RE: Beyond funny
Hi, this is a tricky terrain, but I'll try to clarify a couple of things here, and where not clearly stated otherwise, this is my personal opinion. - in a recent worldwide conference call for (Database) Tech Support it was clearly stated that customer satisfaction is the most important factor in measuring success of Tech Support. - measuring customer satisfaction is done for Tech Support customers, but it is a difficult thing to do. It is very much like opinion polls ... - still, it is probably a good idea to voice your (dis-) satisfaction, because otherwise nothing will change. Try to tell it directly to a Tech Support manager or to your sales contact within IBM. Explain the situation. (Letting of steam in this forum may help you psychologically, but in the end may not have a changing effect for the future.) - Tech Support is a service that in general is not free (e.g. it is not like pre-sales). Therefore some entitlement checking is necessary, and sometimes it is difficult to decide what is the right thing to do. It often is easier to strictly follow some rules than to judge the "overall situation" (of which some factors often are not obvious or become obvious only in hindsight). - there are two sides to the coin. The other side is: To some extent paying customers might be put off when Support is given without entitlement, because it might use resources they would need and have paid for. - about this case (Paul Watson's initial e-mail) I informed some people within IBM so that (in case they are not yet) they gain awareness of this kind of problem. This is the first step. Whether in the end something will change (e.g. in the entitlement check process) - that is out of my scope and reach. Regards, Martin -- Martin Fuerderer IBM Informix Development Munich, Germany Information Management IBM Deutschland Entwicklung GmbH Chairman of the Supervisory Board: Martin Jetter Board of Management: Herbert Kircher Corporate Seat: Boeblingen, Germany Reg.-Gericht: Amtsgericht Stuttgart, HRB 243294 informix-list-bounces@iiug.org wrote on 17.03.2008 03:23:33: > > Fernando is spot on. > > Unless you're talking about premiere or premium support services, > support is a cost center and not a profit center. > > So the idea is to answer as many support questions as quickly and > "efficiently" as possible. Sometimes, if you hit a "known" defect, > you call in to support and they'll tell you to upgrade to a newer version. > > But back to the basic business economics of support. What metrics > are used on guaging the effectiveness of your support team? Number > of calls? Tme to resolution? Reduction in number of crit sits or > priority 1 calls? How do you bonus/incent your support team? > > I don't know of a good model, other than have the calls recorded and > periodically reviewed and graded by management. But that's a > subjective and not an objective method. > > Do you (meaning anyone) have any ideas? > > -G > PS. I realize that the bulk of the posters/readers are line DBAs and > this is a management issue. In TQM, its the guy on the front line > who has probably the best input and you should be able to voice an opinion. > > From: spam@onlinedomus.net > > Subject: Re: Beyond funny > > Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:07:05 +0000 > > To: informix-list@iiug.org > > > > Serge Rielau wrote: > > > > >>> No way of knowing - IBM won't discuss it with me > > > This is fixable. I (hope I)'ve hooked you up. > > > Please ping me if things don't take a turn for the better. > > > > > > Cheers > > > Serge > > > > In my honest and *personal* opinion, this goes a lot deeper... > > It has to do on how IT companies face the support function... > > > > The fact is, support personnel is lead to "close cases" and not to > > do "CRM"... > > I keep hearing and seeing situations when the first interaction > > is: "get the > > latest version and call us if the problem persists"... > > > > Unfortunately the support staff is not taken to be a great source > > of customer > > satisfaction... I mean... every book says they are, but every > > company puts them > > in another situation... > > > > Once again, a disclaimer... this is not a criticism to the people who do > > support... I keep getting very good ones and a few I'd prefer not > > to meet ever... > > > > Interestingly, some support teams are well aware of this... But it seems > > difficult to change things... Possibly it has to come from higher sources... > > > > Regards. > > > > -- > > Fernando Nunes > > Portugal > > > > http://informix-technology.blogspot.com > > My email works... but I don't check it frequently... > > _______________________________________________ > > Informix-list mailing list > > Informix-list@iiug.org > > http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list > > > Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser! Learn more. > _______________________________________________ > Informix-list mailing list > Informix-list@iiug.org > http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list