By: Ben Stephens, Service Strategies
When your implementation team completes an installation, how does the customer learn about support and its role in the customer achieving the value from their new system? Too often the turnover process consists of the implementation manager providing a short overview of support or simply providing a phone number to call to answer questions. The introduction of the customer to the support process is the first step to establishing their expectations for service.
This organizational “edge” between the implementation and support teams is where the service relationship begins for customer. Unfortunately, it is often poorly managed which is quickly experienced by the customer as the support team knows nothing about their environment and the customer knows little about how to obtain service, resulting in customer dissatisfaction and unnecessary escalations.
Successful support turnover processes begin during the implementation through the introduction of the support team weeks before the planned go-live date. Involving support in the implementation process allows the support team to establish a relationship with the customer and begin to establish expectations for service after the implementation is completed. This requires solid planning and communications between the support and implementation team, but the payback is fewer escalations, happier customers and a better relationship between two important customer facing teams.
So, how well does your organization handle the transition to support?
The transition process from professional services to support is certainly critical. In some cases you see professional services as the owner of this process and in others support is the owner. Clearly both groups need to be actively engaged in ensuring a smooth transition. In fact, in the 2009 Edition of the Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards, the process is included for both professional services and support.