Which IT vendor has the happiest customers?

SAP customers are the least likely to evaluate alternatives or switch products after three years, according to a study of customer loyalty among the top 10 enterprise IT vendors.

PeopleSoft followed close behind, along with EMC and Oracle, while HP, Computer Associates and Dell all propped up the bottom of the table.

Almost 1,200 users of the top 10 vendors' products took part in the study, carried out by US consultancy InterUnity Group.

Less than 29 per cent of SAP customers said they will evaluate replacements during the next three years, compared to 46 per cent for the lowest scoring vendor, CA. The research also looked at the loyalty of long-term customers, where SAP again scores well. But for CA, the lowest-ranked vendor in the top 10, 19 per cent of long-term customers are evaluating replacements in 2004 alone.

Other vendors ranked in the study included IBM, Microsoft, and Sun.

Richard Sneider, partner at InterUnity Group, said SAP has the most loyal customers even though they might not be the most satisfied.

"The cost of change is one issue. And more sophisticated users tend to be less satisfied than unsophisticated users."

CA score low across the board, and Sneider attributed this to several factors.

"There are management issues, product reliability and customer-service issues," he said.

Sneider said none of the ranked vendors have questioned the results but instead wanted to know why users are thinking of changing supplier.