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Call for IT Service Upgrade
Chinese IT makers still have a long way to go to catch up with their foreign counterparts in services, which have become a major revenue source, according to a recent report by CCID Consulting Co Ltd, a leading IT research firm, to China's Ministry of Information Industry.
"IT services are now at the cutting edge of competition in the market, but Chinese companies still have much to learn from their foreign rivals,'' said Zhang Hongfen, president assistant and a senior analyst of CCID Consulting.
"Price wars are dangerous to the healthy development of the industry and value-added services to expand revenue margins for Chinese businesses,'' she added.
It is estimated that services generate 30 to 50 per cent of the total profits for international giants like HP and IBM, while price cuts are regarded by domestic firms as the easiest and quickest way to gain market share.
CCID's report shows that two major problems for Chinese businesses are fulfilling service promises and poor brand consciousness.
"Many companies are intent on coining new concepts, while they fail to keep their promises,'' said Zhang.
"That will be harmful to the long-term development for a business.''
CCID also predicted that the outsourcing of services to third parties and chain service stores will become the next big trend.
The survey of CCID Consulting shows that more than one-third of users received services from third party service providers and almost 90 per cent of customers expressed satisfaction with them.
"The fine segmentation of the IT market leaves plenty of room for the development of professional providers and that will be a three-win strategy for IT producers, service providers and customers,'' Zhang said.
The report also indicated that those domestic businesses which intend to seek a long-term development in the market are realizing the importance of good services and are rewarded by the market correspondingly.
Legend, the largest computer maker in China, for example, won awards for its commercial computers and servers, while another Chinese computer vendor Founder Technologies was also among the top service brands in laptops and servers.
Sources: China Daily
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