The Dataquest-IDC India Customer Satisfaction Audit 2004 went a little beyond
assessing how satisfied the CIO was. It also tried to ascertain the CIO's
perception of a particular brand. So CIOs were asked to tell us what came to
their mind when they thought of a particular brand.
In this second installment of the CSA 2004, we list the top five things CIOs
commonly associate with a brand in a particular line of business. Just a word of
caution, it maybe not be entirely correct to associate the perceptual ranking
with the satisfaction scores, some of the respondents were not present
customers.
HCL Infosystems Over one fourth of respondents surveyed see HCL’s desktop business as
customer oriented. But only a 17% of the respondents say that it is
professionally managed. And a similar number find HCL with a strong R&D base
in the desktop business. One cause for concern for the company could be the fact
that only one in five respondents find HCL providing the required QoS as far as
desktops were concerned. And a similar number of respondents say that HCL is a
reliable, trusted and dependable brand. Also in terms of image, HCL scored low.
Customer recovery is no more an issue for HCL now and therefore it is time for
HCL to spruce up the image.
Wipro While nearly one in three respondents see Wipro’s desktop business as being
customer oriented, another 29% find it as a professionally managed business for
Wipro. But it is not rated quite high when it comes to a range of desktop
variants offered.
Despite Wipro’s near MNC image and a huge mind share, only one in four
respondents find it as the one which provides the required level of service, and
one that it is prompt to react. The respondents’ perception of Wipro as an
innovator of technology is also not very high. The top four out of the five
perceptual parameters are more to do with the image, Wipro must look at
strengthening its product offering in the desktop space to ensure a satisfied
customer.
HP-Compaq The one attribute that nearly two-thirds of the respondents associate with HP
is its innovation, even in the area of desktops. And it would need no rocket
scientist to do that. Only about half of the respondents see at it as a company
that values the customers’ time and a similar number say that HP is prompt to
respond. HP’s performance as being customer-oriented is not as high especially
in comparison to other parameters. But interestingly HP performs much better
than Indian desktop brands. A part of this effect can be attributed to the
advertising blitzkrieg that HP keeps running. In a striking contrast, the Indian
companies are missing from the billboard.
IBM Big Blue is a trusted name in notebook computers with more than two thirds of
the respondents finding it as a trust-worthy and reliable brand and an innovator
as far as the notebooks category is concerned.
In comparison, IBM is not seen as a company that is prompt to respond and
provide the required level of service. Interestingly, nearly 56% of the
customers do not find IBM’s notebook business being one that is customer
oriented. Sensitivity to customer needs coupled with a quick response is what a
troubled notebook customer demands more of from IBM. IBM’s perception on all
these parameters is higher than what competitors are getting to, but then is it
the average IBM customer more demanding? Most likely, no IBM comes without a
premium.
HP-Compaq The HP-Compaq desktop and notebook business has three common top attributes.
The one attribute that surprisingly was missing from its desktop line of
business but is found here is that a large number of respondents look at it as
being professionally managed and also as a line of business that is customer
oriented.
Just 45% of respondents say that HP has a very strong base when it comes to a
strong R&D base for notebooks. Relatively, however, not many respondents
perceive that HP provides the required level of service and that it is always
prompt to react. Companies need to re-look at their escalation processes
especially for notebooks where the customer expectations of service levels are
definitely higher when compared to a desktop. And it was for notebooks that not
many respondents feel that HP has a range of products to match different needs.
Toshiba Toshiba’s wide range of notebook offering features as one of the top five
attributes that are associated with the Toshiba notebooks. Toshiba executives
should be happy to know this especially when they have been communicating the
message of a notebook at every price point.
The perception among respondents that Toshiba notebooks don’t come with the
required level of service is largely due to a function performed by HCL here in
India. Just about 30% of the customers think response time is not as small as it
should be and the service received is not as prompt, again a fact that HCL must
introspect about. A marginally higher number (31%) of customers think that HCL
is equipped with an efficient team.
HP-Compaq
Close to half of the respondents say that HP-Compaq is unable to provide the
required quality of service for its servers. This number is rather especially
high when viewed in comparison to other perceptual factors like HP being
considered an innovator. And coming close is the perception among respondents
that HP is low on valuing customers’ time. And just 53% of the respondents
find that HP is prompt to respond when issues related to servers are concerned.
All these issues share the common thread of service levels. And service
happens to be a critical area especially for the CIO, a finding that has been
highlighted in the CSA 2004 too. And when associating with a brand like HP,
customers’ expectations of service levels obviously get ballooned. The
organizations either need to match expectations or ensure that the customer
expectations don’t get heightened.
