<1. Frustration with computers.
Research into frustration with computers has been carried out by the
University of Maryland and Towson University. It was found that web
browsing was the most frustrating experience. Email and word
processing came second and third respectively. The most frustrating
aspects of web browsing were:
1. dropped connections
2. long download times
3. web page not found (404 type error)
4. e-mail not sent/received properly
5. pop-up advertisements.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/itandsociety/v01i03/v01i03a02.pdf
A survey carried out by the University of California found that
computers were the most frustrating household appliance (table 10).
55% reported being sometimes frustrated and 16% frequently frustrated
with computers.
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:desnv_guz1kJ:www.crito.uci.edu/noah/paper/Project%2520NOAH%2520IIreport.pdf+%22frustration+with+computers%22+survey&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
A survey by Which? Found that nearly three in five computer owners had
some kind of hardware or software problem with their computer within
the first three months of buying it.
http://www.which.net/media/pr/nov00/which/compsurv.html
A survey by PC World found that the percentage of people who are happy
with their PC?s reliability fell from 73 percent to 64 percent.
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,16808,pg,5,00.asp
The 2001 issue of PC world published the results of a survey of 27,000
readers. It gives details of the percentage of PC?s with problems
needing at least one repair.
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,63363,pg,16,00.asp
PC World found that over 50 percent of home PC?s have a problem.
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,16808,pg,6,00.asp
57 percent of home computer had at least one problem compared with 45
percent of work systems. 33 percent of home PC?s had defective
components compared with 27 percent of work machines.
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,105854,pg,15,00.asp
According to a study conducted in England by research firm Mori, 83
per cent of respondents experienced PC difficulties within a 12-month
period and 70 per cent admitted to shouting, swearing or being violent
towards their computer. The study also showed that only a quarter of
users felt able to fix their computer when there were problems.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/25/1059084199743.html
A quarter of people under the age of 25 admit to kicking their
computers. Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of respondents said their
work was interrupted daily due to computer crashes and other IT
faults. Two in five who had endured daily breakdowns claimed computer
crashes had caused them to miss deadlines and almost a third said
computer problems had forced them to stay late or take work home with
them.
A study by security software vendor Symantec, working with National
Opinion Poll, found that when confronted with technical problems, more
than 40 per cent of users surveyed swore at, kicked or otherwise
abused their computers, monitors and, most popular of all, keyboards.
http://www.computerweekly.com/Article108440.htm
According to a survey of 4,200 PC owners, one quarter confessed to
physically attacking their computers.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-268110.html?legacy=cnet
According to a survey from the Consumer Electronics Association, 71
percent of owners of DVD drives reported that they had not encountered
problems with the drives. It is therefore possible to infer that 29%
had encountered problems.
http://www.interactual.com/news/VideoStoreMag20030807.htm
An estimated 25 to 50 percent of people have problems setting up new systems.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/personaltechnology/2001828705_pthelp03.html
------------------------------------------------------------
2. Complaints.
According to abc7.com the most common PC problems are:
1. PC is slow
2. PC crashes
3. Windows freezes
4. Slow boot up
5. Slow shut down
6. Slow loading programs
7. Unable to run many programs
8. PC restarts by itself.
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/features/CONSUMER/120903_computermaintenance.html
According to a survey by abc 7 Technology the things that people most
hate about their computers are pop-up windows (26%), too expensive
(18%), dangerous info (17%), too complicated (12%), break down too
easily (10%), dangerous for kids (9%).
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/technology/WABC_techguru_041102puterpoll.html
According to ICL?s survey ?IT Day From Hell?, the most common calls to
call centres are of a low technical nature (80%). Twenty-five percent
of calls were from people who had forgotten their passwords. Workers
struggle most with PCs (47 percent); followed by the office network
(45 percent); printers (43 per cent); e-mail access (30 percent);
Internet access (13 per cent).
The survey found that one-third of workers spend 30 minutes per day
helping others with IT problems.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/08/24/britain.ITstress/
------------------------------------------------------------
3. Desire for new computing systems.
Forrester Research has a report costing $195 which identifies the
desire for an easier-to-use computer.
http://www.forrester.com/ER/Research/DataCrosstab/Excerpt/0,5395,14580,00.html
PC World looks at the future of the PC. According to Robert J.T.
Morris, director IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose,
California. "Computing has got to become a pleasurable and delightful
part of our experience of rather than handling a multitude of options,
such devices will likely have highly simplified, special-purpose
interfaces that highlight one or two functions. Such products should
be a lot easier to use than today's PCs, and the goal should be to
make using them enjoyable.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,18059,pg,4,00.asp
Peeking into the future of computing.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,102143,00.asp
Microsoft predicts simpler computers in the future.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2001/aug01/08-08pc20.asp
The drop in prices for PC?s has resulted in a number of companies to
stop developing simple computers allowing internet access.
http://it.asia1.com.sg/newsarchive/08/news003_20010831.html
-----------------------------------------------------------
4. The current market for PC?s is 152.6 million units in 2003. This is
predicted to grow to by between 10.9 (Gartner) and 11.4 (IDC) percent
in 2004.
http://news.com.com/2100-1003-5141213.html
The uptake of Linux in Thailand shows the potential for easier
operating systems. First-time PC users find Linux easier to use than
windows. Linux computers were offered at lower prices than windows
computers in Thailand. Even though Microsoft has reduced the price of
Windows, according to Gartner 70% of consumers will stick with Linux.
http://www.linuxinsider.com/perl/story/32110.html
-----------------------------------------------------------
Part 2.
