36 Largest Telecommunications and Networking Firms Ranked on How They Treat Online Customers in Fourth Quarter 2004 Online Customer Respect Study.BOSTON Boston, town, England Boston, town (1991 pop. 26,495), E central England, on the Witham River. Boston's fame as a port dates from the 13th cent., when it was a Hanseatic port trading wool and wine. Having recovered from a decline in the 18th and 19th cent. -- Industry Segment Scores Better Than Average; But Nearly One-half of Surveyed Firms Still Share Personal Data With Third Parties Without Permission The Customer Respect Group, an international research and consulting firm Noun 1. consulting firm - a firm of experts providing professional advice to an organization for a fee consulting company business firm, firm, house - the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments; "he worked for a that focuses on how corporations treat their customers online, today released the results of its Fourth Quarter 2004 Online Customer Respect Study of the largest Telecommunications Communicating information, including data, text, pictures, voice and video over long distance. See communications. and Networking firms. Overall, Motorola (Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL, www.motorola.com) A leading manufacturer of semiconductor devices, electronics, telecommunications and satellite systems. Founded in Chicago in 1928 by Paul V. scored highest among Network and Communications Equipment companies, while Harris Corporation Harris Corporation NYSE: HRS is an international communications equipment company that produces wireless equipment, electronic systems, and both terrestrial and spaceborne antennas for use in the government, defense, and commercial sectors. scored lowest. Comcast Comcast Corporation, (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is the largest[1] cable television (CATV) company and the second largest Internet service provider in the United States. topped the Telecommunications list, while Cincinnati Bell Cincinnati Bell is the dominant telephone company for Cincinnati, Ohio and its nearby suburbs in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. The parent company is named Cincinnati Bell Inc. fared worst. The study is the only one to bring objective measure to the analysis of corporate performance from an online customer's perspective. It assigns Individuals to whom property is, will, or may be transferred by conveyance, will, Descent and Distribution, or statute; assignees. The term assigns is often found in deeds; for example, "heirs, administrators, and assigns to denote the assignable nature of a Customer Respect Index (CRI CRI constant-rate infusion. (TM)) rating to each company on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest achievable score. The Customer Respect Index is a qualitative and quantitative in-depth in-depth adj. Detailed; thorough: an in-depth study. in-depth Adjective detailed or thorough: an in-depth analysis analysis and independent measure of a customer's online experience when interacting with companies via the Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the . By interviewing a representative sample of the adult Internet population, and by analyzing more than 1000 Web sites across a spectrum of industries in detail, The Customer Respect Group has determined the attributes that combine to create the entire online customer experience. These attributes have been grouped together and measured as indicators of Simplicity (ease of navigation), Responsiveness (quick and thorough responses to inquiries), Privacy (respects customer privacy), Attitude (customer-focus of site), Transparency (1) The quality of being able to see through a material. The terms transparency and translucency are often used synonymously; however, transparent would technically mean "seeing through clear glass," while translucent would mean "seeing through frosted glass." See alpha blending. (open and honest policies) and Principles (values and respects customer data). Combined they measure a company's overall Customer Respect. The Customer Respect Group continually con·tin·u·al adj. 1. Recurring regularly or frequently: the continual need to pay the mortgage. 2. enhances its methodology by expanding the list of attributes researched and reported on. Recently, the firm expanded that list to include respect for individuals with disabilities. In addition, this research was conducted based on the telecommunications and networking-specific methodology introduced this summer. Summary Results/Comparisons Although a direct comparison is difficult because of the inclusion of industry-specific questions, the overall Fortune 100 CRI average this past summer was 6.2, while the average score for this group of companies is 6.4. The average overall CRI scores for the two industry sectors were 5.7 for Network & Communications and 6.6 for Telecommunications. Comcast (www.comcast.com) made improvements to many aspects of how it treats customers online, and now tops the overall CRI table with 8.3. This represents a rise of 14 places in the table. Comcast also had the best score in the Responsiveness index. Three companies tied on 8.0 for second place overall: AT&T (www.att.com), Nextel Communications Nextel Communications, styled NEXTEL, (Former NASDAQ: NXTL) which is now known as the Sprint Nextel Corporation was a telecommunications firm based in the United States. Known for providing a nation-wide mobile communications system. (www.nextel (Nextel Communications, Inc., Reston, VA, www.nextel.com) A wireless communications carrier founded in New Jersey in 1987 as Fleet Call, a two-way radio service. