"A total of 62% of respondents to IDC's CMO Advisory 2004 Technology Marketing Benchmarks Survey indicated that their sales model is shifting, requiring a change in marketing strategy. Over 45% of these companies are increasing utilization of reselling channels and partners to extend their reach into new and existing market segments. Successful market expansion leveraging an indirect sales strategy will require increased marketing investment to support these new and expanded channels. Highlights of our analysis are as follows:

IT vendors must increase their investment in marketing to support an expansion in indirect sales. IDC has modeled the change in marketing budget ratio (MBR), or marketing investment as a percentage of revenue, based upon shifts in revenue from indirect sales. This shift will vary depending upon the size of the company, segment-specific variables, and business mix or other factors, but the trend is clear that support of indirect versus direct sales requires additional marketing investment. This increased investment should be offset by reduced sales costs; however, this study focuses solely on marketing investment.

In addition to the level of overall marketing investment, the marketing mix is also expected to change as collaboration with reseller channels increases. This shift is particularly evident for hardware and software companies. IDC evaluates how marketing mix shifts based upon an in-depth analysis of over 100 global technology firms.

A total of 46% of IT services firms indicate that their sales model is shifting, requiring a change in marketing strategy. Although services firms mainly leverage a direct sales strategy, a shift is occurring to develop more strategic relationships with partners and influencers, particularly in regard to developing more solution-sales approaches targeted at specific industries."

CompTIA Members: If you're interested in purchasing this full report, contact research@comptia.org or 630-678-8320 in order to receive your 20% discount.

All others should follow this link to IDC's Web site for more information. www.idc.com