Views on vendors

Given the accounting troubles that companies such as Computer Associates, MCI and Symbol Technologies have experienced, it’s no surprise that many of you are wary of your IT vendors. A report from market information company TNS finds that IT suppliers need to work harder to build trust from their customers.

TNS surveyed 830 IT leaders in the U.S., U.K., France and Germany about IT brand trust. Only one-third of respondents believe IT companies are honest in describing their product, while 69% say some IT companies are likely to take advantage of you. Fewer than 15% of those buyers believe that most IT companies can be trusted completely.

U.S. respondents are more trusting of IT vendors than their foreign counterparts, as 19% said IT companies can be trusted completely. By comparison, only 9% of their peers in the U.K, 8% in France and 7% in Germany shared those sentiments.

“While the industry has always understood that the consistent delivery of high quality, reliable products and the ability to meet client expectations are critical drivers of client trust, the findings underline the importance of communicating the stability of business operations and the integrity with which the business is run,” says Thomas Finkle, managing director of the IT practice at TNS. “It is also clear that IT vendors do not sufficiently emphasize these themes in their branding efforts, but rather focus predominately on the use of technology to solve business problems.”

For more information, go to www.tns-global.com