IBM Managed Support Services introducing technical support outtasking

Transcription

1 IBM Global Technology Services October 2006 IBM Managed Support Services introducing technical support outtasking Drive down warranty costs, boost customer satisfaction, enable faster expansion into new markets and technologies

2 Page 2 Contents 4 Support as a customer touch-point 5 Quality of service 6 Support as a business differentiator 7 Balancing quality and costs 8 Technical support outtasking 9 Maintaining brand value 10 Technology and service providers 11 The IBM offering 12 Tailored services for all industries 13 Case Study: Car manufacturer puts the brakes on warranty costs, drives up customer satisfaction 14 Summary of advantages 15 Contact information Technology manufacturers and service providers understand that after-sales service is an expensive yet increasingly crucial part of the buying experience. Whatever the product or service, how you react when your customer has a problem is a major influence on loyalty and future buying behaviour. In an increasingly commoditised and price-sensitive world, high-quality customer care delivered at a cost that makes economic sense can be a major competitive differentiator. This paper proposes that the best way to provide effective after-sales service is to contract the work out to a single, global partner. By outtasking the whole technical support infrastructure in this way, businesses can eliminate the fixed costs of employing hundreds or thousands of engineers. More importantly, they benefit from access to a larger pool of more skilled talent, and can gain enormous scalability both in geographic range and scope of services at variable costs that track the ups and downs of your business demand. If your set of products or services changes rapidly, particularly with the increasing use of embedded computerisation, the cost of providing after-sales support is likely to be high and rising. Support teams will require continual re-training, and it may be difficult to find adequately skilled staff fast enough to meet the expansion plans of the business. Whether you have national, regional or global customers, they will expect the same standards and quality in support wherever they are, placing huge stresses on your ability to attract, train and retain support staff.

3 Page 3 There are a number of important business issues related to the challenges of providing effective after-sales support: Warranty costs are rising, while customer satisfaction is falling Support tends to lag behind new product or service development, making it difficult and costly to open up new markets The cost of creating, coordinating and controlling a national/ regional/global support network diverts investment away from core business activities Support costs tend to be fixed on a path of continual increase, and it is difficult to match support costs to changing demand, because the support organisation cannot easily scale up or down As product sets change more rapidly, and as the technical complexity of products and services increases, support operatives may lack the critical skills to effectively service the customer base The inability to resolve problems quickly pushes up warranty costs and reduces customer satisfaction, ultimately leading to loss of repeat business With commoditisation on the rise across all sectors, the quality of after-sales service has replaced price and range as a key competitive differentiator. How to achieve high-quality support If your business is experiencing any or all of these issues, this paper explains how outtasking can help you achieve high-quality aftersales support at low cost.

4 Page 4 Technical support outtasking through IBM Managed Support Services When making a decision to outtask support usually based on a desire to cut costs and complexity you should consider the critical importance of the customer experience. After-sales support may be the closest touch-point you ever have with your customers, and the most vital link in the whole business cycle. Choosing a patchwork of different partners across different markets will potentially cut costs, but how much control will you have over the customer experience? And how quick and easy will it be to scale your support organisation to tackle new markets and geographies? Present in more than 160 countries IBM Managed Support Services is present in more than 160 countries, and has provided after-sales support services across Europe and the Americas for more than 50 years. Drawing on an enormous pool of skills and experience, IBM Managed Support Services combines technological expertise with a deep understanding of each local market s expectations about customer service. With flexible pricing combined with an almost unique level of international presence, IBM Managed Support Services can provide and tailor your after-sales support infrastructure at a speed and cost that matches your business requirements, enabling faster time-tomarket and greater flexibility. Whether your business needs a pre-built support infrastructure and break-fix maintenance for high-tech products and services, or tailored after-sales support for the hardware or software elements of a set of products or services IBM Managed Support Services can offer a solution. Use support as a differentiator In an increasingly commoditised market, excellence in customer services can be an important competitive differentiator. By selecting IBM Managed Support Services to provide high-quality worldwide support, you gain a best-of-breed support infrastructure and the freedom to focus on your core business.

