UK communications managers frustrated at service quality

Professional association lays down challenge for providers

Britain's leading telecoms managers are deeply frustrated at the quality of service provided by their suppliers, according to the 15th annual survey of the UK Communications Management Association.

CMA members, who spend £13 billion (NZ$32 billion) annually on communications equipment and services, want significant improvements in the quality of service, according to Glen Powell, the organisation's chief executive.

"We challenge the industry to better the customer experiences and value for money that businesses are currently being offered and we call on the suppliers to redouble their efforts to deliver a quality service," says Powell.

"The all encompassing reach of IP, enterprise mobility and unified communications, and the arrival of next generation networks, makes it critical that our members' companies get the service they need," says Powell.

The quality of fixed line services was particularly criticised by CMA members. The report noted that Verizon Business was the best performer in the market, but added the "performance conceals an overall quality of service from the industry that still remains resolutely below the level at which customers could be described as satisfied".

In the mobile market, the survey noted higher satisfaction levels than in 2006, "however overall satisfaction levels have not yet regained the scores achieved in 2005."

Despite this frustration, more than 90% of end users thought their spending on IP services would either increase again or stay the same in the next 12 months. Some 86% said their company's spending on mobile would either increase or stay the same over the period.

However, these results were gathered in August 2007, before the impact of the credit crunch filtered through to IT budgets.

More than two thirds of organisations now see voice over IP as a key element of their company's collaboration strategy, but VoIP implementations proved difficult to implement. Some 52% said their company's migration to VoIP had been more complex than expected, the survey revealed.

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Tags Networking & Telecomms IDquality of serviceuk communications management association

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