Readers' Choice Survey 2007
This year's benchmark analysis was derived from the feedback of approximately 160 consumer goods (CG) executives (see Figure 1).
Once again, we have broken these rankings into the various categories of business and IT focus within our industry. Though many are the same as in years past, new categories are indicative of the changes in the industry, with rankings around New Product Development & Introduction, Outsourcing and Demand Data Analytics.
To ensure the integrity of this process, we asked those who responded to only vote in categories where they are involved in working with the software and service providers. Thus, supply chain executives voted on categories around supply chain, sales and marketing executives voted on the customer-facing categories, etc. General business and IT executives, because they touch all areas of the business, voted in all categories.
For each category, based upon the number of vendors who play in that space, there is either a Top 10 or a Top 5 list. This list is a reflection of two things -- their number of customer engagements within the consumer goods industry and their customer experience vote from the companies that are working with them. In addition, you will see two separate lists within each category, which we feel carries equal importance as the overall list. The first list ranks the customer experience leaders. These companies deserve special recognition. Though they may lack in the number of engagements compared to industry heavyweights, they are obviously making their customers extremely happy. The second list details the leaders serving the small to midsize business (SMB) market, which we classify as companies pulling in revenue of $1 billion or less. This list is also of increasing importance, as more and more SMBs are looking for software and service providers who offer solutions to meet their unique business needs.
New this year as well, we asked our readers the question that you see on the bottom of this page. A sampling of the answers flows throughout the section in the ticker.
Finally, our "Editors' Pick" page profiles companies of which we ask you to take special note. While these companies may not have a high volume of customer engagements, may be new to the industry or perhaps they simply don't fit exactly into one specific category, they are making an impact on the industry, are key players in the field and are worthy of attention.
GENERAL OUTCOME
Key takeaways from this year's survey. Not surprisingly, SAP -- due to it vast customer base in the CG market-- takes top honors in most every category it covers. In the SMB space, Microsoft did very well, partially attributed to its cost-effective, familiar and turn-key solutions. Oracle's rankings improved in the CRM/TPM space after Siebel and Demantra acquisitions.
To ensure the integrity of this process, we asked those who responded to only vote in categories where they are involved in working with the software and service providers. Thus, supply chain executives voted on categories around supply chain, sales and marketing executives voted on the customer-facing categories, etc. General business and IT executives, because they touch all areas of the business, voted in all categories.
For each category, based upon the number of vendors who play in that space, there is either a Top 10 or a Top 5 list. This list is a reflection of two things -- their number of customer engagements within the consumer goods industry and their customer experience vote from the companies that are working with them. In addition, you will see two separate lists within each category, which we feel carries equal importance as the overall list. The first list ranks the customer experience leaders. These companies deserve special recognition. Though they may lack in the number of engagements compared to industry heavyweights, they are obviously making their customers extremely happy. The second list details the leaders serving the small to midsize business (SMB) market, which we classify as companies pulling in revenue of $1 billion or less. This list is also of increasing importance, as more and more SMBs are looking for software and service providers who offer solutions to meet their unique business needs.
New this year as well, we asked our readers the question that you see on the bottom of this page. A sampling of the answers flows throughout the section in the ticker.
Finally, our "Editors' Pick" page profiles companies of which we ask you to take special note. While these companies may not have a high volume of customer engagements, may be new to the industry or perhaps they simply don't fit exactly into one specific category, they are making an impact on the industry, are key players in the field and are worthy of attention.
GENERAL OUTCOME
Key takeaways from this year's survey. Not surprisingly, SAP -- due to it vast customer base in the CG market-- takes top honors in most every category it covers. In the SMB space, Microsoft did very well, partially attributed to its cost-effective, familiar and turn-key solutions. Oracle's rankings improved in the CRM/TPM space after Siebel and Demantra acquisitions.
Other notable revelations include: (SEE FIGURE 2)
- CRM and TPM, both customer-facing applications, are toward the low end of the customer experience totem pole. We feel that this is probably indicative of the return companies are receiving on their TPM and marketing investments, and less about the software providers themselves.
- The three technology categories that are outsourced -- Outsourcing, Consulting and Supply Chain Services -- are fairing quite well in regard to customer satisfaction. As companies focus more and more on core capabilities, they seem to be realizing greater value from outsourced partners.
- An average customer experience rating of 3.72 in RFID Hardware implies that when it comes to RFID Hardware, companies are happy with what their partners are able to provide. Yet they are still struggling to realize the value from their overall RFID investments.