Research and Markets : Education Market Becoming Highly Specialized For IT Vendors

(PRWEB) March 25, 2005 -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c14515) has announced the addition of The Playing Field: Competitive Analysis - Education Industry Part One: Telco's & Third Party Providers to their offering

Technology and telecom vendors targeting the education sector must treat it as a highly specialized market and tailor services to it in order to succeed. With over 80% of states budgets in disarray because of cuts and tax revenue declines, this vertical will require vendors and telecom carriers to be creative with marketing and sales approaches. For example, branding and identity is very important in this vertical market, and becoming involved in the community and with schools will be a crucial step for vendors. In addition, many universities are collaborating with their state or multiple states to form alliances or obtain contracts that yield cost savings on telecom and IT services. These collaboration and partnership activities will require more administrative work for technology vendors.

A recent report found the following:

-Cost is one of the most important issues, especially when it comes to basic service contracts such as local and long distance.

-Vendors should provide solutions that target top applications such as distance learning, education portals, Web-based learning, and virtual classrooms, etc.

-Vendors should develop programs to assist in all areas of funding: federal and state grants, corporate gifts, partnerships, and community involvement.

The report The Playing Field: Competitive Analysis - Education Industry Part One: Telco's & Third Party Providers , includes vendor profiles of some of the major education service providers and third-party vendors, including systems integrators. This is Part 1 of a two-part series on vertical competitive reports. Part 2 covers the competitive landscape of the network hardware vendors in the education vertical. Twelve vendors are profiled in this study.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c14515

Laura Wood

Senior Manager

Research and Markets

press@researchandmarkets.com

Fax: +353 1 4100 980

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