Influence of information and communication technologies on customer satisfaction and increase in the number of customers

Information and communication technologies (ICT) play an important role in business management today. However, there is little information on how the uses of ICT within firms create positive results regarding service. The purpose of the study is to know the degree of influence of ICT on customer satisfaction and increase in the number of customers. The sample consisted of 102 Colombian new technology-based firms (NTBFs) located in business incubators and technology parks, selected through a non-probabilistic, purposeful sampling. To perform the statistical analysis, structural equation modeling was used. The results indicated a good fit of the proposed model, where ICT have a positive and significant influence with a medium effect on customer satisfaction and a large effect on increase in the number of customers. The findings showed that the implementation of ICT in the different internal processes of NTBFs favors external processes, to improve and innovate the quality of their service, reflecting in a positive perception of customers. Influence of ICT on the performance of firms has not been widely studied in non-economic results. The internal processes of the firms are the use of internet technologies, collaboration, management, decision-making support, search and data management. Meanwhile, external processes involve services directly visible to customers. Previous research does not consider the impact of ICT on internal processes that have repercussions on external processes.