TechChatTues

A2) It allows companies to spend less time managing vendors and more time supporting their core business.

Single point of contact...customer does nott need to manage multiple vendors and can have a unique service provide with high quality.

I think they will more prefer to get service from vendor directly i.e IBM

A company doesn't have to worry about finding and staffing a very broad range of skills

Having a single vendor navigate through a complex cross platform problem results in quicker uptime.

Multivendor are table stakes for the new cloud and mobile app environment; so IT becomes more strategic for overall ops

A2. Over a period of time, the fundamental of Technical Support has changed from just providing Tech support to providing Tech Support in the shortest possible time. Which can be achieved through single provider.

A2: IBM can extend the productive life of installed hardware beyond End of Service Life.

A2: Problem resolution won't be slowed by different vendor interaction and final ownership of resolution is clearly identified as IBM's responsibility.

A2 the width and breadth of expertise and knowledge IBM can bring to bear in supporting both IBM and non IBM is pretty powerful.

benefits are more app driven solutions and the key will be mgt software across all platforms

A2: To reinforce Justine's comment, IBM has over 50 years of data center support.

A2: it gives IBM unique advantage to serve as the single support service provider of clients' IT enviroment

Multiple vendors bring both business benefits of diversity and IT challenges of support

managing multiple vendors can be time consuming and expensive

A1. Also, a single vendor supporting multiple vendors has more of an agnostic view and will help the client maximize the product life of individual IT devices.

A1: one window solution always helps and it avoids ping pong situation in terms of support.

A1 I agree with Justine! Also to seamlessly integrate the support for all the different devices is the key to manage effectively!

Multiple Vendor can be increasing the TCO.

Managing multiple vendors prevents a client from focusing on their core business.

a multivendor environment make the business more complex, but depends on the strategy...I think this is applicable if the company is ok to have less cost in hardware acquisiton and more cost during hardware lifecycle...

A1: Eduardo, what are the key components of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) that you worry about?

the positive side of a multivendor environment is risk reduction. The company is not dependent of only one manufacturer...

A1. From a support perspective, customers have to manage different vendor contract end dates, gaps in coverage, and multiple relationships. It's time and resource consuming.

Most companies I talk to are not "a certain vendor shop" anymore