Vendor Partner Positioning Benchmark, Q2 2008

Forrester used its vendor partner positioning review (VPPR) methodology to evaluate the positioning of eight leading IT product vendors across 17 criteria and to determine where they currently fall on the continuum between information technology (IT) and business technology (BT). We found that only one vendor, Microsoft, qualifies as a BT vendor in its partner positioning, while the other vendors fall into the solution vendor category, more or less halfway between IT and BT. Most of the vendors would be able to develop into a BT vendor in the short term through improvements in their partner positioning. We illustrate how vendor strategists and their partner marketing colleagues can use these insights to improve their own positioning. Microsoft and Oracle are explored in detail as best practices.