New SPA Survey Examines Customer and Technical Support Practices

Most Software Publishers Provide Customer Support Without Restrictions

May 24, 1993 (Washington, DC)- Nine out of ten software publishes today
provide customer and technical support with few, if any, restrictions. And
the support person answering your questions is likely to have two full
weeks of training on the software before he or she is even allowed to pick
up the phone.

Those are some of the findings of the recent Customer and Technical Support
Survey conducted by the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the
principal trade association of the personal computer software industry.
The survey was conducted among 280 publishers of business, education and
consumer software. Among its key findings:

* More than 90 percent of publishers offer both customer and technical
support. Most make customer support available without restrictions, though
many offer technical support only to registered users.

* In absolute terms, six in ten software publishers report their company's
support costs have increased in the last two years. However, less than
one-fourth say they experienced an increase in support costs relative to
software unit sales.

* Firms report support employees receive an average of two full weeks (75
hours) of training and/or apprenticeship before they respond independently
to inquiries. Additionally, a plurality of software publishers say their
part-time support employees are trained to the same level of knowledge as
their full-time customer and technical support employees.

* Domestic and international customer and technical support are available
an average of 9 hours a day, 5 days a week. Domestic response rates range
from about 9 minutes for telephone support inquiries to 21 minutes for
non-telephone inquiries. Similarly, international response rate averages
for telephone and non-telephone support are 9 and 24 minutes,
respectively.

* Among software publishers that offer local support to international
customers, the way publishers handle international support is notably
similar among Europe, Far East/Asia, and the rest of the world. It appears
that the methods successfully established in Europe are being replicated
in other parts of the world as those markets grow and become established.
Of the methods tested, only local/regional support centers are
substantially more prevalent in Europe than they are in the Far East/Asia
and the rest of the world.

The survey was conducted during January and February, 1993. Participants
ranged in size from very small to very large software publishers. The
survey collected general and demographic information, and had separate
sections on domestic support, international support, and support
statistics.

The Software Publishers Association is the principal trade association of
the PC software industry. Its 1,000 members represent the leading
publishers in the business, consumer, and education markets. The SPA has
offices in Washington, DC, and Paris, France.

Software publishers Association
1730 M St, Northwest, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036
202-452-1600,  Fax: 202-223-8756

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