The Yankee Group Finds Small, Medium Businesses Remain Loyal to Competitive Local Exchange Carriers.Business Editors BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 2003 The Yankee Group's new report, "Small and Medium Businesses Show Loyalty to CLECs, Again," finds that SMBs gave higher satisfaction ratings to competitive local exchange carriers than to incumbent local exchange carriers ILEC, short for incumbent local exchange carrier, is a local telephone company in the United States that was in existence at the time of the break up of AT&T into the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) also known as the "Baby Bells". . ILECs suffered major declines in favorable customer satisfaction in most areas--the worst coming from very small businesses with 2 to 19 employees. Both ILECs and CLECs were weak in three areas: Keeping customers informed of new products and services, Timely resolution of problems and installation of new services, and Understanding customer needs. As ILECs continue to win 271 regulatory relief, competition with CLECs will intensify. With 271, ILECs can offer customers a bundle of core services The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. Please help [ improve the introduction] to meet Wikipedia's layout standards. You can discuss the issue on the talk page. (local, long-distance, wireless, and Internet access See how to access the Internet. ) on one bill --a major value proposition for SMBs. Even with that, CLECs will continue to be formidable competitors if: They continue to provide superior customer service at a value price; and They continue to get feet-on-the-street salespeople in front of prospects and customers. "Our analysis shows that CLECs are more effective than ILECs at selling all types of bundled solutions to their customer base," says Michael Lauricella, Yankee Group (the Yankee Group, Boston, MA, www.yankeegroup.com) A major market research, analysis and consulting firm founded in 1970 by Howard Anderson. It provides general consulting and strategic planning in the computer and communications field. Small & Medium Business Technologies program manager. "This is due in part to regulatory constraints imposed on the ILECs, which still lack long-distance authority in 26 of the 50 states and D.C.). In addition, the CLECs focus on selling bundled services as a key competitive differentiator." NOTE TO EDITORS For interviews, contact Michael Lauricella, mlauricella@yankeegroup.com THE YANKEE GROUP (www.yankeegroup.com) The Yankee Group is a global leader in technology research and consulting. Our customers, which include technology vendors and users, benefit from our accurate, reliable, and trusted research, consulting, and personalized one-to-one client interaction covering communications and IT products and services. Now in our fourth decade, the company is headquartered in Boston and maintains offices throughout North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , Europe, Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. , and the Pacific Rim Pacific Rim, term used to describe the nations bordering the Pacific Ocean and the island countries situated in it. In the post–World War II era, the Pacific Rim has become an increasingly important and interconnected economic region. . |
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