Back on March 22nd I blogged about our ongoing web survey in support of VDC's 2011 Data Acquisition Solutions Market Intelligence Program and my preliminary expectations on what users might tell us. I indicated that, based on tracking this segment on and off for over a decade, I did not expect to be too surprised by the results which indicated, as expected, users are demanding greater performance from their data acquisition solutions.
However one result that did suprise me was the indication that users were demanding such improvements without overly unrealistic price expectations (i.e. a decline). Many indicated their belief that prices would either hold steady or even experience a slight increase over the next five years. Obviously there were some respondents indicating their desire to see prices decline 1% to 5% (or more) per annum but most realized or accepted the fact that "you get what you pay for".
Comparing the most most important product features and performance criteria in 2010 to those cited in our 2008 research yielded some interesting results.
Not surprisingly, accuracy remained the number one issue among users of both external chassis and modules and plug-in analog I/O boards. Interestingly it appears that suppliers are doing a better job designing their data acquisition solutions with the user in mind since ease of use did not make into the top 5 criteria in 2010 whereas it was cited by the 2nd largest share of respondents back in 2008.
Conversely it seems that data acquisition software providers may need to focus more on ensuring their data acquisition solutions are more compatible with the user's OS as it was rated #1 factor by respondents in 2010 but did not make it into top 5 criteria cited by respondents back in 2008. There are more such interesting data and insights as VDC's 2010 data provides much more granular analysis among users of external chassis & modules, plug-in analog I/O boards and data acquisition software with their preferences and requirements which were analyzed separately, whereas in the 2008 research the key performance criteria analysis was all lumped together.
However since this is only a blog and it is way too early and too public (only clients get to see the real good stuff) a venue to share the rest of this rather interesting data and story, I would tell anyone interested in learning more about this compelling user analysis to contact Bob Perugini, Account Director, for more details.
I will share more in the coming weeks as more data becomes available but rest assured it will only represent the "tip of the iceberg" in terms of data, information and insights.
My condolences to anyone that follows the two soap operas - One life to Live and All My Children that were cancelled recently. It appears that the As The World Turns soap opera still marches on. Personally I would rather have my teeth drilled than watch any of those silly things.
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