IBM Customer Service

OK, by now you've noticed that I've been preoccupied with customer service. Just because we are small IT departments doesn't mean that we can mistreat the people who depend on our services. In the past, I've complained about Google's lack of communication. Today I want to talk about a great customer service experience I had.

We have an IBM xSeries 225 that runs our Web server. It had two drives in a RAID1 array for the operating system and four drives in a RAID5 array for data. Because of it had more than enough disk space and RAM for its primary purpose, I began testing VMware Server on it.

VMware Server is a great way to test out implementations before rolling them out to the masses. Because I'm using it as a test environment with no production information, I never bothered backing up the VMware data. Occasionally I would copy the html folder to another server that is backed up. I wasn't worried about the other data as long as the Web site data was safe.

Soon, our resident Web designer began working on our new Web site in a virtual server. I never thought about the lack of back up for that virtual server. Well, I didn't think about it when one drive went defunct in our RAID5 array. "No big deal," I thought. "I'll get it replaced and everything will be fine." I had no worries about the virtual machines stored on that array.

No worries until the next day when a second drive in that array went defunct. No worries until I realized the server was two months out of warranty. No worries until the web designer called because he couldn't access the only copy of his web site! Suddenly I had a lot of worries.

IBM, unlike Google, has their tech support phone number prominently listed on their Web site. I called, expecting the worst. After a very short trip through the automated phone system and a wonderfully brief amount of time on hold, I was on with a tech. He quickly found that the server was out of warranty and told me up front that there wasn't a lot he could do for me. That should have been the end of the story, for all intents and purposes.

But this tech didn't let it go at that. After explaining in detail just what I was potentially up against, he offered to have the RAID controller logs reviewed for me so I would know for sure what was going on. He then got another tech to review the logs and called me back to give me a plan of action.

So, he wasn't supposed to help me. For all I know, his boss wouldn't want him to help me. In the end, he gave me all the information I needed to save our data and spent considerable time on the phone with me to make sure I understood what needed to happen.

I still need to replace a hard drive and put the finishing touches on my backup plan (yes, I have a plan for that server now!), but thanks to some terrific customer service from a terrific tech -- I was able to service my customer and live to tell you about it!

In the end, there are three lessons here:

1. Review your backup plan often. Servers usage will change over time. Just because it used to not have valuable information on it doesn't mean it still doesn't!
2. Have a spare hard drive on hand for your RAID array. When one goes bad, you cannot wait to get a replacement!
3. Go the extra mile for your users. They will appreciate it more than you know. It's good for your career and it is good for your organization.
   

More About Customer Service

I suspect most tech-minded people are problem solvers. That is what interests us in technology. We find a situation that can be improved with technology and we put together a solution. Or, we find a problem with a current technological system and we repair it. We're fixers. We're problem solvers.

I don't think that the part of the brain that solves problems is the same part of the brain that likes to talk about them. When I solve a problem, I don't want to dwell on it anymore. I want to move on to the next problem. So, I frequently neglect to tell people about how the problem was resolved or even that it was resolved. That would pretty much qualify as poor customer service.

It's not that I fail to understand how important communication is to developing good relations with the people who rely on my services. (See my earlier posts about my experience receiving poor customer service if you doubt me.) I just don't want to spend any time talking about something that is completed and, to me, has begun to fade into history already.

So, has anyone out there stumbled onto the holy grail of communication with end users? I'm looking for something that nearly automatically gives the necessary information to them so that I keep them in the loop while keeping my focus on the problems.

Or, feel free to tell me to suck it up and start talking more to people if that is really the best way to handle things. Seriously, I can take it. I just think there has to be a better way.

Customer Service From A Techie?

So, I ranted about Google's customer service once or twice and felt like I needed to learn from their mistakes in order to improve my own performance. I can think of several reasons why this is important to me, my career, and/or my employer.

• Things go smoother if communications lines are open


• People trust you more if they feel you are treating them in a professional manner


• You can prioritize better


• You learn more, know more, and are able to do more

Some of those are a bit strange sounding so let me try to expand on them:
Things Go Smoother With Communication
How many times have you worked your tail off on a project to find out that no cares anymore? Or that the desired end-result has changed? Or that it isn't as important as it once was and you could have put it on the back-burner instead of busting your hump? Communication is important. If you keep people informed, they will keep you informed.

Don't think I'm putting on my "holier-than-thou" face here. I'm just as guilty of going incommunicado as the next tech. Usually, I am in a hurry to get the next task off of my list so I skip out on telling the stakeholders what the resolution was to the last problem. Or I'm trying to finish, so I don't take time to update people on the status. But looking at it from the other side, I think that it is time to force myself to take the time to do this.

Trust

I get the feeling that some people won't let you know that there is a problem because they don't believe you will help them out with it. You know, "Oh that? It hasn't worked for six weeks. I didn't bother telling you because you wouldn't have gotten to it anyway." Maybe they're nicer about it. Maybe not. But the point is this -- they don't trust you to handle their problems.

Communicating status with them helps them to see that you are not ignoring them, that you are not incompetent, that you are not relegating them to outcast status. It lets them know that they are important, but there are higher priorities in the organization. People are remarkably understanding when given the facts. Trust them with the facts and they will trust you with their support issues.

Prioritization

This follows from the last point. If they don't trust you enough to tell you their problems, how are you going to prioritize the problems to resolve them. You may spend a whole day working on trivial problems while someone's computer is completely down. Again, open communications are vital and communication doesn't happen unless you actively participate in it.

Learn More, Know More, Do More

OK, I've discussed how people will open up to you if you take the time to communicate with them. You often are not going to learn about problems unless you are told about them by the people on the "front lines". You won't know how to manage the problems until you know they exist. Therefore, you can't do anything about the problems without open communication with everyone in the organization.

Wrap-Up

This is a posting from my experience, not from any book I've read or expert I'm trying to emulate. Truth is, I would rather quote from some book or expert but I haven't found any. Please comment below if you can recommend anything.

My view right now (subject to change as I think this through some more) is that good customer service begins with good communication between yourself and the stakeholders. This is not only good for your "customers", it's good for you!

Google Support, Part 2

Ironically, after posting my rant about Google Technical Support, Google Tech Support emailed me to say they had switched our Standard Edition of Google Apps over to the Education Edition. Happy ending, I suppose, but it gets me thinking about customer service.

Personally, I am a computer guy and not a people person. Put me in a room with 100 computers and I am in heaven. Put me in a room with 100 people and I am in hell. Not that I hate people, I just am not the most comfortable when I am trying to make conversation.

Additionally, with everything I am expected to handle I tend to give customer service lower priority than fixing/upgrading/adding/deleting/moving/installing/etc. I'd rather get the next task accomplished than spend time telling someone what I already did.

I think that puts me at a disadvantage with customer service. People may think that my lack of communication indicates a lack of concern or a lack of professionalism. I know I was pretty convinced that Google was uninterested in my problem with them. Even now, after a successful resolution to the problem, I do not feel good about the situation.

Leave a comment and let me know how you handle customer service in your position.