Inquiry Insights: Server Virtualization, Q4 2008

To help marketers of virtualization-related offerings understand what customers are wrestling with, we reviewed 153 Forrester client inquiries regarding server virtualization from the beginning of 2007 through the end of 2008. Inquiries about server virtualization come from many IT roles and cover a broad spectrum of issues, from infrastructure and operations executives looking for a basic introduction to architects asking what's coming next. We found three lessons for marketers: 1) Build a collaborative team of sales engineers that can constantly evolve a set of five to 10 selling scenarios that fill customers' need for guidance on best practices, benchmarking, and ROI; 2) offer specific server virtualization use cases, such as disaster recovery and business continuity, plus specific details on partner product support; and 3) maintain and evolve marketing aimed at the broadening pool of customer roles new to virtualization, such as purchasing, in addition to maintaining marketing for cutting edge customers.