IT execs not tackling customer service

Oscar Rodriguez, chief marketing officer at the Alcatel-Lucent business group

Despite rating customer loyalty and satisfaction as top priorities, fewer than one in five companies has actual plans to spend money tackling the issues.

According to a poll of more than 600 attendees at the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Forum in Paris, half of all IT executives are most worried about keeping their customers happy. 

However, only 19 per cent of the audience, which was made up of Alacatel-Lucent's customers and business partners, said they planned to invest in customer care in 2007 and 2008.

Oscar Rodriguez, chief marketing officer at the Alcatel-Lucent business group, maintained that the need to satisfy customers comes up time and time again in its discussions with clients.

"As we talk to you and your customers, and as we go around the world, we find that customer interaction is key," he said.

"If you are a government agency it is about satisfying your constituents and making sure they have what they need. If you are an enterprise it is about making sure that customers come back again and again and loyalty is developed."

A quarter of the forum visitors were most worried about the security of their company's information, but only 12 per cent planned to invest in this area in the next two years.

Instead, a third of companies plan to focus on mobility issues, with 29 per cent looking to improve unified communications and collaboration.

"Mobility and unified communications is very interesting," said Rodriguez. " So you want everybody to be connected in all different ways, but to be mobile at the same time."

Just under half of the organisations polled chose an IT and communications provider which understands its industry, while 22 per cent are looking for a provider which can help their business grow.