Recently business publication Incompany published its Incompany 100: the results of an annual national survey about client satisfaction in the services industry in the Netherlands. 4.245 decision makers of clients rated 4 items: know-how, price, service and results. In the survey the ICT services industry is one of the nine sectors that are reviewed. 

After underperforming in 2005, the 2006 research showed a strong growth of client satisfaction for the ICT services sector. 1.233 clients of ICT services firms in the Netherlands scored an average of 6,65, against 6,44 last year. With an increase of 0.2 point (on a scale of 10) this is the biggest improvement of all sectors. 

Number one is Advisie Automatisering. The others in the ICT Top 10 are Inter Access, Twynstra Gudde, HP, Dell Business Services, Sogeti, Deloitte Consulting, Oracle Consulting, LogicaCMG and Fujitsu Services. IBM Business Consulting services scored number one position in the Management consulting sector. 

This is good news for the IT industry. The increase of client satisfaction is an indicator for more improvements in the future (image, turnover, profits). And the industry needs this. Image and reputation of the IT industry are still under pressure and have dropped dramatically last year. Better performance and improvements in service, know-how and results are the best indicators for a successful way of managing image and reputation. But this will not be enough. Image improvement takes a long time and requires active communications that goes beyond basic product promotion.