Resellers Vote IBM ThinkPad(R) Best Notebook
Technical Support Beats Competition by Wide Margin
SOMERS, NEW YORK (July 24, 1998) – The IBM ThinkPad family of notebook computers has taken top honors in an annual survey of value added resellers (VARs) conducted by VARBusiness, a key channel publication, reaffirming IBM’s leadership in mobile computing.
In addition to being awarded the highest overall score, with high marks garnered for display quality, power management and system performance, “IBM took the laurels for vendor technical support by a wide margin” over Toshiba, Compaq and NEC, among others. (1)
“This endorsement by the reseller community confirms IBM’s outstanding technical support and product quality,” said Adalio Sanchez, General Manager, IBM Mobile Computing. “By maintaining an ongoing dialogue with resellers and customers, ThinkPad PCs continue to set the standard for notebook PC excellence in the marketplace.”
Published in the July 20 issue of VARBusiness, the survey was based on responses from 178 resellers that graded companies on reliability, display quality, performance, pricing and profitability, vendor technical support, power management, overall design and pointing devices. The article and survey methodology can be found at http://pubs.cmpnet.com/vb/july/197pr.htm.
This recognition follows a recent poll conducted by Computer Reseller News that indicates VARs are selling more IBM ThinkPads than other brands of notebook computers. According to the article, 18 percent of small to mid-sized VARs sold more IBM ThinkPads than any other notebook.(2)
Earlier this month, IBM announced upgrades to its Business Partner Warranty Program, which rewards resellers for superior service and support. Others initiatives to surpass IBM’s high customer satisfaction levels include Knowledge Base, a new web-based problem-solving tool that “learns” from users’ initial responses, saving time and multiple steps in the support process; as well a new “relationship-based” service and support initiative, in which specially-trained support teams collaborate in an effort to dramatically improve the speed in which problems are diagnosed and resolved.
Source: IBM