Where is the Customer Service in IT and Communications?
Customer service or the lack thereof is always an issue with hardware, software and communications companies. Louis D’Ambrosio, the President and CEO of Avaya, presented the first keynote at Voiceon in March at Orlando. I enjoyed the speech and his humor.
D’Ambrosio made a point when discussing customer service. Avaya, he stated, is in 75% of the top customer service companies as reported by Business Week magazine this year.
As I looked at the list in the Avaya PowerPoint presentation at Voicecon, I noticed in the 15 companies displayed, there were NO IT or service provider companies in the list, not even Avaya. Now, I am not selecting Avaya to criticize. I am selecting the entire IT and communications industries.
Cisco, Microsoft, Avaya, Nortel, the list goes on of customer service product and service vendors, were not in the top 50 for customer service. These companies and their companions in the customer service product arena appear to be lacking in their use of their own products. They sell to us, but what about themselves? These vendors do not seem to know how to get the most from their own products.
The top best in the IT and communications industries were:
So what is the problem with our industry's customer service? A good product or service offering can not compensate for poor customer service. In reading the analysis of the highest ranking companies, the people part--the customer staff training and rewards--are the differences. Where are AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Comcast, TWC, Cox and the many service providers we will depend on for teleworker access and service on the list? In some cases I think the bottom is not low enough for some of them.
As we migrate to remote communications and reducing travel to conserve energy, these vendors need to upgrade their customer service or we may find that we cannot deliver on the promises of energy conservation.
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