Technology-Based Customer Service   Term Paper ID:31183 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Good customer service is predicated upon the service desk’s ability to provide service. This paper explores the concept of technology as a critical component of that ability. The kind of service that a service desk can provide is limited by its technology, not just by its personnel. In this paper, the experience of Consonus, a company that has used technology to ramp up its customer service capabilities, is examined. Paper Introduction: Technology-Based Customer Service Abstract Good customer service is predicated upon the service desk\'s ability toprovide service This paper explores the concept of technology as acritical component of that ability The kind of service that a servicedesk can provide is limited by its technology not just by its personnel In this paper the experience of Consonus a company that has usedtechnology to ramp up its customer service capabilities is examined Technology-Based Customer Service Traditional approaches to improving customer service generally focusprimarily on the Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. This is a proactiveapproach; it is much easier to prevent a problem, or to resolve it beforeit becomes huge. Thepartnership with the HP OpenView team allows Consonus to rent the programsthey need while their business is still growing so they can add moreservices without passing on the expansion costs to customers. Eweek Enterprise News and Reviews "Database Size Isn't Everything. Whereas in the old days, finding an eight-hour periodto run an upgrade in required nothing short of magic, with systemredundancy, upgrades can take place transparently without the userincurring any down time at all. HP OpenView's proactive management capability allows Consonusto identify customer issues faster so that the IT group can fix situationsbefore they even become problems to the customer. Joseph Madden,Director of Managed Services at Consonus, states that OpenView Service Deskis "Better than Remedy. An example of a company that has achieved this is Consonus, a companythat designs, builds, and operates "the most reliable data centers on themarket," according to the Disaster Recovery Journal. Technology, however,can render service desk technicians capable of providing outstandingservice that they could not otherwise provide regardless of the caliber oftheir other skills. TelAlert's bidirectionalmessaging increases service desk efficiency by improving response time. Technology must be recognizedas a factor as important as people skills if customer service is to becomeas state of the art as it should be. Used inconjunction with Service Desk, this module allows IT to make sounddecisions with immediate real-time access to SLAs to do what-ifconceptualizing, figuring out how a change would disrupt service at anygiven time. Technology-Based Customer Service Abstract Good customer service is predicated upon the service desk's ability toprovide service. Retrieved December 4, 2 4 from http://swexpert.com/F/SE.F1.AUG. Customerservice has improved dramatically, with Consonus seeing problems moreeasily from the customer's point of view. About HP OpenView. First, Consonus wanted to provide customers with ultra-highreliability and security, assuring protection for mission-critical systemsand data from "nearly any circumstance, natural or man-made." Next, itwanted an open architecture so that it could manage whatever hardware orsoftware its customers brought to the table. This paper explores the concept of technology as acritical component of that ability. To provide the "always on" component of its excellent customerservice, Consonus uses clustering. SW Expert, 56. 56), George Lawton says, "It does not matterwhat happens to that array(you can take a hit on memory, or get an NT bluescreen and that array will continue to execute as if nothing ever happened.It is what we call compute through technology." Machines can be taken in and out of usage without the end user evernoticing an outage. When business patterns require change in IT, OpenView AutomationManager automatically optimizes the configuration of services andapplications that match predefined service levels. These types of factors are indeedcritical to successful customer service and cannot be overlooked in anyeffort to improve service. The solution Consonus developed was directly related to technology.They developed an architecture that includes HP-UX, Solaris, Red Hot Linux,Windows NT, and Windows 2 operating systems as well as Oracle RDBMS, MS-SQL server, and sendmail on HP-UX L-Class and HP Intel hardware. (August 21, 2 4). Not only are many of the services they offer impossible withoutthe aid of technology, in many instances the technology essentially doesthe work for them. One security guard can monitor a dozen cameras,thus reducing manpower dramatically. Although thepersonal side of customer service, such as attitude, attention to detail,and commitment, are all exceptional qualities essential to providing goodservice, none of them can take the place of technological advances that canimprove customer service the way PC Anywhere can. The support and development team at HPOpenView provided the support and development team they were looking for,forming a responsive working partnership with them. Consonus wanted to be able toidentify issues and potential problems faster as well as to correctsituations before they became customer problems. Disaster Recovery Journal. An illustration of this is the use of software such as PC Anywhere.Before the advent of such software, attempting to assist customers bytelephone or on-line involved a series of questions, hit-or-miss attemptedsolutions, and the usually laborious process of walking a non-technicalcustomer through a complex technical solution. (2 4). CEO Selected for Consonus Inc.; Steven C. Retrieved December 4, 2 4, from http://www.openview.hp.com/news/about/index.htmlHewlett-Packard. Service