Gas is expensive … inflation is rising … yada, yada, yada… where should solutions providers focus their efforts amid the economic turmoil? Finally, some answers from OnForce, the online marketplace for IT service providers. OnForce has analyzed recent trends within its marketplace, and spotted some key areas of opportunity for solutions providers.

Here are the Q2 IT trends, lifted directly from OnForce’s blog:

  • Fastest growing categories: Consumer Electronics, Point of Sale and VoIP showed the greatest quarter-over-quarter growth. We attribute this to the continued adoption of these technologies in stores, hotels, restaurants and schools across the US. Those IT service firms who have truly national coverage are bidding on, and winning, more rollout projects than ever.
  • Highest priced categories: VoIP / Telephony topped this list, as it did in Q1. What’s more, VoIP is getting even more expensive than it was in Q1, relative to other categories. In Q1, VoIP was 50% more expensive than the average IT category; in Q2, it was 95% more expensive than the average. If you’re a VAR or solution provider and you’re not offering services in VoIP / Telephony, you’re leaving margin dollars on the table.
  • Highest volume cities: This list of top IT service markets was similar to Q1, with Houston taking over the top spot. New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Miami rounded out the list. The fastest risers on this list included Phoenix, Charlotte, Birmingham and Cincinnati. The biggest fallers included Orlando, Richmond, as well as Boston and Irvin, which fell out of the top 25 altogether.

Now, some observations from The VAR Guy:

  • Windows Vista: The non-trend. Microsoft has hired Jerry Seinfeld to pitch Vista. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” but companies for the most part are holding firm with Windows XP. If Vista was gaining traction, solutions providers would be telling The VAR Guy to stop dismissing the operating system.
  • Open Source: Over the next year or two, The VAR Guy expects more and more Point of Sale and VoIP projects to involve open source solutions. Companies to watch include Openbravo and these four open source VoIP specialists.
  • Beyond the US: OnForce recently pushed into Canada, and also is exploring opportunities in Europe. Over time, OnForce could emerge as a global Google Maps of sorts, allowing VARs (and lazy anonymous bloggers…) to more easily pinpoint IT trends worldwide.
  • Small Business Server: Microsoft just launched the latest SBS. The VAR Guy thinks software as a service (SaaS) will squeeze on-site SBS deployments over the next few years. But over the short term, it would be interesting to see whether OnForce marketplace participants are seeing demand for SBS in their markets.

OnForce, by the way, is releasing its reports and observations on a quarterly basis.

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2 Comments on “OnForce Says What’s Hot, What’s Not In IT Services”

  1. Matt Johnston Says:
    August 26th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

    TVG –

    If any of your readers have a research question about the IT services industry (eg: the hottest brand of POS or VoIP, the cities that offer the greatest volume, growth or margin, etc), we’d be happy to research our market data to provide answers that can inform their decisions and investments.

    Of course, the same applies to you, VAR Guy.

    Best,
    Matt Johnston
    VP of Marketing, OnForce
    http://www.onforce.com

  2. void telephone service providers Says:
    August 28th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

    hi,
    Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is technology that provides telephone service over the Internet. The first kind of VOIP service was computer to computer communication. The cost savings to consumers is a plus for VOIP.

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