Vertical Industry Networking Spending Will Vary in 2010

Earlier this year, I reported that 49% of mid-sized (i.e. less than 1,000 employees) and enterprise (i.e. greater than 1,000 employees) will increase network hardware spending in 2010. Well I went back and cut the ESG 2010 IT Spending Data for fun this week and here is what I learned:1. Network hardware spending varies widely by industry. On the plus side, 82% of financial services firms, 56% of health care organizations, and 50% of federal government agencies will increase their spending on network hardware. It is not quite as sunny elsewhere, 45% of manufacturing firms, 38% of state/local governments, and 38% of educational institutions will increase network hardware spending.2. Psychographic data matters. Respondents that said their firms were on the cutting edge of IT and those who believe that upper management has a culture of taking risks are far more likely to purchase network hardware in 2010 than more conservative or risk averse firms. 3. Industries have different priorities. For example, while 25% of financial services firms will purchase WLAN equipment, 70% of educational institutions and 52% of state and local governments will do so.All in all this data confirms a theory that I’ve long had — There is no such thing as “horizontal marketing” anymore. Yes, every organizations need networking equipment but they have different requirements and different drivers. Banks want to improve business processes while health care facilities are focused on improving communications and security.Networking vendors must recognize these trends and adopt a vertical marketing strategy that fits their busiess model. Those that eschew this advice and stick with “speeds and feeds” do so at their own peril.