Dissatisfaction with software providers

In a survey conducted by the European voice association EuroCIO, over 100 European user companies criticized large software providers, in some cases severely.

In the current survey, dissatisfaction with the pricing policy and the inflexible on-premise license and contract models increased significantly compared to the last survey in 2016.

On average, general satisfaction with the software suppliers was around 46 percent - so not even half are happy with their provider.

While Microsoft, Oracle, VMware, SAP and IBM are the most important suppliers in the on-prem sector, Microsoft is clearly ahead in the cloud segment, followed by Amazon and Salesforce.

Compared to the 2016 satisfaction survey, approval of the main on-prem providers has fallen, in some cases very significantly. While 87% of respondents rated the licensed products as okay in 2016, only 77% did so in 2018.

"Considering that users have actively opted for the products and services, this is a cautious assessment"

explains Patrick Quellmalz, Head of Voice Services.

The situation is similar for approval of the license model and contract design. They have fallen by 20 and 22 percent respectively over the two years. The same applies to the willingness to extend existing contracts. It fell from 70 percent to less than 50, i.e. by a good 20 percent.

However, it should also be noted that most users draw few conclusions for the manufacturer from their declining satisfaction. Only around 25% want to switch to another provider and around 18% are working on concrete exit plans.

Cisco scores best, Oracle worst

Overall, respondents are most satisfied with Cisco, VMWare and Microsoft. They are least satisfied with Oracle. Only 29 percent of respondents are satisfied with the provider overall.

This is also where most users are working on exit plans (39%). With a general satisfaction rate of 43 percent, SAP scores slightly below average among the six most important providers.

What is striking about the German software company is that the willingness of respondents to renew their contracts has fallen from 80 percent in 2016 to currently less than 40 percent.