A recent study conducted by Computer Economics indicates that, while there are a few exceptions, most software vendors are receiving mediocre or negative customer support satisfaction ratings from their customers. The study, which concluded in 3Q02, involved over 30 organizations across a variety of industry sectors. The study did not pinpoint specific applications, instead it rated the overall customer support satisfaction that end users have with their major software vendors.
Companies that received the highest marks included IBM, Compaq, and SAP – which led all vendors with an 80% “very satisfied†rating. Companies that received the highest number of “not satisfied†votes included Sun, Computer Associates, SAS, and Oracle.
Figure 1 details the findings of the software vendor customer support satisfaction survey.
| Satisfaction With Customer Support From Software Vendors | |||
| Vendor | Very Satisfied |
Fairly Satisfied |
Not Satisfied |
| BMC | 16.7% | 83.3% | – % |
| Candle | 40.0 | 60.0 | – |
| Cognos | 25.0 | 75.0 | – |
| Compaq | 60.0 | 40.0 | – |
| Computer Associates | 17.6 | 58.8 | 23.5 |
| HP | 33.3 | 58.3 | 8.3 |
| IBM | 64.3 | 35.7 | – |
| Information Builders | – | 100.0 | – |
| Microsoft | 20.8 | 70.8 | 8.3 |
| Network Associates | 36.4 | 63.6 | – |
| Novell | 46.2 | 46.2 | 7.7 |
| Oracle | 42.9 | 35.7 | 21.4 |
| PeopleSoft | – | 100.0 | – |
| SAP | 80.0 | 20.0 | – |
| SAS | 25.0 | 50.0 | 25.0 |
| Sun | 11.1 | 66.7 | 22.2 |
| Sterling | 33.3 | 50.0 | 16.7 |
| Sybase | – | 100.0 | – |
| Symantec | 33.3 | 66.7 | – |
| Figure 1 | |||
January 2003