| Chinese
companies rely strongly on third party industry analyst reports as
well as blogs and word of mouth for major IT decisions, according
to a new survey of CEOs and senior technology decision makers conducted
by Hill & Knowlton.
The
finding helps guide both business customers and IT vendors to understand
the major sources of information and how these influence the evaluation
process and ultimately final decisions when making IT investments.
According
to the study, 46% of Chinese technology decision makers said that
word of mouth, including blogs, is one of the most important sources
of information when creating a short list of technology vendors,
while 59% said that they rely on industry analyst coverage for creating
their shortlist. Furthermore 63% of Chinese technology decision
makers said that industry analyst reports have a very strong influence
on their perception of technology products and services, while 48%
said that they were strongly influenced by leading industry blogs.
Globally,
while most decision makers agree that industry analyst reports are
crucial, they are also very influenced by print media reports and
less so by blogs.
"Influencing
technology purchase requires more than just a good article in a
major business or trade publication," said Joe Paluska, director,
H&K's worldwide technology practice. "The IT buying process
is hierarchical and cultural, which means tech vendors must smartly
influence the right touch points using a variety of media channels
around the world. We conducted our tech influencer survey so that
we can counsel our clients on how to deliver great impact."
In
H&K's third survey on reputation and technology, 420 technology
decision makers in the US, UK, China and Canada were interviewed
for their views on what influences them in the IT decision-making
process.
Among
the findings:
¡P Industry analysts ranked as the number one source of information
and influence on the IT buyer in the US, UK and China;
¡P Reputation, combined with positive experience, are at least as
important in making final purchase decisions as superior products
and services, in the US, UK and Canada;
¡P Bloggers have more influence over IT buyers in China than they
do over UK IT buyers;
¡P Overall, internal and external recommendations have greater influence
over the c-suite than IT managers;
¡P Traditional print media is more influential than online media
and blogs in the US, UK and Canada;
¡P Most major media tends to be regional in its influence versus
global;
¡P While Gartner is the most credible analyst firm in the US, in
the UK Forrester is viewed as credible as Gartner. In Canada, IDC
is the most credible.
Survey details: Interviews were conducted by Penn, Schoen &
Berland by telephone with the c-suite, via online for IT managers,
and in person in China. The margin of error overall was +/- 4.8
percent.
|
