IDC's Annual Vertical Leadership Survey: Making the Grade

Table of Contents

• Table of Contents
• IDC Opinion
• In This Study
  • Methodology
  • Figure: Profile of Respondents by Technology
  • Figure: Profile of Respondents by Company Size
  • Table: Respondent Profile: Type of Industry or Vertical Focus
• Situation Overview
  • Survey Findings
  • The Importance of Having a Vertical Strategy
  • Figure: Impact of Not Understanding Industry-Specific Issues
  • Figure: Importance of Vendor Sales Understanding Industry-Specific Business Issues
  • Figure: Customer Dissatisfaction with IT Vendors' Sales Team
  • The Current State of IT Vendors' Vertical Strategy
  • Figure: Gap Analysis: Customer Dissatisfaction with IT Vendor' s Sales Team
  • Table: Business Challenges Inhibiting IT Vendors' Vertical Strategy
    • Lack of Industry Experience
    • Figure: Share of Industry Sales Team with Prior Industry Experience
    • Figure: Share of Industry Marketing Team with Prior Industry Experience
    • Figure: Share of Industry Strategy/Management Team with Prior Industry Experience
    • Figure: Share of Industry Engineers/Product Developers with Prior Industry Experience
    • Lack of Resources
    • Figure: Percent of Marketing Budget Allocated to Verticals
    • Figure: Mean Percentage of Marketing Budget Allocated to Verticals by Vendor Type
    • Figure: Mean Percentage of Marketing Budget Allocated to Verticals by Company Size
    • Figure: Marketing Budget Allocated to Verticals in 2008
      • Tracking Vertical Strategy Benefits
      • Figure: Tracking of Vertical ROI and Costs/Benefits
      • Table: Vertical Strategy Cost and Benefits Metrics
    • Organizational and Structural Problems
    • Figure: Top Priorities for Sales Customer Segmentation
    • Figure: Formal Process to Link Sales with Marketing
    • Figure: Formal Process to Link Sales with Marketing by Vendor Type
    • Figure: Formal Process to Link Sales with Product Developers
    • Partnering Problems
    • Figure: IT Vendors with Industry Partnering Programs
    • Figure: Mean Percentage of Partners with Vertical Go-to-Market Strategy
• Future Outlook
• Essential Guidance
  • Actions to Consider
• Learn More
  • Related Research
  • Synopsis