Recession - What Recession?

29 April 2010
2 minute read
Best practice

Recession - What Recession?

29 April 2010
2 minute read

Recession? What Recession?

Mixed Views on ITAM Market Conditions

I conducted an informal straw poll amongst partners and vendors at the SIRB event last week to gauge feelings about the current state of the ITAM market.

The feedback was very mixed.

It is clearly a tough market out there and many people are finding it hard. Some partners and vendors were struggling to find enough business and the threat of redundancy still hangs in the air for some companies.

However, on the other hand, some partners and vendors are experiencing huge growth and are struggling to recruit staff quick enough despite the economic climate.

BigFix DSS SAM Licensed Seat Count Reaches 1 Million

For example, I caught up with BigFix recently who I originally spoke to back in January 2009 when they were preparing to enter the ITAM market for the first time. In the 10 months since launch they have managed to accrue 1,000,000 seats of their DSS SAM product. Selling 1M seats in boom time is an enviable achievement – let alone during a financial crisis (assuming they were sold and not given away).

BigFix said they have listened to client feedback carefully in this time and have since added broader platform support and the ability to handle different contract types. From a standing start in the ITAM market in difficult economic times I think this is an outstanding achievement.

Shortage of Good SAM Consultants

From a partner perspective, I believe some partners would double the size of their SAM teams if they could find the right calibre consultants. In particular, SAM consultants who have the winning combination of experience, are customer facing, can manage a project whilst also being able to have a credible conversation with senior management.

In particular, it is those partners who are offering ongoing managed services to their clients that appear to be experiencing growth. Making SAM less of a cyclical project led by vendor audit activity to an ongoing business function.

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