Customer satisfaction with technology providers has experienced a slight downturn over the past year, according to a new report. The study by the Information Services Group (ISG), a global technology research and advisory firm, has found a growing level of dissatisfaction among enterprises with AI and automation services – all in spite of the fact that adoption of these solutions in outsourcing contracts rose throughout this year. Generative AI platforms, which have attracted substantial attention and investment this year, recorded the lowest customer experience (CX) score among emerging technologies, as per the findings of the study.
“In the wake of global technology outages this year, customer experience is more important than ever to enterprises when choosing outsourcing partners,” said ISG director and principal analyst Heiko Henkes, who led the study, said. “To succeed under these conditions, providers need to understand the wide range of factors that can influence a client’s satisfaction at each stage of an engagement.”
Analysis of CX scores across technology domains
The ISG Star of Excellence CX Insights Report also shows that overall satisfaction with service providers, as measured by the average enterprise CX score across various technologies, industries, and regions, declined by over 3% from the previous year. This decline resulted in an average score of 71.5 out of 100.
The study additionally evaluated customer satisfaction across four key categories of technology-based services, namely: business process outsourcing (BPO); IT outsourcing (ITO); ecosystem (related to specific vendors), and emerging technology. Its findings suggested that customer satisfaction can be influenced by several factors, including the prevalence and complexity of a given technology, the benefits it can provide, the availability of skilled talent, and the proactiveness of vendors in introducing it.
Among these categories, BPO services received the highest average satisfaction score of 72.9. Within the BPO offerings, marketing technology emerged as the top performer, driven by increasing demand from companies seeking tools to differentiate themselves in a rapidly evolving market. However, satisfaction with supply chain services was significantly lower, reflecting ongoing disruptions and macroeconomic challenges that have adversely affected enterprise supply chains.
“While BPO engagements are trending down, enterprises continue to give above-average CX scores to some technology-supported services where the number of deals has declined,” said Henkes. “Providers are meeting enterprises’ needs in areas that are crucial to their customers’ success.”
For ITO services, the average CX score was slightly lower at 71.6, suggesting that providers may need to focus on enhancing the client experience in delivering these services. Application development and maintenance (ADM) scored the highest within the ITO category, as enterprises rely on ADM to facilitate cost-effective digital transformations. Conversely, mainframe services received the lowest scores in this category, burdened by ongoing challenges such as talent shortages and a limited number of providers capable of supporting these legacy systems.
Mixed reception for generative AI services
Meanwhile in the ‘ecosystem’ category, which encompasses solutions and services related to major vendors’ technologies, the average CX score was 70.7. Microsoft ecosystem providers were rated the highest in this segment, partly due to the extensive deployment of its Copilot AI agent across various industries. However, the VMware ecosystem received the lowest scores, with customer dissatisfaction stemming from the company’s acquisition and subsequent changes to its pricing structure.
Emerging technology services received the lowest overall satisfaction scores, with an average CX score of 70.1. Despite the rapid adoption of AI and automation solutions by some enterprises, satisfaction remains low, particularly for generative AI, which scored 68.46, the lowest in this segment.
In contrast, cloud-native tools, such as containers and serverless architectures, were rated more favourably, achieving the highest score in the emerging technology category at 73.7.
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