HCL
HCL’s server team has done a good job. HCL’s server team is viewed as one
that is professional and is a perception that occupies the second position after
it being considered an efficient team. While the percentages are small, but the
striking perceptual change over categories speaks about the company’s handling
of this line of business.
HCL’s introduction of servers put together for the harsh Indian conditions
has earned it a perception that it innovates on the technology front too.
However, a downside is that just about one in every respondent perceives that
HCL has the capability to provide the range of servers that an organization
needs today. And HCL also needs to improve its perception among the enterprise
about the quality of service it currently offers.
Wipro
Wipro’s server line of business is perceived as innovative and
professionally managed. But ironically, perceptually it scores quite low on its
reaction time to serve complaints and issues. And also customers don’t find
Wipro as a company that will be able to offer a wide range of servers to suit
individual organizational needs.
Interestingly, customers perceive Wipro as company that produces servers
after a fair amount of R&D and backs its products with good warranty and
support. But again, like most companies in the industry, is not able to match
the required level of service. This perception is seen across product segments
for most organizations. With a large number of mission critical applications
running on the infrastructure, CIO has no other option, but be as demanding as
it allows.
SAP The top five perceptual parameters seem to have everything going SAP’s way.
But just about 40% of the respondents’ feel that SAP is ready to react and
almost a same number of respondents feel that the company values its customers’
time-something that should push SAP executives to put on their thinking hats.
Another aspect that points to a similar area of concern is that just 43% of
the respondents feel that SAP has an efficient team and a similar number pointed
to SAP providing the required level of service.
The actual reality and the perceived reality may be different. In buying
behavior a common factor that was observed was that respondents lacked a certain
trust in the SAP manpower and not SAP per se.
Oracle Only 39% of the respondents find that Oracle delivers the required level of
service and a similar number are of the opinion that it is an efficient team.
And to add to all of this, just a little more (42%) think that the company
values its customers’ time.
While the perceptual parameters that come on top indicate that respondents
keep Oracle, as an organization, in high esteem, the story when it comes to
people is a little different.
Either respondents are looking at a greater degree of hand holding or want
the staff to be readily available. Whatever it is, the expectations are not
being met. As a result the perceptions that respondents have about these brands
are taking a beating.
PeopleSoft/JD Edwards The presence of PeopleSoft as compared to other toppers in the enterprise
applications space is a lot low key. The one perception that most respondents
have about the company is that it is professionally managed. And that figure
stands at a miniscule 17%. The perception about others as compared to PeopleSoft
would make them look like case studies to emulate.
Just about 11% respondents think that the company has a strong R&D base.
A perception of this kind would definitely make selling a difficult task to
handle in any industry.
In comparison to its perception about R&D, a greater number feel that
PeopleSoft has a team that is efficient. This perception for the others in the
space is not as high but the proportion of respondents who look at others in
this light outshines the perception that respondents have about People Soft.
CMS An extremely small number of respondents actually find CMS as a company that
has a strong R&D base and only one in ten respondent feels that CMS has an
efficient team. But then CMS has been an underdog of the IT services space and
the numbers therefore are not very high as compared to the perception about
other players in this space.
Relatively a greater number of respondents see it as a company that is fast
to respond. Its nimbleness also comes from its comparatively smaller size. And
this perception is further bulwarked by the perception that CMS can offer a wide
range of services.
CMS lacks the advantage of a cascading effect on perception that others have
managed by virtue of their presence either in the hardware space or in other
areas that provide the organizations with a high recall thereby directly
improving perception along a number of lines.
Wipro
Wipro’s services business is also seen as one that is professionally
managed. And again it is seen as a trusted and reliable company. Wipro’s
presence in other categories has given it an advantage. But the numbers here too
have a long way to go before Wipro can think of taking a breather.
The one perception about Wipro that is most common is that it is a trusted
company and yet only 40% of the respondents feel that way. Just about one third
of the respondents felt that Wipro provides the required QoS. A perception about
service level in the service industry doesn’t speak much about how respondents
look at the company.
And to compound matters, even a smaller number of respondents feel Wipro is
fast to respond. Perception about Wipro’s range of service offerings too
cannot be rated as satisfactory. Its time now for the company to take stock of
what the enterprise CIOs perceive it to be.
Mohit Chhabra in New Delhi Research and
analysis by Tirthankar Sen, senior market analyst (end-user research), IDC India
Ltd