5 Page 5 The growing challenges of after-sales support In any business which has a set of products or services that require after-sales support, it is likely to be difficult to achieve both low costs and high quality in support. The difficulty is increased if the business is expanding into new market areas or new territories, where it may be a struggle to recruit and train adequately skilled support staff rapidly enough to serve the growing customer base. Likewise, if the set of products or services changes frequently, or if there is a particularly large number of offerings, this complexity will drive up support costs and will tend to act as a brake on expansion. Address quality of service Where companies maintain in-house support services, the scalability of the support network is a key issue. It will be disruptive and timeconsuming to recruit and train new experts to meet increased demand and any subsequent drop in demand will leave a large body of under-employed engineers on the payroll. Where companies use a combination of in-house experts and external support partners, scalability may be less problematic, but quality of service and cost of administration are likely to be key issues. It will be difficult to maintain the same levels of training across all parts of the support network, particularly with a fast-changing set of products or services. And if support is delivered by multiple partners in different territories, the administrative cost of coordinating them will be high. Moreover, it will be impossible to deliver the same levels of service and the same customer experience to international clients who require support in multiple countries. Challenge from increasing technical needs A further problem is seen in the automotive industry and other sectors that traditionally offered purely mechanical support, but are now required to service an increasing number of computerised components. The cost and difficulty of educating and re-training support partners, not to mention providing adequate diagnostic equipment, is increasing the gap between customer expectations and the industry s after-sales support capabilities.

6 Page 6 Support as a key business differentiator The difficulty of maintaining the right level of skills in a growing support network drives up warranty costs, as companies have to invest more and more in re-training support operatives to deal with their fast-changing product sets. The delay in building up the skills to service a new product or an existing product in a new market will result in weeks or even months of inadequate after-sales support. Provide excellence in after-sales service More worryingly, the widening gap between the launch of a product or service and the deployment of adequate support resources is pushing down customer satisfaction. In areas where skills are lacking, companies are likely to see higher rates of product returns, since support operatives may be unable to resolve problems costeffectively or quickly enough to meet customer expectations. Ultimately, companies that do not address problems with after-sales support face both an erosion of customer loyalty and a reduction in repeat business. As the commoditisation of products and services increases across virtually every industry sector, customer service is fast becoming one of the most important competitive differentiators. Particularly where electronic consumer goods are concerned, the cost of entry for new competitors is low. As a result, many established companies are looking to quality of customer service as a way to maintain or grow market share. Costs set on a fixed upward path For companies that still use in-house resources for after-sales support and servicing, attempts to improve the quality of service will almost always involve costly re-training and growth in staff numbers. There is a significant risk that building up a sufficiently large internal support organisation will mean under-utilised staff resources during off-peak periods. In this scenario, support costs are fixed on a path of continual growth that is, costs will rise in line with the growing product set and geographic reach, but cannot be temporarily reduced if demand falls.

7 Page 7 Striking the right balance between quality and cost The cost of coordinating and controlling an internal support infrastructure whether it is national, regional or global can make it difficult to expand a business successfully. Focus on your core business Most organisations want to reduce the cost of support, and many see outsourcing or outtasking as the best way to achieve this. The potential advantages are clear: by moving support out of house, you gain the ability to focus on your core business, you are likely to achieve some degree of cost-variability, and you potentially gain access to a wider pool of skills and resources. Companies that choose a patchwork of support services in different geographies and for different aspects of support may achieve cost savings but not without impact on service levels. Standardise skills What guarantees are there that service levels will be consistently high across different support partners? How can skills be standardised across the entire support network? What controls are in place to ensure the right level of support neither too low and liable to leave customers unsatisfied, nor too high and therefore unnecessarily expensive? If the external support infrastructure is particularly complex or includes a large number of partners, the direct reduction in costs may even be outweighed by the additional administrative expense of managing these third-party relationships. Organisations can strike the right balance between cutting costs and achieving excellence in after-sales support by choosing a single, global partner for technical support outtasking.

