London, UK: April 18, 2006: A research study by SunGard Availability Services, the pioneer and global leader in Information Availability and Business Continuity, has revealed consumers are increasingly promiscuous and outspoken about receiving poor service. The study interviewed 2,342 UK consumers to gauge the importance that available information systems have on consumers’ buying habits, brand reputation and confidence in industry sectors.
People’s expectations of service are at an all time high and dissatisfied customers will no longer put up with poor service. Over the past two years 48% of people have changed companies because of information and transaction systems that are slow, unresponsive or unavailable. Patience when systems are poor is wearing thin. For instance, three quarters of people (74%) will only wait up to two minutes for an ATM machine to begin processing a request and half of people (47%) won’t even wait 60 seconds for a website to load.
When asked to choose the most reliable service providers, 30% of the population said Supermarkets. Interestingly, this is equal to the number of people that think Emergency Services top the UK reliability league table. Banks are thought to be third most reliable, with 23% of people choosing Banks as their first choice and public transportation was the undisputed least reliable service capturing 1% of the vote.
UK Consumer Profiles (See Appendix)
Five categories of consumers have emerged from the research. The largest group, labelled Shouters, exposed by their passion for complaining to friends, family and regulatory bodies about poor service, make up 43% of the UK population. Companies beware, one in five Shouters will tell more than 10 people about bad experiences. The next largest category is Switchers representing 27% of the population. Switchers simply go to another supplier that’s able to offer the product or service without talking to the supplier or their friends. Generally, consumers are most likely to switch Utilities followed by Insurance then Mobile providers.
A smaller but growing consumer sector is the Seeker. 15% of respondents said they would try and work out ways of getting a better service or finding a way round the service constraints. Finally, representing the smallest proportion of consumers are Sulkers and Sufferers at 11% and 2%, respectively. Sulkers put up with poor service but tell their friends, whereas Sufferers simply put up with poor service without telling anyone.
Keith Tilley, UK MD and SVP Europe, SunGard Availability Services said: “A new breed of consumer has evolved that has a strong understanding of the contribution that technology makes towards always-on and always-available services. Information Availability, the key to satisfying consumer demand, goes beyond protecting a company’s information and communication systems against unforeseen disruption – it’s about being more available and responsive than the competition to gain advantage and market share.”
SunGard Availability Services works with thousands of companies in the UK to protect information and people from business disruption by offering companies a mixture of technology and communication services and Workplace Recovery centres across 20 UK locations. Recently it helped companies avoid the potential downtime caused by the Buncefield explosions and London bombings. Keith Tilley said, “On average SunGard helps three companies avoid business disruption every fortnight, but it’s usually for mundane incidents like power lines being cut or hardware failures. However, consumers aren’t interested in why services or products aren’t available – as the research shows consumers won’t wait for technology to work.”
John Holden, Senior Research Analyst, Butler Group commented, “The findings confirm how competitive the world is becoming; consumers will no longer put up with poor Quality of Service. Corporate success will increasingly rely on IT service availability and managements must take the lead in ensuring that their enterprises are resilient.”
About the Research
YouGov on behalf of SunGard Availability Services carried out the survey during November 2005, with respondents drawn from a cross section of demographic groups and ages. 2,342 people were interviewed through on online omnibus survey. Click http://www.yougov.co.uk/archives/pdf/YOU_internal3.pdf to view the YouGov record against other pollsters and actual results.
About SunGard Availability Services
SunGard Availability Services is the pioneer and leading provider of Information Availability services, helping to ensure that more than 10,000 customers in North America and Europe have access to their business-critical information systems. With over three million square feet of hardened facilities, SunGard offers a complete range of Information Availability services for more than 30 technology platforms, from 48 hour disaster recovery hot sites to always-on, high-availability infrastructure, co-location and electronic vaulting services. SunGard also provides technology and systems management services for application and data centre outsourcing, as well as business continuity consulting services and planning software. Visit SunGard Availability Services UK at www.sungard.co.uk.
Appendix -- Profiles of a UK Consumer
Shouter: 43% of respondents. One in five people will tell more than 10 people about bad service due to slow or unavailable systems and nearly half (43%) of dissatisfied consumers will tell at least four people. In addition to telling family and friends, 85% of shouters will contact the supplier directly to take up their issues before, most likely switching to a different supplier. A Shouter is more likely to be male than female, over 50, living in London and social grade ABC1.
Switcher: 27% of respondents. A Switcher will simply change suppliers, but not spend effort telling friends and family about the substandard service or contacting the supplier or consumer regulatory bodies to complain. Over the past two years, more than one in five consumers has switched Utilities, Insurance or Mobile providers. Switchers are most likely to be male, aged 30 to 50, living in the north of England and social grade C2DE.
Seeker: 15% of respondents. A Seeker is a consumer who is not happy leaving service up to the supplier or spending time on making formal complaints. However a Seeker is more likely to try and work out ways of getting a better service or finding a way around the service constraints. Most likely a male, and over the age of 50, a Seeker is ABC1 and likely to live in the Midlands and Wales.
Sulker: 11% of respondents. Sulkers have many of the same outspoken traits as a Shouter, but instead of switching suppliers they will simply put up with substandard service. 41% of UK consumers haven’t switched any of their main suppliers in the past two years. Sulkers are more likely to be female, aged 18 to 29, living in London and social grade C2DE.
Sufferer: 2% of respondents. Sufferers are defined as consumers who put up with poor service due to slow or unavailable systems and don’t tell anyone. A Sufferer is almost evenly split between males and females, but is most likely between 18-29 living in the Midlands or the North of England and is social grade C2DE.