Hewlett-Packard Makes Substantial Gains in Corporate IT Satisfaction Study

Hewlett-Packard made substantial gains in the third quarter 1999 Corporate IT Buying Behavior & Customer Satisfaction Study, while Compaq saw its momentum wane, particularly in notebook satisfaction. The study, conducted by Technology Business Research, shows that Dell extended its lead in all three form factors, with Hewlett-Packard improving its Intel server and desktop ratings. Gateway and Toshiba remained relatively unchanged, with Gateway's technical support response returning to past problems.

Key Takeaways:

• Dell extended its lead in all three form factors, Intel server, desktop, and laptop/notebook systems.
• Hewlett-Packard made substantial gains in Intel server and desktop satisfaction, with improvements in delivery time and out-of-box quality.
• Compaq lost its preferred position next to Dell at the top of the Intel server satisfaction ratings and saw a leveling off of its previous gains, particularly in notebooks.
• Gateway held onto its gains in the ratings from the previous quarter, with strength in price/performance, but returned to problems in technical support response.
• Toshiba remained at the bottom of the ranking for notebook satisfaction, with significant below-average satisfaction scores across multiple attributes.

Statistics:

• 392 interviews with IT Managers at large U.S. corporations were conducted during August and early September 1999.
• 2.6 million systems are represented in the study's installed base.
• 650,000 systems are accounted for in the study's purchase intent.
• $5,000 annually is the cost of a customer satisfaction research program subscription, consisting of four quarterly reports.

Sources:

• "Hewlett-Packard Most Improved Vendor; Compaq Server Satisfaction Waning" by Technology Business Research, www.tbri.com.
• 3Q99 Corporate IT Buying Behavior & Customer Satisfaction Study by Technology Business Research, www.tbri.com.