New Services Required

From the September 2002 issue of

In the August issue of CAD Spaghetti we reported that the majority of CAD/CAM managers in the process engineering sector are satisfied with the services provided by their CAD/CAM suppliers (see Service Level Assessments). In the second part of this survey we find out what service-related qualities they would seek in a new supplier if they needed to find one - and how many are sufficiently disgruntled with their current supplier(s) to consider such a change. We interviewed managers of CAD/CAM related functions at 81 sites in the UK's process engineering sector.

Time For A Change

Only two of the 81 CAD/CAM managers we interviewed (2% of the sample) are considering ditching a supplier in favor of another because they are dissatisfied with some aspect of their service provision.

Loyalty Factors

For the remainder of our sample, the attitudes towards service provision in relation to their decision to remain with their existing supplier(s) can be divided three ways.  Two out of five managers feel they have the best available supplier(s) to meet their overall needs for services.

A third of managers feel it is possible that there are suppliers who could provide better services - but that it is not worth the effort of seeking a new one because the services they offer are not that crucial to their business.  Just over a quarter didn't know enough about the services offered by their CAD/CAM supplier(s) to comment.

Hypothetically Speaking

So not many CAD/CAM managers in the process engineering sector are seeking a new CAD/CAM supplier for improved/different services. But what if they need to in future for some reason? We asked the managers to consider such a scenario, and identify the most important selection criteria in relation to service provision. Just over a third said they would look primarily for a high level of technical knowledge, while one in five said that value for money would be their first consideration.

When asked to identify the second most important service related factor in choosing a new supplier, one in five managers said they would look for evidence that a potential supplier understood their particular needs.

Conclusion

This survey has looked at very broad criteria that CAD/CAM managers might use for evaluating the services of new suppliers. The more precise the market intelligence is on the needs and preferences of potential customers, the better targeted the resulting marketing and development of services can be. Even at this level though there are important messages for VARs that regard expanded/new services as a business opportunity. Does your marketing material promote the areas most commonly valued by potential customers?  It's hardly a major revelation that they will look for technical expertise, value for money and an understanding of their needs - but do your web pages, case studies, testimonials etc. back this up?

CAD Spaghetti is a free monthly newsletter published by the Business Advantage Group Plc

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