Inadequate IT customer service is wasting up to 1 billion man hours a year for UK businesses according to a report from Rackspace Hosting.

In the Rackspace IT Industry Service Report, 39 percent of IT staff are estimated to lose around one working day or more per week on tackling IT problems and chasing suppliers. General employees were also found to be losing an average of almost five hours per week due to IT service issues.

The failings in customer services has led to 27 percent of CIO’s now regarding the issue as a top priority.

Taylor Rhodes, Managing Director, International at Rackspace said: “A staggering amount of man hours are being wasted by UK businesses as they struggle to manage and control IT service issues. CIOs are taking note however and it is encouraging to see service being acknowledged as a crucial factor in procurement decisions along with parameters such as price, security and uptime guarantees.”