ChannelVision Magazine

“customer success” importance in their own growth curve and have be- gun investing in customer success teams, says the firm. A survey of cus- tomer care executives found that 72% of organizations had a clearly defined customer success strategy. The top three objectives chosen by marketers as driving their customer success program were reducing churn (66%), increasing product usage (65%) and increasing renewal (57%). When asked what they found most challenging in ensuring the success of their customer success programs, 57% of respondents said “managing customer expectations,” following by “measuring customer sat- isfaction” (52%) and “getting actionable insights from customer data” (48%). Predictive analytics was the most sought-after technology in customer success, with 67% of respondents cur- rently employing or going to employ in their programs. Artificial intelligence and machine learning was on the list for 38 percent of respondents, and chatbots was for 27 percent. 2% 27% 36% Top Drivers to Purchase IT Solutions Through Channel Partners by Company Size Source: Spiceworks Implementing a complaint system Third-party data Profiling Data breach/management/notification Training Th right to be forgotten Other Source: Direct Marketing Association UK 12% 11% 9% 6% 5% 5% 5% 1% 68% 43% 55% 53% 45% 40% 38% 51% 48% 45%45% 36% 46% 49% 51% 35% 38% 35% 42% 32% 39% 33% 31% 30% 37% 31% 29% 32% 27% 33% 37% 28% 54% 57% 56% 60% 40% 20% 0% Price Existing relationship Trust / reputation Positive prior experience Ease of purchase Product availability Speed of delivery 1-99 100-499 500-999 1,000-4,999 5,000+ Projected IT Spending for Next Quarter Aug 2017 (4Q) vs. Nov 2017 (1Q 2018) Source: 451 Research 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Aug ’17 Survey Nov ’17 Survey 16% 19% 57% 57% 16% 15% Increase Remain the Same Decrease/No Spending Corporate Market: Mobile Operating Systems on Future Smartphones Source: 451 Research 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% iOS (Apple) Android (Google) Blackberry OS Windows Phone 77% 74% 44% 39% 9% 7% 6% 6% Aug ’17 Survey Nov ’17 Survey A Matter of Trust The price still must be right for IT executives to choose indirect channels, but prior relationships and trustworthiness are also of key importance to companies of all sizes, show Spiceworks survey findings. Buyers Side March - April, 2018 | Channel Vision 65