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, the company acquired a large number of SMR (Specialized Mobile Radio) operators and turned .com) and Verizon Wireless Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, owns and operates the second largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, based on total wireless customers. (www.verizonwireless.com). Verizon Wireless maintained a good performance since the First Quarter report and topped the Privacy index table. AT&T (which ranked first in two industry tables), and Nextel saw significant improvement in their showings, rising eleven and 24 places respectively. In addition, three companies achieved the highest score (8.6) in Simplicity: CenturyTel CenturyTel, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) formerly named Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. is a United States telecommunications firm, headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. (www.centurytel.com), Cisco Systems “Cisco” redirects here. For other uses, see Cisco (disambiguation). Cisco System,Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO, HKSE: 4333 ) is an American multinational corporation with 54,000 employees and annual revenue of US $28.48 billion as of 2006. (www.cisco.com) and Nortel Networks (Nortel Networks Limited, Brampton, Ontario, www.nortelnetworks.com) A world leader in telecommunications products, which includes switching, wireless and broadband systems for service providers and carriers, telephones and systems for residential and business users, computer telephony (www.nortelnetworks.com). Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications, Inc. (www.verizon.com) was the only company to achieve a score of 10.0 in any index - it did so in Transparency. Some 40 percent of surveyed firms failed to respond to all inquiries submitted, which contributed to the low overall Responsiveness score. A decline in Responsiveness scores and the need for improved accessibility helped drop AT&T Wireless (www.attws.com) and Cablevision For the unrelated Canadian company, see . Cablevision Systems Corporation is an American cable television company. It is the 5th largest cable provider in the USA, with most customers residing in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Systems (www.cablevision.com) in the overall table. The Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003, which was made law in California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). on July July: see month. 1, 2004, has serious implications for any commercial Web sites without privacy policies that may have visitors from that state. Even so, the Harris Harris, Scotland: see Lewis and Harris. site at www.microwave.harris.com failed to provide a privacy policy (although one of its sub-sites has one). "The Web is the only medium that enables cost effective one-to-one one-to-one adj. 1. Allowing the pairing of each member of a class uniquely with a member of another class. 2. Mathematics marketing," said Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group. "Customers expect to find answers quickly, be it through content available on the site or through email inquiries. If telecom and networking firms are not equipped to deal with such inquiries or customers fear information provided to Web sites is exploited, it will directly affect the brand loyalty and their future business." The report conveys in great detail improvement opportunities for each company. The sector's Fourth Quarter 2004 rankings are as follows:
Network & Communications Equipment Firms CRI
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Motorola, Inc. www.motorola.com 7.6
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Cisco Systems, Inc. www.cisco.com 7.2
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Avaya Inc. www.avaya.com 6.8
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Qualcomm Incorporated www.qualcomm.com/qwbs/ 6.3
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Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. www.scientificatlanta.com 5.1
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UTStarcom www.utstarcom.com 5.0
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Lucent Technologies Inc. www.lucent.com 4.7
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Corning Inc. www.corning.com 4.6
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Harris Corporation www.microwave.harris.com 4.1
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Sector Average 5.7
Telecommunications Firms CRI
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Comcast Corporation www.comcast.com 8.3
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AT&T www.att.com 8.0
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Nextel Communications, Inc. www.nextel.com 8.0
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Verizon Wireless www.verizonwireless.com 8.0
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MCI www.mci.com 7.9
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Qwest Communications Int.
