The Wrenched Banana's Weblog

Musings of a lowly frontline staffer

Friday July 30, 2004

The Angry Customer/The Insulted Engineer It started out as a fairly routine service call. The customer used the Online Solution Center (OSC) to open a case for a failed hard disk in a small server. Now, this customer happens to manage a fairly substantial installation of about 100 machines, ranging from Netras up to E10000s. As many similar sized customers do, this one keeps almost all of their server equipment on Platinum service contract, which of course entitles them to the highest levels of service and responsiveness, short of having dedicated Sun engineers on-site. The system administrator who opened this case has been administering Sun environments for quite some time. Apparently, the trouble started when the solution center engineer assigned to the case pushed back on the customer's request to send a replacement disk ASAP. The customer had simply stated that, based on his analysis, the drive had failed and he needed a replacement. However, when the solution center engineer responded by stating that he could not order a disk without additional information, i.e., an excerpt from the system message log containing relevant error text, the customer quickly became agitated. Ultimately, some not very polite language was exchanged between the customer and the engineer over the phone and the engineer ended the call abruptly. That's where I came in. The customer was irate that the solution center engineer seemed to be questioning his ability to diagnose a simple disk failure, and he was further incensed at the notion that his server would remain unusable while the solution center staff analyzed his message log - for him what seemed like totally unnecessary and time-wasting activities. Meanwhile, the engineer felt similarly insulted from being cursed at over the phone for simply doing what he was supposed to do. The customer had called me to vent about the experience; meanwhile the solution center engineer and his manager contacted the local service account manager to apprise him of the situation. After many e-mail exchanges between local staff and the solution center, a disk was ordered and sent to the customer. The customer's system was restored to operation without further incident. But both parties, the customer and the engineer, left the engagement with bruised feelings. It may simply have been that one or the other, or maybe even both, were having a bad day. And, transgressions on both sides (the customer's use of rude language and the engineer's curtness) could simply be chalked up to the pressure that both our customers and we are feeling in these not so certain times. Under these circumstances, conflicts like this may not be avoidable. Engineers can draw on their customer service skills, and processes can be implemented to ensure that the customer receives consistent quality in service. But, I think this situation presents to us a opportunity to examine the CTQs (critical to quality) surrounding support service. For example, it is always good for customers and Sun to have one size fits all expectations, i.e., a platinum contract on a Netra Vs a platinum contract on a clustered midframe server complex? Sun (and our customers) want field service to evolve from the traditional break-fix mode to a more proactive model. I contend that a significant element of this strategy shift should be consideration of customer expectations that have developed over the past few years of our service practices. (2004-08-03 08:51:11.0/2004-07-30 13:49:28.0) Permalink Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/roller/trackback/wrenchedbanana/Weblog/the_angry_customer_the_insulted

Friday July 09, 2004

From The Beginning... Okay, so now I am registered. I don't believe that what I have to say is particularly insightful. But, maybe if I attempt to log my thoughts on a regular basis, a coherent pattern will emerge. My purpose is to provide a view into the daily life of a customer-facing employee. My desire is that some important people make take notice and use these vignettes in a constructive and useful way. I will try very hard not to make this a rant (Lord knows, we here enough of those around the real/virtual water coolers). Like Herbert Lovelace's column, The Secret CIO, I will try to give a voice to the things people think but don't necessarily say as they traverse this game we call business. My twist is that I'm about as far from a CIO position as can be. I am not naive enough to believe that interested parties cannot uncover the facts if they want to, but I will not use real names or companies in my postings - I do not wish to infringe anyone's privacy. A bit about me: I have been a Sun employee for about four years now, but I was a loyal customer of Sun going back to 1987, when I first started noodling around as a systems administrator at my university's Civil Engineering CAD/CAM lab. After earning my BS, I got the best job of my professional career with a regional government agency implementing Geographic Information Systems technology for resource management. I say it was the best job I've ever had because, in it, I was allowed to use technology to transform an organization. This was one of the most exciting and fulfilling periods of my life. I left government to go into consulting. While I found this kind of work very stimulating and demanding, the lack of commitment to any long term goal, which is the nature of consulting, drained me of passion, particularly for the GIS discipline. I wound up working for a very large travel information company, which hired me for my technical experience. By then my aspirations had shifted towards IT management. It was there, that I experienced the everyday pains that the majority of Sun's customers live through (this company's shop had a fairly typical mix of Sun, HP, IBM and Microsoft environments). I also started studying business while employed there. Along came a offer from several former colleagues who had gone to work for Sun in the heady days of Y2K and dotcom-driven IT: come reap the benefits of limitless growth potential with one of the Valley's highest fliers. Well, here I am; that's all she wrote. Now, I have completed my MBA and having done so, gained an entirely new perspective on the business of technology. (2004-07-09 11:38:16.0/2004-07-09 11:38:16.0) Permalink Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/roller/trackback/wrenchedbanana/Weblog/from_the_beginning

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