This IDC study draws on the results of IDC's European Vertical Markets Survey carried out in April–July 2011 in the top 5 Western European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K.) among 2,044 companies with more than 20 employees. This study provides an overview on channel selection, the criteria used by Western European companies for choosing their IT suppliers, and the level of satisfaction with primary IT suppliers. Survey results are analyzed for the following vertical markets: financial services, discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, telecom/media, utilities/oil and gas, retail/wholesale, business services/transport, government/education, and healthcare.

"Although indirect channels are still the primary choice overall, direct purchases are on the rise as end users try to cut channel costs and as cloud promotes a certain level of disintermediation particularly for SaaS offerings," said Serena Da Rold, program manager, IDC European Industry Solutions. "Customer service and price or TCO remain the top selectioncriteria for IT suppliers across most vertical markets, reflecting the continuing attention to costs and the ever-tighter relationship needed with IT vendors as clients tend to buy fewer point products and more end-to-end solutions."