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Dell leads in corporate PC satisfaction 
Monday, August 13 2001
by Matthew Clark


In the midst of a scramble among computer makers to survive and excel in the
slumping industry, TBR reports that Dell leads the way in customer satisfaction. 

In Technology Business Research's (TBR) "2Q01 Corporate IT Buying Behavior and
Customer Satisfaction Study," Dell Computer leads the industry in customer
satisfaction in all three categories of Intel servers, desktops and notebook
computers. 



The survey, based on the responses of 535 IT managers at large U.S. corporations
interviewed between April and July 2001, was largely driven by pricing issues,
according to TBR. "The overall satisfaction ratings these customers ascribe to
their desktop vendors are chiefly influenced by perceived costs of ownership and
depth of discounts received," the analysts said. 



Dell's rating in the survey for customer satisfaction in the Intel server
category represents a move back into first place for the computer giant after
falling behind Compaq in the first quarter of 2001. TBR attributes this rebound,
as well as Dell's strength in all three categories, to its aggressive price
cutting in a marketplace being driven out of necessity by cost issues.



Despite Dell's overall strength in the survey, the study had revealed gradually
declining satisfaction among Dell customers during the past three quarters, and
Dell has rebounded from a large portion of those losses during the quarter.



In the customer satisfaction for Intel servers, Dell ranked first with a score of
86.8, followed Compaq, HP and IBM, with scores of  84.4, 81.7 and 81.1
respectively.



In desktop satisfaction Dell again ranked first with a score of 87, followed by
Compaq, HP, IBM and Gateway.



Finally in notebook satisfaction, Dell leads with 83.3 followed by IBM, Compaq
and Toshiba. 



TBR's conclusion is that Dell's lead in the survey is the result of three pricing
attributes measured in the study: price/performance, cost of ownership and volume
discounting. Additionally, the company noted the razor thin margins in
satisfaction between Dell and Compaq and said the survey would have resulted in a
tie if Compaq's satisfaction ratings for the "pricing attributes" were equal
to those for Dell. 



The company highlighted a variety of strengths and weakness for all companies in
the survey, saying that Compaq continues to score well above the competition for
its server management software. But Gateway's desktop satisfaction ratings
"continue to show no sign of improvement," TBR said. While price seems to be
the biggest concern for computer buyers, Gateway's performance suggests there are
issues of reliability and support that PC makers must contend with beyond price,
the report said. 



Also, IBM's satisfaction ratings seem to be the most consistent from quarter to
quarter and the vendor continues to fall behind the competition due to issues
with the delivery mechanism. While IBM enjoys some strength in the mobile arena
not shared by Dell, including global support availability and product design,
poor product delivery and availability have compromised the vendor due to their
high relative weights. There are signs, however, that IBM is countering Dell's
aggressive pricing deals in the notebook sector.



The study represents an installed base of more than 3 million systems and a
purchase intent of around 850,000 systems. 





The news from TBR echoes what Gartner Dataquest said in April when it ranked Dell
in first place for worldwide industry sales with 4.16 million units shipped.
Gartner's survey placed Compaq and HP in second and third with 3.94 million and
2.38 million respectively. 



According to that report, Dell accounted for more than 95 percent of overall
growth in global industry unit shipments. Analysts have estimated that the
company's volumes rose nearly ten times faster than the combined industry rate,
as Dell's market share increased by almost three percent since Q4 2000.