Survey: High-tech, computer firms struggle with online customer issues

Computerworld - High-tech and computer companies aren't doing a very good job when it comes to respecting their online customers, according to a new survey of the industry by The Customer Respect Group in Ipswich, Mass.
The high-tech industry had an overall average rating of 6.4 in the study, which examined how companies handle customer privacy and e-mail queries. That 6.4 rating was the same as in the previous six-month period. Scores in "The First Quarter 2006 Online Customer Respect Study of the High Technology and Computer Industry" range from a low of 1 to a high of 10.
The best sector in the industry was Internet services companies, which got an average rating of 7.0 and was led by online auction company eBay Inc., with a rating of 8.4. The worst-performing sector was computer and data services, with an average score of 6.1 despite an excellent rating for Electronic Data Systems Corp., which scored 8.7. EDS was the most improved company in the latest survey.
Surprisingly, 37% of the companies reviewed by The Customer Respect Group received a lower rating than they did six months ago; just 23% improved their scores.
"In the area of privacy, it was interesting that there was an increase in the number of companies that had an excellent mark in the privacy policies," said Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group. The study found a 50% increase in the number of companies with excellent ratings for privacy practices, while another 25% scored poorly on that benchmark.
The companies that handled privacy issues best included EDS, IBM, Xerox Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., according to the survey.
Golesworthy noted a significant decrease in the amount of data shared with unrelated third parties; just 3% of the companies did that, down from 11% that shared customer data in the last study. "What we found is there is almost no sharing of data with unrelated third parties anymore in this industry," he said.
He noted that while many companies stopped sharing information with unrelated third parties, they are sharing more data with business partners without first asking customers' permission.
"Generally speaking, privacy has been cleaned up quite a lot in this particular industry," Golesworthy said. "Before, it was a nice thing to do if you wanted to be a good corporate citizen. Now, the companies are finding it's affecting revenue."
In terms of e-mail, Golesworthy said the high-tech industry is among the worst offenders when it comes to ignoring customer queries, he said. "In most industries, we're seeing it