Telemark Consulting, a leading market intelligence firm specializing in customer satisfaction for the telecommunications industry, announces the publication of its 13th worldwide survey of users' who rated their satisfaction levels with IP Business Services provided by the core international operators: AT&T, BT, Cable & Wireless, Equant, BT Infonet, MCI and NTT on 32 service attributes. Ranked in order of importance to customers, all operators can see which service criteria matters most or least to customers while assessing their relative competitive performance against benchmark values. The report reveals that in general the overall level of customer satisfaction has increased since the last report. Equant achieved "Best in Class" status overall based on how customers think and feel - the combined overall satisfaction.
According to Janet Watkin, Director at Telemark, "I believe the increase in customer satisfaction levels that Telemark observed among multinational enterprises is indicative of changes in user perceptions of the Service Providers' ability and commitment to deliver improved quality and service underpinned by a faster responsiveness to needs. After some years of major organizational upheaval and heavy financial losses, the return to top ranked operator is a magnificent milestone for Equant. I believe it symbolizes renewed confidence in Equant.
The report highlights the fact that customers are expecting even more quality and service for the same or less money. BT appears to have responded well to this challenge and is perceived as the 'Best in Class' operator for the "Indispensable to Customers" category - the top three service attributes that matter most to customers (Network Reliability, Value for Money and Secure Data Transfer). In addition to this category award BT is 'Best in Class' for 9 service attributes. By adding the 6 top notch performances achieved by BT Infonet (now a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Global Services), to BT's already impressive tally this totals 15 out of 32 areas of service where BT outshines rivals.
AT&T's satisfaction levels with Network Availability and Operation Guarantees were rated 'Best in Class'. These performances, along with a significant increase in customer satisfaction with End to End Network Management, highlight Network Operation as a key strength for AT&T.
NTT is perceived as the highest rating operator all round when it comes to Billing. Over the past two years, customer satisfaction with NTT has significantly increased in the areas of Meeting Requirements, Network Operation and Pricing.
Cable & Wireless and MCI were hit the hardest, in terms of customer satisfaction scores, over recent years. However, this latest report highlights a high number of attributes where customer satisfaction has increased significantly since the last report for both operators. MCI is especially successful at satisfying customers in the area of Pricing.
It will be interesting, nevertheless, to see what the future holds with the large number of mergers, acquisitions and organizational changes still taking place among a significant portion of global operators. The beauty of Telemark's reports is the monitoring features that show operators the impact of major organizational and environmental changes on customer satisfaction levels. For example, by and large, BT Infonet's excellent and consistently top performances have not deteriorated by any perceivable extent following the BT purchase of Infonet."
Please contact Telemark Services Ltd. for a free Executive Summary of the latest findings.
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