Heading in the right direction


Our thanks go to those customers who participated in our annual customer satisfaction telephone survey and to those that have participated in our online surveys to give us feedback on how we’re doing and where we can make improvements.

This year, an external market research firm interviewed 144 Sungard Availability Services customers in the UK and Ireland by phone and asked them to rate various aspects of our service. A further 250 customers responded to a web-based survey. This is a departure from previous years when a smaller number of customers were selected at random for a telephone survey. The survey respondents contracted our Managed Services (131), Recovery Services (111), Consulting (14), Software (5) and Cloud Services (30).

Here are the headline findings:

  • 86.5% are satisfied or very satisfied with our service overall.
  • 88.7% would definitely or probably continue to subscribe.
  • 82.5% would recommend Sungard Availability Services to a business associate.
  • Importantly, 87% say they have confidence in Sungard AS to recover their business.

While far from being complacent, we were pleased to note the customers surveyed were generally satisfied or very satisfied with the services they contract. These include Recovery Services (92.0%), Cloud Services (88.1%) and Managed Services (87.7%). Customers’ positive experiences of Recovery Services were reflected in a 94.6% rating for Alerts and Invocations. Service management was also given a thumbs up with an 88.7% satisfaction rating.

We were thrilled to score 100% in several areas, namely:

  • The initial sales contact
  • Consulting services
  • Site facilities (it’s good to see the investment we’ve made in better quality coffee is paying off!)

Areas flagged for attention are project management and, again, contracts and invoicing. The good news is we do recognise this problem and are investing in improvements. We are pleased to report that changes are on their way which will simplify invoices, something we expect will prove particularly welcome to customers with multiple or lengthy invoices. Watch this space for more news!

Our people attracted particular praise with comments such as, “The staff are brilliant, very professional, very knowledgeable” from one City bank and “Very responsive… A good working relationship” from another respondent being representative of the feedback.

79.5% of customers surveyed were very satisfied or satisfied with our Marketing and communications. Looking at AVAIL, for example, we were pleased to see most readers like its online format saying it is “Better, easier to access” and “Gives a choice of how you want to view it”. (Having said that, a reminder that those who prefer a hard copy or pdf versions can still pick up a print version at all our UK sites or submit their email address to receive a pdf copy). As for content, you are generally satisfied with the story mix, but your suggestions are always welcome!

Commenting on the feedback, Keith Tilley, EVP, global sales and customer services management, remarked, “Our annual customer satisfaction survey is a valuable exercise that helps us keep in touch with customers’ experience of our services and ensure they continue to meet business needs. As in previous years, the findings will be carefully considered and acted upon over the coming months. I’d like to add my personal thanks to all those customers who took the time to take part. Although the survey is conducted annually, your feedback is welcome all year round so if you weren’t among those selected to participate, feel free to email me any time at keith.tilley@sungardas.com”.