Customer Service (No…Really)

A lot of companies talk about customer service. Obviously they realize it is an important component in a Client’s mind, particularly when it comes to IT services. Let’s just say the IT services industry has not been known for “Exceptional” customer service. How many times have you sat on hold with an IT support department? Connected to someone who speaks another language? Waited a week for a simple fix for your email server? Sat there as everyone pointed at some other entity as the cause of a problem? Been told that you can’t do something, that you can see your competitor is doing? Well guess what, all of that is about to change.

Why is that about to change? Well, I can tell you one thing, it is not because the IT community just woke up and decided it was the “Right thing to do”. It is instead about Survival! It is a sad fact of human nature that we treat people differently after we get what we need from them, in life, and in business. In your own business are you more likely to be attentive, concerned and cooperative before you get the order, or after the final bill is paid? What if there was no final bill? What if instead of collecting a nice big chunk of cash, you were instead being paid a small amount every month. Maybe your business model is this way and you understand, but the IT model has not been this way.

The entire IT industry has been working the same program for a very long time. Make that big sale!

Big contracts = big commissions, and as in most commission based businesses, you will not find a more attentive person than the salesman… at least until you sign the deal.

In the middle market space these deals are usually at least 5, and often 6 figures. Servers, workstations, software licensing, setup… it’s a lot, and it costs a lot. But once everything is in place, and the big check has cleared, what does your technology provider have to look forward to? Your ongoing maintenance agreement? A few tweaks here and there? Or are they looking for that next big check from a new client?

The fact that the majority of clients are not satisfied with their technology provider’s support after the sale should come as no surprise. What if there were no servers to sell? No software licences to sell? No VPN setup, no Exchange servers, no VMware, or racks or switches or routers? What happens to the big contract? It no longer exists.

A quiet war is raging... between the fat cat technology companies preserving the status quo, and the new nimble Software as a Service providers.

Fortunately for us, the fat cats will have to learn what Customer Service even is.

Born in the Cloud, we at Forceworks understand, Customer Service is all there is.

The post 5 reasons to move to the cloud that no one talks about (Part 2 of 5) first appeared on Steve Mordue MVP.

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