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US and European IT adoption - gap narrowing
Industries note lessening effect of channel and importance of support

By Tony Hallett

Published: Monday 08 November 2004

European and American organisations aren't as different as they used to be in adopting new IT, partly because of disintermediation in the supply of software from the US.

Speaking at today's Cal-IT conference in London, organised by silicon.com sister operation European Technology Forum, Dresdner Kleinwort Wassertein (DrKW) global CIO JP Rangaswami said: "It used to be that we were more reseller and consultant driven in the UK. Now there is a higher level of risk acceptance [because] that intermediate class is being driven out."

A panel of leading US high-tech executives tended to agree.

Don LeBeau, Aruba Wireless Networks president and CEO, said: "The intermediary influence is declining but it isn't binary." He noted there are still those that will favour indirect sales.

User organisations in North America and Europe both have a certain level of scepticism - clearly much more now than at the height of the late 1990s boom - the panel said but now the difference is in the level of support expected.

Lee Roberts, chairman and CEO of FileNet, said: "Customers expect service as well as software from us now. That's a major shift from where the market was 10 years ago."

While this can put a strain on smaller suppliers, it also represents an opportunity.

Aruba's LeBeau said it is possible to better hold on to customers through good service and support.

"When you're smaller, there's a greater appreciation when you come through," he said.

However, DrKW's Rangaswami pointed out all discussions about a provider's place of origin, channel or after-sales support are secondary.

He told the vendors: "The first lesson is to make sure your product is good. Everything else goes from there."