Enterprise Hardware - Network Storage (NAS/SAN)

Till last year, we were using the name large volume storage for this category. However, since we reached out to smaller organizations this time, we felt it would be apt to change the name to network storage (NAS/SAN). In both survey segments, we found HP, IBM and Dell taking the top three spots in that order, with HP taking the Users' Choice award in this category across both segments.

One thing to note is that brand awareness for this category is very low amidst the 100-499 employee enterprises, which is clearly visible when we compare list of brands that made it to the club in this segment vs those in the larger enterprise list. The larger enterprise space is far more competitive.

When it comes to brand loyalty scores, Dell is the only brand to enjoy 100% brand loyal customers in the 100-499 employee enterprises. With a strong current brand ownership of 42% complemented by a brand loyalty score of 84%, HP still emerges a promising brand for the smaller organizations. Only 65% of the current IBM customers are likely to stay with the brand which is the lowest in this employee category. The score is far more promising for IBM in the 500-1000 employee category where it enjoys a brand loyalty of 83%. HDS and NetApp enjoy 100% brand loyal customers in this category.

In the reasons for choosing a future brand, 81% respondents are likely to choose IBM in the 100-499 category for its brand value. This figure is even higher than that for the winner of the category, HP. We did notice though that fewer respondents favored IBM for the initial price as compared to HP in this space. In large enterprise space, both HP and IBM enjoy almost an equal brand value favoring respondents for their future choice. Here again, we noticed that a higher percentage of respondents favored HP over IBM in the 500-1000 employee enterprises for initial price, and after sales service/support.

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