Customer Satisfaction in Information Services Companies and IT Management in User Companies

ABSTRACT

Needless to say, customer satisfaction with information services (IS) companies is influenced first and foremost by the IS companies' capabilities including system development and project management. However, even services that have the same content and are provided by the same IS company may have different levels of satisfaction, depending on the customer. In this way, it is clear that an IS company's customer satisfaction is also influenced greatly by factors on the users side. In response to this, this report uses survey data to analyze the relationship between the IT management of user companies and the level of customer satisfaction with IS companies.

Analysis results confirm a distinct relationship between user companies' IT management and the level of satisfaction with IS companies. More concretely, three factors were particularly influential in the relationship between IT management and satisfaction levels: 1) Were choices of IS companies made based on past business performance or other rational criteria? 2) Did user companies have sufficient contact with IS companies before outsourcing business activities? 3) After outsourcing business activities to IS companies, did user companies sufficiently supervise the content of outsourced work operations? In addition to these, another three factors were also determined as having an indirect influence on customer satisfaction levels: 1) Whether or not user companies leave requirement specifications up to the IS company; 2) Whether or not IS division's activity plans are consistent with the company's management strategies; 3) The level of system-planning capabilities in user companies.

The results of this analysis show that for user companies, receiving satisfying information services depends not only on choosing an excellent IS company, but also in improving the level of IT management within their own organizations. Further, it is also important for IS companies to have the responsiveness to change the differentiation points of their services according to the level of IT management of their customers.