Request & Incident Management . HPOV Service Desk lets me manage change control anddo standard ticketing. Theyare able to easily design customer-specific data center hosting services.And they create detailed SLAs with excellent procedures that help uncoverproblems and permit proactive problem resolution. Clearly, all of the capabilities and improvements contributed bytechnology are crucial to providing the customer service that Consonus nowextends. Clustering can promote amazing efficiency in terms of its ability toprovide "grid computing," where multiple PCs can be linked together into agiant cluster to work on the same task in their "off time." Theseapplications run like a screen saver would; they only become active whenthe owner is not using the PC. They have even built theirbuildings with special reinforcements to withstand natural disasters suchas earthquakes and tornadoes. However, they tend to neglect another equallyimportant component of providing excellent service to customers(thetechnology that the service desk or help desk is relying on to provide thatservice. In the world of customer service, struggling with unintegrated off-the-shelf software or multiple system platforms that are unable tocommunicate with one another simply hampers the service effort. In Clustering Is NotChild's Play (Lawton, 2 4, p. And in customer service, providing integrated hardwareand software, state-of-the-art technology solutions, and a full suite ofmanaged services is the best way to do the job. This moves service desk IT beyond reactive management withoutadding any new hardware or software applications. The customer service advantages of this technology solution weresubstantial. Clustering is not Child's Play. Clustering essentially coordinatesmultiple computers to do the same task. (June 25, 2 1). It even provides out-of-the-box reporting capacities anddatabase views to facilitate integration with external reporting tools.OpenView is ITIL enhanced compliant and provides coverage for the followingITIL processes: . Exhibitors. (November 3 , 2 4). Retrieved December 4, 2 4 from http://www.eweek.com/article2/ ,1759,96532, .aspSpring World 2 2. As HP's Service Desk website states, "A service desk that acts proactively is critical to anybusiness with e-services because every disruption to e-commerce isimmediately visible to the customer. As remarkable as Consonus's customer service architecture is, thereare still opportunities for improvement and expansion. Consonus is a hostingcompany that has used technology to perfect its service desk to a muchhigher level than it could with any amount of strictly interpersonalimprovements. And the Telamon TelAlert Urgent Messaging System(a tool thatintegrates with HP Openview(was incorporated to deliver time-criticalinformation from systems management applications. Configuration/Asset Management . HP delivers sophisticated Software and service delivery capability to automate the link between Business and IT. And it improves servicequality by orchestrating changes throughout the data center to ensurerepeatable, auditable, and error-free delivery of services. A new HP OpenViewmodule, OpenView Automation Manager, has just been unveiled. TelAlert Messaging. And an additional benefit of clustering isthat clusters that are distributed geographically can provide disasterrecovery protection. This made for a less frustrated customer, amuch faster resolution time, less chance of error, and an easier fix on thepart of the technician(all due to improved technology. Retrieved December 4, 2 4 from http://www.prdomain.com/companies/h/hp/newsreleases/2 411nov/pr_nr_hp_ 2 4113 c.htm Further, Consonus says it has improved staff efficiency, because itsoperations staff no longer has to rely on educated guesses to determinewhat needs to be fixed. This robust architecture maderesponsive service possible by building in the functionality needed tomonitor, fix, maintain, and respond to customer systems. Thismakes system resources virtually 1 % available. These disruptions can cause atremendous loss of revenue and customers to competitors." Having a single source of data makes reporting simpler. Theiroffered services are expanded too; they now offer a complete variety ofhosting services from basic monitoring to complete asset management. This modulehas the capability to automate the link between business and IT by allowingfor IT resources to be delivered in response to shifting businesspriorities. Yet through clustering, the appropriate software, and theirarchitecture, they are able to provide end-to-end service that cannot bematched by personnel alone. Consonus has transformed their customer service through technology,and they enjoy a number of benefits derived from that transformation. And the new architecture helps them manage multi-platformenvironments and resolve the most urgent problems first. Clusterscan be organized into an ordered cluster designed to increase availabilityby providing redundancy at all levels of both hardware and software. It really gives me more bang for the buck!"(Madden, 2 2). In addition to the new module, HP has also announced enhancements toHP OpenView Service Desk, a module that Consonus already uses. This means that no PC is ever in anonproductive mode but always working on some task, whether in use by theservice desk technician or not. The optimum customer serviceenvironment is one where the best service-oriented professionals have thetools at their disposal to provide the kind of service they would like toprovide. By incorporating this module into their existing platform,Consonus, could positively impact their bottom line with tools that providedeeper service-level insight, allocate IT resources more rapidly, and runIT more effectively plus achieve higher service levels. Firehunter by Agilentwas selected to measure and guarantee service availability and reliability;it is powerful software that can tap into servers in numerous data centersto track performance and