This is the last (for now) in a series of posts about trends that directly impact broadcast technology vendors.
As part of the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey, I asked approximately 550 broadcast technology hardware and software vendors about where they see sales growth over the next 2-3 years; how they expect to expand their sales networks ; and their go-to-market strategies – today and in the future.
Now I am going to look at what, to me anyway, was the most interesting vendor question in the study — i.e. what would broadcast technology vendors most like to improve about their organizations.
Participating vendors were presented with the following list of eight issues and asked to rank which ones they would most like to change about their business.
- Business Development (partnerships)
- Engineering
- Internal Communications
- Marketing
- Product Management
- Relationship with customers
- Relationship with channel partners
- Sales
The results are summarized in the chart below, which also provides interesting insight into the difference in attitudes and business approach of vendors of different size.
Question: Which of the following issues would you most like to change about your business?
When I wrote this question, I figured that most vendors would say they want to improve their product management function and internal communications, because this is what I have been told by many vendors. However, what I found was that more than half of the respondents said that the thing they most want to change has to do with sales & marketing (marketing, business development and sales).
What’s interesting to me about these results is that the top three choices are all externally focused, and yet many vendors I’ve spoken with have said that their goal is to improve the competitiveness of their product offering through better product management and engineering.
I also found it interesting that there are clear differences in the internal priorities of broadcast technology vendors based on their size.
For example, the smallest (1-50 people) and the largest (500+ people) put greater emphasis on partnerships than medium-sized companies, while small companies placed a greater emphasis on sales. There is also an interesting contrast between small and large companies. More than half of the respondents from large companies said that the things they’d like to improve are relationship-based, in this case with their partners and customers and distribution channel. This is probably because as companies grow they (for the most part) have overcome their growing pains and have put into place sufficiently rigorous processes for product management and engineering, and have shifted their emphasis towards relationship selling, whether direct or through third parties.
If you’re a broadcast technology vendor, do you agree with these findings? If not, what is it that you would like to improve about your business and why?