8 Page 8 Technical support outtasking IBM Managed Support Services offers a full range of technical support outtasking services delivered in a modular fashion or as a complete end-to-end package. Whether you need a standardised, prebuilt support infrastructure for your high-tech products and services, capable of delivering true global service at low (and variable) costs, or you need a tailored solution to support electronic components in any set of products or services IBM Managed Support Services can help. IBM offers unrivalled global reach The technical support function of IBM Managed Support Services has served IBM customers all over the world for many years. During this time, its delivery capabilities have been honed by the need to maintain the levels of customer service for which IBM is justifiably renowned. With a presence in more than 160 countries, IBM Managed Support Services can offer extraordinary scalability for technical support services, enabling its clients to expand rapidly into new markets with no fear of being unable to meet after-sales support commitments. Scale to meet your precise requirements IBM Managed Support Services can instantly scale up or scale down its technical support outtasking service to match client requirements seamlessly increasing the available resources during periods of peak demand, then reducing them when the demand has passed. This ability to switch additional capacity on and off means an end to inefficient, fixed-cost support and opens up a far more flexible and cost-effective way to provide after-sales support.

9 Page 9 Maintaining brand value As digital convergence brings increasing standardisation of products, and with improved tools and methodologies for detecting and fixing problems, the servicing process itself has become simpler and less costly. What has not changed is the need to ensure a good customer experience. Ambasssador for your brand If you choose to out-task your technical support and break-fix services, you need to be able to trust your chosen external partner to be an ambassador for your brand. IBM Managed Support Services has supported the IBM brand, ranked the world s third most valuable in 2006, for decades. By selecting IBM Managed Support Services as your technical support outtasking partner, you gain access to a vast pool of highlyskilled talent, backed by the global IBM infrastructure and existing multi-lingual call centres. You can choose how support is delivered whether as a white-label service or under the IBM brand. IBM Managed Support Services understands that expectations about customer service differ widely from country to country, and effective support can only be delivered by operatives who have the right cultural background as well as the appropriate language skills. Best-of-breed service Either way, you get a best-of-breed service that will allow you to focus on your core business, safe in the knowledge that your brand value is being maintained or even enhanced.

10 Page 10 Technical support outtasking for technology and service providers The simplest technical support outtasking offering from IBM Managed Support Services is aimed at technology and service providers that require remote technical support or break-fix maintenance on hardware or software. As their customer base becomes increasingly international, technology and service providers may struggle to scale their support infrastructure. True end-to-end support offering Companies looking to expand their market reach will face the challenge of training up hundreds or thousands of engineers, of setting up a multi-lingual call centre and of getting to grips with new cultural expectations for service delivery. How long will it take to recruit, train and deploy new support operatives? How well utilised will these new employees be, and what happens if sales are better or worse than originally projected? Maintaining a multi-lingual 24/7 call centre, a parts logistics operation and thousands of technical support personnel involves numerous fixed costs: salaries, overheads, administration, training and transport. Choose a global external partner By choosing a global external partner that has already invested in all of the necessary infrastructure, you can cut your costs, enhance your speed-to-market and most importantly improve the quality of after-sales support to your customers.

11 Page 11 IBM Managed Support Services after-sales support Robust, ready-made support and logistics infrastructure Broad experience of multiple areas of technology Deep understanding of hardware and software The IBM offering Multi-lingual, 24/7 call entry and management L1 and L2 remote technical support Onsite field engineers Full certification of engineers Full parts logistics service and parts refurbishment NDF (no defect found) tests Knowledge management and self-help solutions. Service Level Agreements from 24/7, four-hour response to 9-to- 5, next-business-day response Reporting: multiple Key Performance Indicators provide financial transparency Collection of statistical information on end-user satisfaction. Decades of technological and patent leadership Proven competence in business consulting and solution design. Leverage the expertise, assets, intellectual property, global awareness, finely tuned processes and resilient infrastructure of IBM Managed Support Services to provide an end-to-end solution for technical support and maintenance. With a single contract for all services and detailed key performance indicators, IBM Managed Support Services minimises the administrative overheads of technical support outtasking, enabling clients to focus fully on core business issues.

12 Page 12 Tailored technical support services for all industries The problems of rising warranty costs and falling customer satisfaction are not exclusive to the technology and service provider industries. In any sector where products are increasingly computerised or where serv ices require customers to use software, there are likely to be growing difficulties in providing high quality technical support. Cost-effective use of resources, personnel Existing technical support personnel will be specialised in other areas, and it may not be quick or cost-effective to re-train them in an entirely new set of hardware or software support techniques. As a result, resources and investment will be directed away from core activities into increasingly ineffective support services. When computerised components develop faults, the quickest remedy may be to replace the entire product which may keep the customer satisfied but will significantly inflate costs. In the case of a service offering, the inability of support operatives to resolve customer difficulties adequately will reduce customer satisfaction and may lead to increased customer churn. Skills and support from IBM If the growing use of technology in your products or services is driving up warranty costs and driving down customer satisfaction, IBM Managed Support Services can help by designing and running a tailored after-sales technical support service. IBM has both the vision and the skills to solve your technical support issues, and enable you to focus on your core business.

