Hard Facts: January 6, 2003

Ten of the 11 companies surveyed showed increases in the overall level of channel satisfaction (defined as the percentage of solution providers satisfied with channel programs minus the percentage dissatisfied) in November compared with October. Covad was the only exception.

The jump in overall satisfaction was due both to an increase in the percentage of satisfied solution providers and a decline in the percentage of dissatisfied solution providers. Cable and Wireless is a typical example: The percentage of satisfied solution providers increased to 38 percent in November from 32 percent in October, while the percentage of dissatisfied solution providers declined to 20 percent from 22 percent.

These companies have a lot of work to do to reach the satisfaction levels achieved by hardware and software vendors. The November figure for MSPs and hosting companies was 23 percentage points and 18 percentage points, respectively, below the comparable readings for hardware and software vendors.