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Today's Consumers Helplessly Dependent on Computers

By Madhubanti Rudra
TMCnet Contributor

The CMO Council's Customer Experience Board has recently taken up a survey  in partnership with iYogi (www.iYogi.net). A report based on the survey titled Combating Computer Stress Syndrome: Barriers and Best Practices in Computer Tech Support reveals some amazing facts:

Nearly two thirds (64 percent) of consumers say their computer has caused them anxiety due in large part to frequent slowdowns and lengthy boot-up times, and more than 40 percent who use an outside computer support service are not happy with it or feel it costs too much. Despite this widespread computer-related stress and frustration, 94 percent depend on their computer in their daily lives, and 78 percent consider themselves computer-savvy.

The survey polled more than 1,000 consumers in North America on the forces and factors at work with the different approaches to solving an expanding set of computer complexities, viruses, and glitches as the devices proliferate to a wider, less computer educated audiences. The executive report brought to surface a comprehensive set of findings that clearly showed that there exists  huge gap between consumer's perceptions of their ability to fix computer problems and the realities of unresolved issues that they grapple with.

The report supports its findings in the basis of quantitative data that it captured. The data provided insight into the experiences and attitudes of consumers as well as a snapshot of intimate conversations on challenges and best practices with support-related executives at popular communications service providers and computer device manufacturers.

The report discussed in details about Computer Stress Syndrome citing many factors that cause this syndrome.

Top sources of frustration with the tech support experience are long wait times, inability to fix problems and the cost of the service.

Seventy-five percent are experiencing hours or more of downtime per year, and 40 percent are experiencing days or more.

And the top five impacts of computer failure include increased stress levels, interrupted work or play time, valuable lost data, dropped connections, and difficult online purchasing.

"The results of our quantitative and qualitative research clearly point to the fact that people are fed up and frustrated with the current ability of traditional tech support mechanisms to solve their problems. What is needed is a 'resolution revolution' in which the various parties offering support alternatives are rethinking their approach and offering innovative models that address the growing proliferation and complexities of multiple service and device types in the market today," Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the Customer Experience Board and CMO Council, said.

The report pointed put that in part, the problem of Computer Stress Syndrome in some cases may be caused by the consumers' habit of cutting costs by dealing with support issues by home-grown means. Almost two thirds are trying to fix problems themselves, asking a friend or family member, or doing nothing. And cost is the biggest consideration in evaluating alternatives.

With computer stress syndrome becoming a serious social issue, many people look for the ways to cope with it. The Combating Computer Stress Syndrome: Barriers and Best Practices in Computer Tech Support report can offer valuable insight into the issue. The report is available for download at http://www.customerexperienceboard.org/report-variance.php.