NEC Ranks Highest in Customer Service, Technology, Trusted Advisor Skills

Midmarket IT professionals rate NEC highest among IP telephony providers in customer service, technology, and the ability to serve as their trusted advisor in this year's 2014 PilotHouse research.

The trifecta of top scores lead to the coveted spot on the Customer Loyalty Barometer. (Please see description, left.) Midmarket IT professionals are comfortably set with NEC, with the lowest percentage of customers planning to switch providers over the next two years. "They understand our environment," says the CIO of a university.

IT professionals rated their providers on technology, value, customer service, and trusted advisor skills, answering 20 questions under each of those metrics. NEC's high customer service rating was driven by its highest score in break fix responsiveness, as well as accuracy and timeliness of invoices. Though not directly contributing to its customer service score, NEC scored well in VAR performance, with the highest scores among all midmarket IP telephony ratings for "VAR functions as an extension of the vendor."

Making it easier for NEC to serve its customers is solid technology, according to IT professionals. NEC's highest scoring technology metric was product reliability. "NEC's best asset is its performance," says the IT director of a financial services company.

NEC also received highest scores in its ability to serve as a trusted advisor, with the best ratings in expertise and credibility. That expertise manifests in "innovative products," says the IT director of another financial services firm.

The Scorecard

In all metrics rated by customers, including technology, value, customer service, and trusted advisor skills, NEC scores higher than the average. Nemertes uses an algorithm to calculate the overall score (see Methodology, left). Details of the ratings metrics are as follows:

• Technology : Includes product features, reliability, interoperability, management capabilities, and technology roadmap.
• Value : Includes clarity of pricing structure, licensing flexibility, actual cost, and value (ie, bang for the buck).
• Customer Service : Covers pre- and post-sales responsiveness, break fix responsiveness, accuracy and timeliness of invoices.
• Trusted Advisor Skills : Includes provider's ability to be a trusted advisor, rating expertise, credibility, enlightenment, character, and contact management.
• Strategy & Roadmap : Nemertes analysis on core attributes of provider's overall technology strategy and roadmap.

Selection Criteria for Those Considering This Technology:

• Cloud and On-Premise Offerings: Evaluates whether the vendor offers the solution on-premises, through a hosted/managed model, and/or Software as a Service (SaaS), and the strength of its delivery model.
• Integration with Microsoft Office Apps: Describes whether the solution integrates with popular Microsoft Office applications, including Word and Excel.
• Broad Support for Popular Mobile Devices/Operating Systems: Examines which operating systems and mobile devices each IP telephony solutions supports, how extensive the support is for each OS, and how well it aligns with midmarket and enterprise requirements.
• Channels Breadth/Service and Support: Evaluates the vendor's channel composition, reach, and service.
• Integrated Set of Collaboration Applications: Assesses the rigor of IP telephony solutions' ability to integrate and share information with other collaboration applications.

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