Ovum has conducted a recent survey of more than 500 multinational corporations and it has found that buyers of ICT services want much much more from their global Telcos when it comes to network performance and customer support.
Principal Analyst at Ovum, David Molony, suggests that the “big six” telcos with dedicated global enterprise services namely:
- AT&T
- BT
- Orange
- T-Systems
- Verizon
- and Vodafone.
These telcos are rated hardly any better than the many upstart regional service providers in emerging telecoms markets.
Ovum’s new report*, based on its Enterprise Insights survey of ICT decision-makers and influencers, provides analysis of Chief Information-Technology Officers’ & telecoms managers’ ratings of their primary telecoms operators, where these operators are suppliers of global ICT services.
On being asked to rate their main suppliers, the respondents’ replies indicate the following:
- The effective operation and management of an efficient, reliable, and secure global network is still by a distance the most important thing that MNC users want from their telecoms suppliers. Yet even the top-scoring telco service providers scored poorly on criteria such as problem resolution, geographic coverage, and delivery to SLAs.
- The big six need to improve in account management, co-innovation with customers, and delivering value for money, three areas in which their customers gave these suppliers their lowest scores.
- Challengers such as Easynet, Interoute, Level 3, Tata Communications, and Telstra recorded some high scores, rewarding their investment efforts in customer service organizations and advanced networking.
“Our research highlights the challengers’ achievements, and we feel it sends a particularly strong message to the big six,” said Molony. “Global service providers in the telecoms industry should be treating existing contracts as if they are in continuous competitive tender. They should be looking to improve overall service performance across a range of criteria, and not just to address or improve on shortcomings.”
Overall, the big six achieved an average performance rating of 105 in global services, compared to an average score of 104 for all other service providers (maximum score 200). Among the largest telcos in global services, BT Global Services and AT&T Business Solutions get the highest ratings from their customers, with T-Systems and Vodafone Global Enterprise reaching the next-best level of performance rating.
“AT&T and BT might be most satisfied with their ratings, at least in terms of their standings against their immediate tier-1 rivals. However, all the big six global service providers should be concerned that they do not stand out from the pack that is following them,” concludes Molony.