Inc. www.qwest.com 7.8
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Sprint Corporation www.sprint.com 7.5
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T-Mobile www.t-mobile.com 7.5
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Alltel Corporation www.alltel.com 7.4
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Verizon Communications Inc. www.verizon.com 7.3
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Cox Communications, Inc. www.cox.com 7.1
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Nortel Networks www.nortelnetworks.com 7.1
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CenturyTel, Inc. www.centurytel.com 7.0
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Charter Communications, Inc. www.chartercom.com 6.7
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SBC Communications Inc. www.sbc.com 6.7
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TDS Telecom www.tdstelecom.com 6.6
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Western Wireless Corporation www.cellularonewest.com/ 6.6
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Echostar Communications Corp. www.dishnetwork.com 6.4
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Cablevision Systems Corp. www.cablevision.com 6.1
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AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. www.attws.com 6.0
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Level 3 Communications, Inc. www.level3.com 5.8
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Primus Telecommunications www.primustel.com 5.5
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Cingular www.cingular.com 5.4
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Frontier/Citizens
Communications Co. www.frontiercorp.com 5.0
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BellSouth Corporation www.bellsouth.com 4.9
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IDT Corporation www.idtsolutions.net 4.7
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Cincinnati Bell www.broadwing.com 3.4
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Sector Average 6.6
Other overall findings for all surveyed firms include the following: --Surveyed firms receive the best overall rating (CRI: 7.6) for Simplicity and the worst (CRI: 4.4) for Responsiveness. --Some 23 percent of firms did not respond to any online inquiries. --17 percent of firms responded to half of the inquiries received. Of these, 33 percent responded within 24 hours. --60 percent responded to all inquiries. Of these, 69 percent responded within 24 hours and 12 percent responded more than two days later. --Some 46 percent of all sector firms use Autoresponder A mail utility that automatically sends a reply to an e-mail message. Autoresponders are used to send back boilerplate information on a topic without having the requester do anything more than e-mail a particular address. They are also used to send a confirmation that the message has been received. technology, in which emails are automatically sent to users to confirm the receipt of their inquiry and let them know when they should expect a response. Of these, 69 percent included detail on how quickly they would follow up and 73 percent followed up in the timeframe promised. --Some 92 percent of companies provide email forms for online inquiries, five percent provide email addresses See Internet address. and three percent provided no online contacts. --97 percent of sector firms have privacy policies on their sites explaining how customers' personal data is being used. Of those that do, six percent need to be more explicit about how they use personal data, 45 percent do not collect data or use collected data only for internal purposes, 20 percent share data with affiliates or subsidiaries and 29 percent share data with business partners without permission from users. --All surveyed firms use cookie cookie File or part of a file put on a Web user's hard disk by a Web site. Cookies are used to store registration data, to make it possible to customize information for visitors to a Web site, to target Web advertising, and to keep track of the products a user wishes to technology. Of these, 17 percent provide a full explanation about what advantage they provide the user and what data they hold, while 17 percent provide a full explanation on how to disable To turn off; deactivate. See disabled. them. --Eight percent of companies provide forms that can be easily used by those with disabilities. How to Order Each company and industry is researched and analyzed an·a·lyze tr.v. an·a·lyzed, an·a·lyz·ing, an·a·lyz·es 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. twice annually. Subscribers to Customer Respect Online receive: --Industry-specific key findings, analysis and editorials for one-or-more subscribed industry reports --Dynamic league tables for CRI and each CRI sub-index scoring for all companies --CRI report cards for each company covered in that report --Detailed own-company confidential report --Best practice guidelines practice guidelines Medical practice A set of recommendations for Pt management that identifies a specific or range of range of management strategies. See Peer review organization, Practice standards. Cf 'Cookbook' medicine. , practical customer respect examples --Analysis tools for head-to-head head-to-head adv. & adj. 1. In direct confrontation or conflict at close quarters: The two brothers went at it head-to-head. It was a head-to-head contest all the way. 2. and multi-company comparisons with drill-down to sub-indices detail --Annual Fortune 100 CRI Report (annual subscribers only) Customer Respect Online is available in three different subscription levels to suit specific requirements: --Immediate Action: Includes one research cycle, one single industry report, one company confidential report, three months of online access to CRO for U.S. $5,000. --Continuous Improvement: Includes two research cycles, two single industry reports, two company confidential reports, 12 months of CRO access, Fortune 100 CRI Report and data for U.S. $15,000. --Portfolio Perspective: Includes two research cycles, all industry reports, four company confidential reports, 12 months of CRO access, Fortune 100 CRI Report and data for U.S. $25,000. Companies can obtain additional information by visiting the Web site, www.CustomerRespect.com, calling 617 378 3173 or emailing info@customerrespect.com. About The Customer Respect Group The Customer Respect Group is an international research and consulting firm that uses its Customer Respect Index (CRI(TM)) methodology to help companies improve how they treat their customers online. It provides leadership in the objective and scientific measurement of a customer's online experience. Many of the largest U.S. companies have already adopted the CRI methodology to improve online customer satisfaction and loyalty. The Customer Respect Group is headquartered in Boston. For additional information, visit www.customerrespect.com. All companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. |
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