Of Pigs,Fur coats and the size of the 'thing'. (small & Med business)
Good morning Rude:
Excellent observation but you have underestimated size of the small & medium-sized business' segment,it seems this market is quite large and growing.Now looking at the numbers and putting my bickering aside about DELL Vs CPQ,it looks as though the market is so huge not one vendor can possibly meet the demand.Thanks for brining the issue to the fore.
We appreciate-ya.
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"According to Access Media International, small and medium-sized businesses spent about $62 billion on information technology in 1997, and that figure is expected to reach $120 billion by 2002."
So what's the big deal?
Some analysts said Compaq's strategy is meaningful, but it isn't like the company just turned on a switch and decided to sell direct. Robert Cihra, an analyst for ING Barings, said Compaq is just following through on what it's been talking about for years.
"It's not like weren't offering anything direct," said Cihra. "They have a hybrid model."
Analysts noted that Compaq has been selling direct to its largest customers for awhile just as Dell uses the channel to sell to the government and education markets.
"There's plenty of evidence that the lines are blurring," said Pfeiffer. "We can mesh the two."
One executive at a direct vendor disagreed.
"A pig dressed in a fur coat is still a pig," said Joel Kocher, chairman and CEO of Micron. "Yes, I think Compaq got more competitive on price with the move, but they still have no affinity for nor understanding of the direct customer.
zdnet.com |
