach and its turnaround time. IBM's biggest shortfall earlier used to be its rigid commercial terms of trading with its partners when it came to credits and billing. The tables though seem to have now turned in favour of IBM. Furthermore, IBM was earlier also lagging in the channels management front where too it seems to have undergone a course correction.

The shift has occurred primarily on account of its formation of dedicated and effective teams which are not just limited in liaisoning with the channels but are extending their help in consulting partners over plausible solutions too for its clients. Training and enablement programmes too have helped IBM fall in line with the channel's sentiments.

However, it is crucial to note that innovative concepts like best-of-the-breed have come into the focus lately with some major players in the storage space trying to play their cards around it. This might change the market dynamics in the coming year.