13 Page 13 Car manufacturer puts the brakes on warranty costs A leading European car manufacturer was struggling to control warranty costs as its vehicles became increasingly dependent on electronic components. Its existing after-sales support personnel were highly trained mechanics who had little or no skill in diagnosing and repairing hardware or software errors. It was uneconomical for the company s network of car dealerships to invest in employing and continually re-training IT experts, and there was a level of resistance among the existing mechanics to re-skill. In consequence, even simple technical faults could only be remedied by ripping and replacing the apparently faulty component. This was driving up warranty costs significantly, and leading to growing dissatisfaction among customers since the rip-and-replace approach was often failing to fix the root problem, leading to further breakdowns. Complete design service This car manufacturer engaged IBM Managed Support Services to design and run an after-sales support service for its end customers. IBM recruited a team of mechanics and gave them in-depth training in hardware and software fault-resolution. Modems were provided for each dealership, enabling the local mechanics to dial-in to the IBM team for assistance and diagnostics. The remote IBM team now provides specific instructions to the mechanics in the dealerships, enabling them to take the correct actions to resolve faults. IBM Managed Support Services also implemented a full parts logistics solution for the company, effectively running every non-mechanical aspect of the after-sales service. Improved customer satisfaction The solution created by IBM Managed Support Services has significantly improved customer satisfaction, accelerated faultresolution and reduced warranty costs. It also enables the car manufacturer and its dealership to focus on what they do best: selling cars and providing mechanical maintenance services.

14 Page 14 Summary Companies in all industry sectors can take advantage of IBM s global economies of scale and scope to reduce the costs of after-sales service and technical support. Quality of customer service When outtasking technical support, the overriding consideration should be quality of customer service, which is dependent not only on the technical competence of the external partner, but also on that partner s scalability and speed-to-market. IBM Managed Support Services combines unrivalled geographic reach and deep technical skills with decades of experience in aftersales support and technical services. IBM can deliver flexible and highly scalable support services at variable costs, helping you to maximise customer satisfaction while reducing warranty costs. Make IBM your trusted partner In an increasingly commoditised world, can you really afford not to offer your customers the industry s best after-sales support? Make IBM your trusted partner for world-class service.

15 Page 15 For more information To find out more about technical support outtasking from IBM Managed Support Services, please contact your IBM sales representative or visit: UK, South Africa ibm.com/uk/services Germany ibm.com/de/services Ireland ibm.com/ie/services Telephone +44 (0)

16 More information To find out more about technical support outtasking from IBM Managed Support Services, please contact your IBM sales representative or visit: UK, South Africa ibm.com/uk/services Germany ibm.com/de/services Ireland ibm.com/ie/services Telephone: +44 (0) IBM United Kingdom Limited Upper Ground South Bank London SE1 9PZ The IBM home page can be found on the Internet at ibm.com IBM and the IBM logo are trademarks of International Business Machines in the United States, other countries, or both. Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. References in this publication to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates. Copying or downloading the images contained in this document is expressly prohibited without the written consent of IBM. This publication is for general guidance only. Copyright IBM Corporation 2006 All Rights Reserved. Contributors Mike Kelly has held many technical, management and business development roles within IBM. He first joined the company as part of a core team to start up multi-vendor business in UK, and subsequently set up and managed the e-business support team. Mike later ran the Dell Alliance in North region, and took on the assignment to grow technical support services across IBM alliances in Europe. Mike is IBM Technical Services Outsourcing leader for UK, Ireland and South Africa. Falk Haewecker is ISS Business Development Executive for the SMB market. Falk has considerable experience of arranging successful contracts for customers from the consumer electronics, telecommunications and output industries, and the personal computer business. Past roles include Manager, GTW03002-GBEN-00 User Helpdesk, and Manager, Flexible Workforce Delivery.