In an era where technology often drives business growth, efficient and reliable IT performance is more critical than ever. To remain competitive, you need an IT service provider that not only understands the technology landscape, but also is focused on helping you solve business challenges, drive efficiency and build lasting value.
Understanding what IT capabilities your business needs to reach its goals is essential. Knowing how to get it done ―the planning, strategy and execution―is equally important. A results-focused, customer-centric approach to IT service requires close collaboration between the client and the IT consultant.
That’s why it’s important to choose an IT provider that not only has superior technical skills, but is also focused on delivering exceptional customer service. Finding the best match for your unique needs will help ensure you get the results you want and can set the stage for a high-productive, long-term relationship. Following are some key customer experience attributes to keep in mind as you evaluate your IT service provider.
- Effective onboarding: Becoming a company that delivers excellent customer service requires many things to be done well. One of those is effective onboarding. Your service provider should take the initiative to set clear expectations from the start. Your goals should be clearly outlined and backed by actionable deliverables. One of the things we do at BACS to help ensure the relationship gets started on the right track is to hold an initial kick-off call. The call is important because it helps ensure everyone is on the same page and sets the tone for the rest of the engagement. It’s an opportunity for us to get to know more about the client, their challenges, their priorities and the dynamics of their team. We make sure the client understands who their main point of contact is going to be, set up a communication schedule, and identify some initial goals going forward.
- Regular feedback: Businesses often have little time to focus on the routine functions of infrastructure management and day-to-day tasks. That’s where your IT provider can deliver superior service value. The best providers are continuously soliciting client feedback and seeking ways to enhance the service experience. One of the things that sets BACS apart is our persistence and commitment to listening to what our clients have to say. We ask questions. We take the temperature of the relationship. Where are your biggest struggles? How can we provide better service? We review our processes and remove any communication barriers. We hear what our clients have to so, but we also brainstorm with our internal team about opportunities, potential roadblocks, and what competitors are doing. Ultimately we use the feedback to improve the client experience and make it an integral part of the improvement process.
- Fast response: Most IT organizations are stuck in reactive mode, continuously putting out fires and rushing to resolve the latest crisis. That’s why fast, efficient response from your IT provider is more critical than ever. Not only should our provider be available 24/7, but they also need to be able to respond quickly to critical issues. Ideally, our provider should have the ability to remotely monitor and manage your IT infrastructure. When action is required, alerts can trigger your IT team or your service provider’s help desk to initiate the appropriate response. Your IT provider should provide a clearly-defined service-level agreement (SLA) that outlines in detail the specific scope of services provided, standard response times and performance expectations. Your service provider’s ticketing system should be easy to use and focus on communication and customer satisfaction. It’s not enough for a system to ease the intake process―it must actually assist the IT team in quickly resolving issues. Ideally, all parties should be able to track issue progress. At BACS, once tickets are received, they are logged and sorted according to type of issue, automatically triggering requests to the appropriate resources or expert. Tickets are automatically tracked from start to finish to help ensure no request gets overlooked and is promptly resolved.
- Exceed expectations: One of the keys to successful customer engagements and higher levels of satisfaction is empathy. Empathy means understanding the client from their perspective rather than viewing the situation as an outsider. At BACS, we work closely with our clients to understand their overarching vision and develop a defined roadmap as part of an ongoing “alignment” cycle. Recurring checks and ongoing follow up help make sure our recommendations are delivering results and are aligned with the client’s business goals. With daily reporting, quarterly reviews, personalized training, and additional support, your team can focus on strategy and growth instead of stressing over routine maintenance tasks.
- Consistent performance: It’s been said that all things being equal, customers will choose to buy from a friend. Establishing this kind of familiarity with clients requires consistent, personalized service throughout the client engagement. It requires diligence in keeping clients updated on our procedures and informed about ongoing performance and support issues. At BACS, our consultants are well-versed in the importance of integrating IT into your overall business strategy. We help you take full advantage of the opportunities a proactive IT approach enables, whether it’s growing revenue, capturing market share, or enhancing the customer experience. Our expert consultants understand the complexities and challenges of technology deployment and work ensure your solutions align with your priorities and will scale appropriately.
To help ensure your results are aligned with your business goals, our team will work with you to:
- Develop a strategic IT plan and review it with you regularly to make sure we stay on track.
- Address any gaps in your IT support needs recommend updates to address fast-changing IT and business performance needs.
- Review your security practices and note any deficiencies.
- Advise you on how best to optimize the performance and resiliency of your IT infrastructure
- Establish an ongoing process that we’ll use to initially get your IT infrastructure and support processes aligned and then keep it aligned over time.
Reaping the benefits of superior IT service
It may not sound exciting, but one of the key ingredients to keep customers happy is consistency. It today’s era of rapid change, it’s easy to lose focus on what’s important. That’s where working with a customer-centric IT provider can deliver substantial value. By outsourcing ongoing support tasks to a trusted partner, businesses can focus on more strategic priorities with greater peace of mind knowing that their IT operation is running smoothly and efficiently.
