How The Recession Is Affecting Tech Vendors

For the first few months of 2009, many technology companies operated in a general state of confusion. As the credit crunch of late 2008 took its toll on spending, technology vendors were adapting their strategy on the fly — trying to quickly align their long-term growth objectives with the new economic realities. Now that economic conditions have stabilized, it's easier to get a perspective on how the outlook of vendor strategists has changed. Forrester's May 2009 survey of senior-level technology marketers and strategists indicates that despite the macroeconomic challenges, technology vendors remain aggressive about innovation, growth, and their ability to provide new solutions to the market. Furthermore, they are less focused on using price as a lever to address changing customer needs. Vendor strategists can use the results of this survey both to examine how the actions at their companies align with the rest of the technology market and to continuously update their market approach.