Loyalty study zeroes in on tech stalwarts

New research indicates that many household names of the IT industry, including Dell and Microsoft, have been able to capture lasting feelings of customer loyalty.

According to Walker Information's annual Loyalty Report for Information Technology, released Sunday, those that have the most devoted customers are Cisco Systems, Dell, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Network Appliance, Oracle and SAP. The research company, which is based in Indianapolis, garnered its findings via surveys filled out by roughly 13,000 corporate IT decision makers, ranging from chief information officers to systems maintenance personnel.

Not all well-known IT companies fared well. Among the vendors Walker ranked in its "loyalty limbo and laggards" grouping were some big-name providers, including 3Com, Apple Computer, Computer Associates, EDS, Intel, McAfee, Nortel Networks, Novell, PeopleSoft, Symantec and Sun Microsystems. It's worth pointing out that HP's services group put the company on the leaders' list in that market segment, one of five that Walker looked at, but the company got lesser rankings in each of the other areas. Conversely, IBM's computer software efforts fell short, but it excelled in all other areas.

Besides computer software and professional services, the study also looked at networking equipment, servers and workstations, and storage devices. The computer software market produced the highest number of loyal customers. Networking equipment makers had the lowest percentage of devoted fans.

Walker arrives at its rankings through detailed interviews that charted buyers' feelings on everything from product quality to customer service and post-sales support. Of all the IT buyers interviewed for the report, only 44 percent said they feel loyal to a majority of their suppliers, 30 percent feel "trapped" by at least some of their vendors, and almost 25 percent are actively looking to swap their IT providers for somebody different.

At first glance, the idea that profitable companies have dedicated customers may seem elementary, but Phillip Bounsall, executive vice president at Walker, argues that his company's study debunks the notion that the correlation is a given.

"Just because a customer is buying your products, that doesn't make them truly loyal," Bounsall said. "Some customers may buy only because they feel there's nothing better available, or because their budgets only allow them certain options. The truth is that only a handful of IT vendors have created that feeling of real devotion."

According to Bounsall, marketing efforts and financial viability also played a significant role in weighting respondents' emotions regarding their vendors, but in the end the companies who achieved the highest praise were those who have employed the most customer-oriented business processes.

"Brand is a significant driver, and people do subscribe somewhat to the 'safety in choice' mentality of going with market leaders in some cases," he said. "But the more you look at the companies with the most loyal customers, you see how these are the vendors that have literally put customers at the center of their business models."

[mikeohanlon]

Headline changes?

I've gotta think that the headline should really refer to
"ITmanagerhold" names rather than "household" names. I would
venture to guess that if the same survey was put to consumers
or users at large the results, particularly in the case of Apple and
HP systems would be dramatically different.
Mike

[alek_nedic]

IT manager hold

http://www.analogstereo.com/satellite_radio_antenna.htm

[Clues]

Re: Loyalty Report for Information Technology

In over two decades every loyalty measurement made by
independent research and polls has shown only one company
leading in loyalty by a very large margin. Also the same company
has led the product quality and customer satisfaction in these
assessments.

It's very unlikely that 'these' customers were included and some
extreme measures must have been taken to exclude this
companies users from the data reported. This report has the
same smell of any Microsoft "independent survey" where the
results are given by MS and then no attempt is made to verify
these results, that are to be achieved. They are simply "released"
as an authoritative assessment to media who report this
brainless drivel. I doubt very much that anyone reading this post
is in doubt about who the company is that has always
maintained the undisputed loyalty lead for over two decades but
just in case you just landed from Mars is Apple.

[rbannon]

Yes, I agree, 100% so.

It amazing, I think these PC writers are actually living in a very
strange world, possibly a Brave New World. Their anti-Apple bias
is comical.

[jbelkin]

Typical PR Study

This is like one of those tax-payer paid studies that tells us wearing black clothes at night is dangerous or maybe drinking 25 cups of coffee is not good for you.

And clearly, many nitwits in IT didn't read the survey questions very closely about not counting the lowest bidder or having no other choice as 'loyalty'.

And of course, with IT budgets being scrutinized, companies being risk averse and the only people left in corporate IT careers as bureaucrats - never mind that their top 5 choices are leakjy sieves of viruses, patches, spyware and spam.

Their answers are as imaginative as they are:
a) why woould they question their own choices? b) they're afraid to rock the boat on a personal & professional level and c) they're just going to answer the way they expect people to answer - you might as well ask them wat they don't like about their own religious choice?

But for risk averse bureaucrats IT folks, this will go up on their shelf along with other MS-paid for studies - you can count on that.