NEW YORK: MARCH 2, 2009 - Providers of communications and high-tech products and services give away, on average, 28 percent of the technical service and support they deliver to business customers each year, because they lack insight into what customers are entitled to receive, Accenture (NYSE: ACN) research has found.*

The research consisted of two simultaneously administered online global
surveys, one for providers and the other for customers. It explored the state of business customer service in the communications services, communications equipment, electronics and high-tech industries, querying more than 650 senior executives from 11 countries.**

"While there are some legitimate reasons why providers might give away
technical service-especially to their biggest, most important customers-lacking enough customer insight about what customers are entitled to receive is not a good enough reason to give it away at no charge," said Brian Sprague, a senior executive in Accenture's Customer Service and Support practice. "Providers must obtain the customer insight needed to make more informed decisions about whether to give away the service and, if so, to whom, or if they should charge for these services. In today's challenging economic climate, businesses need to find innovative ways to grow and improve their revenues."

The research uncovered another sizable problem. Nearly 30 percent of
business customers surveyed are considering switching to another
provider because they are dissatisfied with the quality of customer service they receive. With their current providers each of these customers spends, on average, $15 million on products and customer service per year. The research also revealed that 70 percent of business customers said that it's possible for a provider to create an experience that "locks in" their future business. At the same time, 70 percent of providers said that improving the overall customer experience and customer satisfaction ranks as their main business priority for 2009.

When asked why they are challenged in delivering superior service, the
three reasons providers cited most often were their lack of supporting
technology (selected by 30 percent of respondents), a dearth of trained
resources (29 percent), and non-existent definitions of support processes (22 percent). According to providers and customers, the quality and competence of service agents, along with their ability to address customer concerns on the first phone call or e-mail, rank as the two most important factors in delivering a superior, differentiated service experience.

Respondents were asked to explain, in their own words, what they consider to be the main characteristics of a superior, differentiated customer experience. Their responses fell into several categories, the top three of which were: knowledgeable staff and accessible support (32 percent); efficient and timely problem resolution (26 percent); and proactive, personalized solutions (21 percent). 

"Customers look to the quality of customer service they receive, or
other higher-end offerings, as a way to differentiate between providers," added Sprague. "They're saying: 'Be there when I need you and make sure you take care of my problem quickly, without sending me to another person. Make it a superior experience for me.

"These providers need to determine what customers really want in a service and support experience, which means becoming truly customer-centric - aligning service capabilities to anticipate and address customer needs. By doing so, they can more effectively differentiate themselves from competitors, strengthen customer loyalty, and take major strides toward becoming high-performance businesses."

Another key finding of the research: providers estimate they will earn
nearly one-third of their future customer service and support revenue by
2013 from service and support offerings that do not currently exist.

The research also discovered that, compared with customers in Europe or
Asia, those in North America are more loyal to their providers and less likely to have switched providers or considered doing so. Furthermore, the research found that if North American communications and high-tech companies deliver a distinguished and superior customer experience, they
have a 20 percent better chance than European and Asian companies of
generating more customer service revenues from the same customers.

To build the kind of service and support capabilities that can help them
achieve high performance during and after the current economic crisis,
Accenture recommends six actions communications and high-tech companies
should take. They are:

* Enhance the content on the service and support portal;
* Invest more in training and developing customer service agents;
* Enhance the knowledge of each provider's installed base;
* Improve first-call or email resolution;
* Improve the overall customer experience of self-service, not just reduce costs;
* Implement analytical and diagnostic tools.

Additional details about the research, titled "Achieving High Performance Through Customer Service and Support: What Communications and High-Tech Business Customers Want, What They Get and How to Bridge
the Gap," can be found at:
http://www.accenture.com/Global/Research_and_Insights/By_Industry/Electr
onics_and_High_Tech/AccentureGap.htm. To access Accenture's customer
service home page, go to www.accenture.com/customerservice.

* From Accenture's survey results, the company has learned that many
service organizations are unable to validate if their customers are
entitled to receive certain services. In many cases, these organizations
default to providing some support services that clients have not paid
for. Giving away 28 percent of customer services for free is the
difference in earning, for instance, $100 in revenue from a customer
rather than $128 for providing the same services.

** At the later stages of this Accenture research, executives within three Latin American countries--Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico--were surveyed. These were added to the executives with the 11 originally surveyed nations. Findings from this additional Latin American research remained consistent with the survey's overall findings.

Methodology

Accenture commissioned Lightspeed Research to conduct two online
surveys. One survey queried 115 executives at the vice president level
or above at communications products and services companies. The second
survey queried 542 customers at the manager level and above of these
product and service companies across a wide spectrum of industries, including resources, hospitality, health care, retail, communications and high-tech. Countries represented in both surveys included Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United States. To participate, provider and customer companies had to generate at least US$500 million each in annual.

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