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2Q99 Customer Satisfaction Study Shows Telling Shifts in Ratings; Compaq Makes Comeback in Notebook Satisfaction; Gateway Seen as Major Competitor On the Desktop
Business Wire - August 09, 1999 07:18
HAMPTON, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 9, 1999--The second quarter 1999 Corporate IT Buying Behavior and Customer Satisfaction Study, conducted by Technology Business Research (www.tbri.com), represents the tenth consecutive quarter of tracking corporate end-user satisfaction with their desktop, Intel-based server, and laptop/notebook systems vendors. This quarter's study is based on 362 interviews with IT Managers at large U.S. corporations, predominantly during June and the first half of July, 1999. The key issues this quarter, which tend to serve as brand differentiators, include out-of-box quality, total cost of ownership, delivery time, replacement parts availability, and configuration/set-up. The quarter's results show Dell continuing to hold its top-level position across the three form factors, Compaq and Gateway making substantial gains in the ratings, and IBM recovering much of its losses over the previous quarter in the Intel server satisfaction ratings.
Sample 2Q Score Rank % Change % Change
Size 1Q99 Over 2Q99 Over
4Q98 1Q99
Intel Servers:
Dell 52 86.60 1 -2.2% 0%
Compaq 150 85.85 2 0% 0%
Hewlett-Packard 48 84.87 3 0% 0%
IBM 53 83.41 4 -8.5% +3.3%
Desktops:
Dell 107 85.71 1 -2.2% +0.9%
Gateway 36 83.62 2 -1.0% +4.4%
Compaq 100 82.46 3 -1.9% +1.5%
IBM 62 81.51 4 0% -1.0%
Hewlett-Packard 52 81.48 4 -3.4% +2.1%
Notebook:
Dell 93 83.96 1 0% 0%
Compaq 60 82.36 2 -4.0% +8.1%
IBM 105 80.07 3 -1.5% -1.1%
Toshiba 56 75.65 4 +1.8% -4.3%
Compaq (NYSE:CPQ) continues to be rated as an exceptional Intel-based server vendor, with a notable increase in on-site support satisfaction over the previous quarter. The big story this quarter, however, is Compaq's remarkable rebound in notebook satisfaction, following several quarters of disappointing satisfaction ratings primarily in regards to poor product integrity. Compaq is perceived as quite competitive in this market, although there still tends to be a greater number of DOA problems than among its competitors. Across all three form factors, Compaq's scores regarding delivery time have risen to the same level, or above, those for Dell, the traditional leader in this category.
Dell's (NASDAQ:DELL) customer satisfaction scores in the Intel server arena are consistent with the previous quarter in their level of excellence, with one exception: a significant decline is evident in the scores for server management features, viewed as poorly integrated into the enterprise environment and/or lacking substantial features. While on-site support response for desktop systems was cited as a competitive weakness for Dell in the previous quarter, the vendor has now recovered its status in this regard. Across the form factors, customer complaints regarding less aggressive volume discounting do not appear this quarter, and a new major strength for Dell has emerged by including the attribute replacement parts availability in the study.
IBM (NYSE:IBM) has recouped a significant portion of its losses over the previous quarter regarding Intel server satisfaction. While IBM customer perceptions tended to run significantly lower than the competition last quarter, this quarter points to fewer problem areas, including delivery time, out-of-box quality, and replacement parts availability, where IBM is perceived as competitively vulnerable. The principal issue this quarter, and this extends across all three form factors, is delivery time and product availability, a problem which has cost IBM its previous second place standing in the notebook arena, in spite of substantially higher ratings for product design, out-of-box quality, and overall hardware reliability versus the competition.
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP) ratings this quarter are consistent and typical with previous quarter's findings. The vendor remains strong in the Intel server arena, while on the desktop is perceived as not competitive in the area of pricing. Hewlett-Packard customers continue to focus on their vendor's lack of willingness to negotiate discounts, as well as configuration issues in terms of both complexity and cost, and difficulty in attaining replacement parts.
Gateway (NYSE:GTW) customer satisfaction ratings this quarter show a substantial improvement, including the historical problem area of technical support response. Gateway's strongest competitive area is, perhaps, with regard to replacement parts availability where the vendor's scores surpass those of the indirect vendors, for whom this is becoming more and more of an issue. Volume discounting continues as a weakness for Gateway, and its customers are beginning to suggest that this area is more important to them than in the past as this becomes a more critical issue for systems vendors courting corporate accounts.
Toshiba has lost the momentum of its temporary gains in the ratings last quarter, with scores dropping most dramatically in the areas of delivery time, product availability, and ease of set-up. The vendor's principal competitive weaknesses are overly complex (too feature-rich) product design, slow technical support response, poor availability of replacement parts, difficulty of set-up, and poor value relative to the market.
The complete study results are contained in TBR's Second Quarter 1999 Corporate IT Buying Behavior and Customer Satisfaction Study. The study represents an installed base of approximately 2.4 million systems and a purchase intent of over 550,000 systems. The report is based on interviews with MIS/IT and purchasing managers at 362 large U.S. corporations. For vendors, distributors, large end users, and the investment community, this program has become the preeminent tactical tool for monitoring customer satisfaction from quarter to quarter. A customer satisfaction research program subscription, consisting of four quarterly reports, is available for $5,000 annually to interested parties through the contacts listed below.
Complete results available to accredited journalists.
CONTACT: Technology Business Research, Inc.
Julie Perron, 603/929-1166
perron@tbri.com
or
Jon Lindy, 603/929-1166
lindy@tbri.com
or
Ed Wagner, 650/712-0355
ewagner@tbri.com
# 1 across the board. |
