One-third (32%) of business leaders admit that more than half of their decision-making when selecting a network provider is driven by emotion or “gut feel.”
This finding appears in a new report from Arelion (formerly Telia Carrier), a global telecommunications provider.
Decision-makers in the United States are especially influenced by emotion: 46% say that over half of their decisions are guided by gut instinct. The survey covered the US, UK, France and Germany. The report, “The Quest for Network Quality in 2022,” examines how enterprise leaders evaluate the quality of network providers and the services they deliver.
The research shows that “quality” in the context of network services is a broad and somewhat intangible concept without a single, widely accepted definition. While service level agreements (SLAs) provide an important safety net, they do not capture all the attributes that matter to decision-makers.
Communication is key
When choosing a network operator, business leaders place the greatest importance on trustworthiness, professionalism and experience. Asked to choose between consistent, transparent communication and operational speed (delivery and operations), 64% said communication is the more important practical quality, while 36% prioritized speed.
A strong majority—84%—of decision-makers said it should always be possible to speak with a human customer service representative rather than relying on chatbots or automated phone systems. US respondents were particularly insistent, with 90% demanding human contact. Additionally, 62% of US respondents placed greater emphasis than their UK, French and German counterparts on first contact being with someone technically qualified to resolve the issue.
Account management and switching providers
Overall network performance remains the top priority for business leaders. More than two-thirds (67%) reported having switched providers because of poor quality. US decision-makers were most likely to change providers for quality reasons (72%), followed by Germany (68%).
However, a notable 68% of respondents said they left a provider because of a poor relationship with their account manager, rather than replacing only the individual representative. US leaders (77%) and German leaders (69%) were particularly likely to terminate a relationship over account management issues, alongside 62% in the UK and 59% in France. These results highlight that account managers play a critical role: poor account management can damage the customer-vendor relationship even when SLA targets are being met.
Negative impacts on perceived quality
Survey participants identified experiences that most negatively affect their perception of an operator’s quality. Repeated network failures topped the list at 34%, followed by dishonesty at 27%. In the US, 31% of leaders said that being unable to speak to a person is among the most damaging experiences.
Respondents were also asked to identify the most consistent quality failures across the industry. The most cited issue, at 18%, was lack of transparency, followed by poor security (16%). While leaders in the US and UK most often pointed to transparency shortfalls, respondents in France and Germany prioritized unresponsiveness and security concerns.
Andy Everest, VP of Procurement & Service Delivery at Arelion, commented: “This research offers practical insights into what enterprise leaders experience and expect regarding network and service quality. It shows that quality is a broad concept and that providers must deliver across multiple dimensions to satisfy customers.”
He added: “Evaluating network service quality goes beyond comparing performance KPIs. Buyers need to assess less tangible attributes—such as communication, transparency and responsiveness—that contribute to a strong customer experience.”
Study methodology
Savanta, a specialist in digital data collection, conducted the research on behalf of Arelion. An online survey ran in the first half of 2022 and collected responses from 754 industry representatives in the US, UK, Germany and France.
All participants work for enterprises with more than 4,000 employees and represent a variety of sectors, including wholesale (including content providers and mobile network operators) (202 respondents); IT services (156); manufacturing/engineering (93); finance/financial services (80); technology/business services (70); and banking (58). All participants are involved in decisions about their company’s network development strategy, with 59% reporting final sign-off responsibility in this area.
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