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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Calvin who wrote (156851)	5/8/2000 2:14:00 PM
From: D.J.Smyth	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 176387

Dell ranks #1 in satisfaction survey - May 8 - ragingbull.com Compaq The Most Improved Vendor in 1Q00 Customer Satisfaction; Dell Resolves Delivery and Notebook Availability Problems Monday May 8 7:03am Source: BusinessWire HAMPTON, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2000--Technology Business Research (www.tbri.com) just completed its First Quarter 2000 Corporate IT Buying Behavior and Customer Satisfaction Study, part of a quarterly tracking service measuring corporate end-user satisfaction with desktop, Intel-based server and laptop/notebook systems vendors. This quarter's study is based on the opinions of 550 IT managers at large U.S. corporations from interviews conducted between mid-January and early April 2000. The principle shifts in rankings this quarter involve Compaq moving up two positions in the desktop segment and up to second position in the notebook segment, in both cases displacing IBM to No. 5 in desktops and No. 3 in notebook satisfaction. -0- T Sample 1Q Score Rank Percentage Percentage Size Change 4Q99 Change 1Q00 over 3Q99 over 4Q99 Intel Servers: Dell 71 88.23 1 0% 0% Hewlett-Packard 57 87.86 2 -1.0% +2.0% Compaq 151 87.01 3 +3.1% 0% IBM 52 83.55 4 -1.0% 0% Desktops: Dell 101 88.99 1 0% 0% Compaq 99 86.01 2 0% +4.0% Hewlett-Packard 63 83.87 3 -1.5% 0% Gateway 54 82.70 4 -2.8% +2.1% IBM 73 81.55 5 +2.8% -2.0% Notebook: Dell 97 86.71 1 0% +3.1% Compaq 77 81.99 2 -1.9% +3.8% IBM 82 80.25 3 +2.7% -1.4% Toshiba 77 77.73 4 +2.3% 0% The weighted customer satisfaction scores TBR uses as a means of ranking the systems' vendors are based on a calculation where each satisfaction score for each attribute is weighted by the stated importance of each attribute. These are tallied based on a scale of 100 points. Overall satisfaction and customer loyalty ratings are given the highest relative weights. T Compaq (NYSE: CPQ) customers in this quarter's satisfaction ratings are in very strong agreement regarding their positive experiences with Compaq across the three form factors. Compaq has managed to overcome many of its past challenges, particularly regarding technical support issues. The company's support satisfaction ratings show strong improvement in both the desktop and notebook segments. An additional finding that is a break from the past is that customer loyalty toward Compaq is increasing and defections from Compaq to alternate vendors over the past year have decreased. Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) customer satisfaction scores this quarter have remained constant overall, while the vendor increased its lead in the notebook segment substantially over the competition. The most significant finding is that Dell recovered from steadily declining scores in both delivery (desktops and notebooks) and notebook availability, which began in 1Q99. Scores now have rebounded to the all-time highs seen in 4Q98, contributing to rising scores in overall satisfaction and placing Dell at an enviable position over all competitors. Perhaps a sign of maturity, Dell's typical pattern of exceeding customer expectations for all attributes has settled back slightly, although the vendor continues to either fully meet or exceed expectations. Gateway (NYSE: GTW) customer satisfaction ratings show a slight improvement over previous quarters, primarily in the historically difficult area of technical support response (call center support). While cited as a clear competitive weakness in past quarters, technical support response for Gateway has lifted to neutral this quarter. Gateway's satisfaction ratings are exceptional regarding replacement parts availability and price/performance, the former of which appears to be Gateway's method of restoring customer confidence in spite of some reliability issues with new systems. When replacement parts arrive sooner than expected, the customer reports a positive experience, even though a part may have been defective. With an increase in satisfaction across most server satisfaction attributes, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HWP) is viewed as an excellent support provider, particularly in the areas of on-site support response and expertise, in addition to remote automated diagnostics. These are strengths not shared by any of HP's Intel-server competitors. HP is an average competitor on the corporate desktop, although its satisfaction ratings for support have rebounded from the past quarter when they were cited as areas of vulnerability. HP's customer loyalty ratings are exceptional this quarter, particularly in the server segment, where very few customers are able to come up with any complaints at all. IBM (NYSE: IBM) satisfaction scores tend to settle around the B+ grade level, indicating there is general satisfaction with the vendor. However, when the competition tends to average around the A- level, IBM appears to be at a disadvantage. The reason for this is a high variability of response among IBM customers, an outcome of varying customer experiences and the byproduct of an inconsistent vendor. IBM scores well in the product areas (hardware performance, design and reliability); however, IBM scores below the competition in customer service areas, including the unresolved delivery and availability issues (both notebook systems and replacement parts), support response, configuration complexity and pricing/cost of ownership. Toshiba's satisfaction scores are unchanged from the previous quarter and the vendor continues to rate below the competition. While IBM has been displaced from No. 2 to No. 3 in the notebooks satisfaction rankings based on customer service issues alone, Toshiba's weighted satisfaction score is the consequence of below-average scores across various attributes, including reliability. Toshiba's customer loyalty rating is much lower than those of its competitors are and greater than 20% lower than Dell's rating. The complete study results are contained in TBR's First Quarter 2000 Corporate IT Buying Behavior and Customer Satisfaction Study. The study represents an installed base of 2.5 million systems and purchase intent of more than 550,000 systems. 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