A survey by business information services provider EquaTerra has found Indian companies vying for dominance of the Top 20 customer satisfaction league for outsourcing contracts, but paints a less rosy picture for several of the established major global suppliers.

The report, UK Service Provider Performance 2007-2008, presented a top five customer satisfaction placing of TCS, Wipro, Satyam, Unisys and Infosys, in terms of general satisfaction with a contracted provider. TCS scored 78% overall in terms of customer satisfaction, followed closely by Wipro and Satyam (both at 75%), Unisys (71%) and Infosys (68%).

Fujitsu Services, Computacenter, Capgemini, Siemens, and Atos Origin all scored above 60%.

At the bottom of the industry top 20 for general satisfaction were a number of established services giants: EDS (53%), CSC (55%), BT (55%), and IBM (56%), although each of these companies were still showing a majority satisfaction score.

One measure of its success in the current rankings is that, despite its excellent rating this year, top-placed TCS did not have sufficient customer contracts last year to even merit inclusion in the 2006-2007 survey table.

The biggest riser in this year's chart has been Unisys, up from 61% last year, while HP has fallen from 75% general customer satisfaction last year to just 58%, one percent lower than Accenture.

Overall, said EquaTerra, the implication of the General Satisfaction ratings is that "a group of providers at the top of the rankings have devised and implemented a process for effective service delivery; one with which those towards the bottom are struggling to keep pace." The report goes on to say that it may also be significant that the Indian providers competing for dominance in the upper reaches of the satisfaction table are often involved in outsourced development work. "This type of contract is re-let frequently and requires constant selling, helping to focus the supplier's attention on keeping the customer happy".

The detailed report sets out satisfaction levels within such categories as Quality, Price, Shouldering Risk, Relationship Management, Identifying New Cost Savings, Innovation, and Flexibility. In most categories many of the established outsourcing and services giants fared comparatively badly, with the exception of the Innovation category, which saw Accenture leap to the top of the rankings above TCS, Computacenter, HP, and Capgemini, which suggests that dollar might and a large industry footprint can still be synonymous with innovation in this fast-maturing industry.