provide real-time performance metrics over theinternet. The software offers the capability to customize forms,views, and fields on the fly, without the need to take an applicationserver down. Data centers today are trying toreduce expenses, and the use of management software in place of technicalsupport staff is a significant cost-reduction measure. (2 4). Retrieved December 4, 2 4 from http://www.drj.com/conferences/sd2 2/24pg/exhibitors.htmlGoogle Answers. It was able to start with asmall number of modules and build upward. The OpenView Service Desk moduleacts almost like an enterprise resource planning tool (ERP). Retrieved December 4, 2 4 from http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=193976Lawton, George. How many security guards would it take to replace adozen security cameras? Service Level Management Since OpenView Service Desk is modular, Consonus was able to choosethe way it wanted to implement the software. Problem Management . (2 2). If they providednothing beyond the "always on" capability, their service would still beexcellent. Retrieved December 4, 2 4, fromhttp://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=1 5&STORY=/www/story/ 8- 21-2 / 129514 Koblentz, Evan. When the customer serviceindustry begins to recognize the advantages of incorporating technology toclose the gap between what personnel alone can accomplish and the high endof technological automation(with integration, always-on functionality, andproactive management(the proactive, efficient customer-service paradigmexperienced by Consonus will no longer be pushing the envelope but will beaccepted as standard practice and will have brought customer service to anew level. Instead, they can spend their time actually workingthe problems. Itachieves this by adding guaranteed notification as well as a means forinteractive response via any two-way text-messaging device (cell phone,pager, etc.) or interactive voice response. Change and Project Management . This keeps the data synchronized and consistent, and that helpsimprove service quality levels. This optimization isachieved through business-triggered automation and business processintelligence. As with anyprofessional environment, providing the best tools to do the job with isalways a smart move. Their layered security systems are people-proof, with perimeter fencing, card access, mantraps, 24-hour securityguards, and biometric entries(all to protect the customer's data. Applications can be run at multiple locations, so ifone location goes down, the others can seamlessly take up the slack. (August 2 ). .pdfVytek Corporation. ReferencesHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Release Management . When PC Anywhere wasintroduced, the service desk technician was suddenly able to connect to thecustomer's computer, see the problem, fix the problem remotely, and ensurethat the customer was able to continue working(all in a fraction of thetime it used to take to troubleshoot, diagnose, and lead the customerthrough resolving the problem. (2 2) Q: Profitability & Feasibility Study. I can do projects, service level agreements (SLAs),and inventory management. Theenhancements allows service desks to manage service levels from a customerexperience perspective by centralizing operations data through a commondatabase. Theirdata centers are now more disaster-tolerant. The clusters connect multiplemachines together in such a way that they function as though they were asingle scalable system, so there is no single point of failure. Oneof the pivotal decisions they made was to choose Hewlett-Packard (HP)OpenView and several of its components to provide open architecture andflexibility, a single source of data, and proactive management capability.OpenView modules include OpenView Operations, OpenView Network NodeManager, OpenView Internet Services, OpenView Service Desk, OpenViewMeasureWare, and OpenView PerfView. The company designs, builds, and operates internet datacenters that are "always on" and manages everything in the technical realm.The keys to its success lie in the technology solutions it has incorporatedto support its service initiatives. For datastorage, they use network attached storage (NAS), a 12-disk disk array. Retrieved December 4, 2 4, from http://www.consonus.com/consonus/docs/HPSuccessStory.pdfQuestar Corp. Eror Named to Top Post of e-Infrastructure Company. This type of modularity permitsthe service desk to customize the OpenView configuration to its specificclient base and offered services. Retrieved December 4, 2 4 from http://www.vytek.com/products/messaging/index.htmHewlett-Packard India. HP OpenView Success Story. The kind of service that a servicedesk can provide is limited by its technology, not just by its personnel.In this paper, the experience of Consonus, a company that has usedtechnology to ramp up its customer service capabilities, is examined.Technology-Based Customer Service Traditional approaches to improving customer service generally focusprimarily on the interpersonal aspects of customer service, such as beingpolite, reducing call wait time, and following problems through tocompletion (and customer satisfaction). By the same token, customer service as a whole can benefit from theintroduction of the appropriate technology to improve both the level ofsupport provided and the way it is delivered. And finally, they wanted a crackerjack support anddevelopment team that could adapt what they had to what they needed ondemand. Lawton says, "This approach allowscompanies to access the resources of virtual supercomputers for 1% of thecost of a traditional monolithic machine." And of course, this deliberatehardware redundancy means excellent protection against failure and asolution for planned downtime for maintenance. The desire to meet all of the customer's needs is an empty desireuntil the capacity to meet those needs is provided. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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