1. Time spent dealing with PC problems.
A survey of 500 IT staff by Computer People found that IT staff waste
an average of 20 hours per week solving simple problems like
un-jamming a printer and deleting emails. Two thirds had been called
out to fix a ?broken? monitor only to find it hadn?t been plugged in.
http://www.ananova.com/business/story/sm_766639.html?menu=
An estimated one-third to one-half of the time spent in front of the
computer was lost due to frustrating experiences. Much of the
frustration was caused by poor design or unpredictable interfaces.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/itandsociety/v01i03/v01i03a02.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------
2. Time taken to educate themselves about computers.
A survey of teenagers in the USA found that only a third of those
surveyed feel their computer education in is on track to teach them
all they need to know by the time they graduate from high school; the
rest feel that their schools should be teaching them more.
http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/nstw/teenov.htm
Buyers bewildered by techno speak.
A study by AMD Global Consumer Advisory Board and Metafacts Inc
surveyed 1,500 consumers in China, Japan, UK and USA. It found that
many consumers have problems understanding the language associated
with technology. More than half of PC users do not understand the term
?megahertz? despite it being used in the majority of PC
advertisements.
Only five percent of the respondents agreed that computers are difficult to use.
http://www.itmanagement.earthweb.com/ecom/article.php/2233291
According to Pete Nelson of Tech?s Support, 75% of callers refuse to
read the manual for their computers.
http://www.chiprowe.com/articles/tech.html
Software documentation.
A study into software documentation found that 47% of respondents
ranked manuals/documentation as the least effective method for
learning to operate computers and software. Oral instruction was found
to be the most effective method for learning to operate software.
http://www.wyneisland.com/archive/SoftWDocReport.htm
----------------------------------------------------
3. Time/cost dealing with customer support operations.
PC World tested the response times of customer support operations. On
average users waited on hold for five minutes or less. Just over 42
percent waited for six minutes to half an hour on hold.
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,63363,pg,8,00.asp
The amount of time taken to fix problems was also measured. This
varied from company to company. Sony took a total of 15 minutes to fix
two problems. Dell took just under an hour. Gateway ? 50 minutes,
Compaq and HP ? less than 30 minutes, Emachines ? just over 20
minutes.
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,63363,pg,9,00.asp
A test of the quickest method of customer support was also made. Three
methods, phone help, online support and interactive assistance were
evaluated. Phone support was found to be the quickest taking 25
minutes to fix two hardware problems.
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,63363,pg,10,00.asp
A study by the office of fair trading found that support services are
used by a third of consumers who spend an average of £63 per year.
http://www.essexebusinessclub.co.uk/itmarket.pdf
----------------------------------------------------
4. Acceptance of remote customer support.
I found that in general there was little satisfaction with remote customer support.
A study by Winmag found that computer owners used online help less
than 20 percent of the time when they had problems with their
computers. Ten percent said they never received an answer from
messages left at customer websites. 34 percent had a response that
didn?t help and 31 percent had a response that helped but didn?t solve
the problem. Only 24 percent of the online help center users said the
process resulted in a fix.
http://www.dougbedell.com/support.html
A PC World survey found online support to be unhelpful. One quarter of
respondents said that the online support solved their problem and 38
percent said it didn?t help at all.
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,63363,pg,3,00.asp
According to PC World, the level of support for customers has declined
with less than half of the people who took part in the survey said
they were satisfied with the service they received.
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,63363,pg,1,00.asp
Consumers unhappy with PC support
A survey by Consumer Reports magazine rated the support offered by
various companies. Apple Computer, which grabbed the top spot in the
survey with a score of 74 out of 100 and was the only company to earn
higher marks this year than it did last year. Dell and Gateway were
neck and neck with scores of 65 and 64 respectively. Hewlett-Packard
was fourth with a score of 56 while Compaq Computer received a score
of 52.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-949018.html?tag=fd_top
A study by PC World also found remote customer support lacking.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113812,00.asp
-----------------------------------------------------
5. Comprehension/ergonomics of working with computers.
Study finds lack of computer knowledge in the work place.
A study by City & Guilds found that one in seven workers need help
just to switch a computer on or off. One fifth of staff needed help to
save or print a document and could not create a table on screen.
http://www.ananova.com/business/story/sm_816119.html?menu=
PC rage costs UK businesses £25,000 per person per year for one hours
computer frustration at work. The research showed that four out of
five people have witnessed colleagues in the workplace vent their
anger on computers and information technology (IT) systems, resulting
in damaged hardware and loss of business.
http://www.britannia.com/panorama/6_5.html
Despite three quarters of businesses having in-house IT staff, a fifth
admitted they cannot handle all technical problems internally with a
third reliant on external support or helpdesks, and more than a
quarter employing IT contractors. British companies spend an average
of £49,000 per year for additional IT support. An average of 312
employee hours are lost as a result of technical incompetence.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/67/32742.html
Computer crashes cost small businesses billions.
The London Business School found that small or medium business
employees spend more than 183 hours a year waiting for IT systems to
be repaired.
http://www.ananova.com/business/story/sm_715967.html?menu=>
<Search strategy:>
<"frustration with computers">
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22frustration+with+computers%22>
<"computer problems" "time spent" hours>
<://www.google.com/search?q=%22computer+problems%22+%22time+spent%22++hours&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=20&sa=N>
<"computer owners" "technical problems">
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22computer+owners%22+%22technical+problems%22>
<"customer support" satisfied consumers>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22customer+support%22+satisfied+consumers>
<"easier to use computers" market>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22easier+to+use+computers%22+market>
<Hope this helps.> |
,
0 Comments
)