Survey: Enterprise application vendors offer satisfactory support

Sometimes organizations learn the hard way that they don't really know much about a major software program until after it is implemented. Fortunately, the five largest enterprise application vendors provide highly satisfying, post-implementation customer support, according to a survey just released by International Data Corp.

Noting that support service can be vital in making the most of core applications, IDC analyst Elaina Stergiades says that a bad experience is a key reason companies change providers and this makes for a competitive vendor environment. "Given the importance of support services to a customer's overall experience, vendors are constantly evaluating and refining their offerings to ensure that they are offering the services and packages that best meet their clients' needs," Stergiades says.

However, despite the critical role that support services play, enterprises don't always factor them in sufficiently when choosing vendors. The survey, which went out to more than 1000 IT professionals across the globe, found that Hewlett Packard leads the way in customer satisfaction with support, and Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and IBM follow closely behind.

For more:
- see the IDC Survey announcement

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