System iNetwork

May 20, 2008

Tech Support Reviews Few and Far Between

I was talking with a tech support guy at a major ISV (okay, it was Marcel Sarrasin over at BCD), and he offers me a tidbit:

"Excellent tech support is extremely important to our customers -- and even more so with our web development products -- since more than 75 percent of our clients using those products have no prior web experience. The majority of our support calls are in the ‘how to’ category rather than reporting bugs or problems with the actual software. Great support increases our clients’ overall satisfaction with our products, and they really appreciate having a real person answering their call. Tech support in the IT industry gets a very bad wrap. A lot of it is justified, but I think in the System i marketplace the quality of support is much higher than most of the IT industry."

So I wonder: How much of a company's success is due to the products and how much is really good customer service and tech support, therefore resulting in a ton of repeat customers who give free publicity through word of mouth, too. Truth be told, almost without fail, every time I interview someone for a case study article, customer service and support are always in the top three considerations for choosing a software provider (the other consideration is always cost). According to a CIO Insight column I read last week, 28 percent of companies polled expect to increase their hiring of tech support and help-desk positions this year, which I hope means that everyone is stepping up the support game.

But I wonder, how does an average, small-business manager find companies with a history of reliable customer service -- through awards, polling, or whatever? Here's what I came up with: pretty much bupkis.

There's a Tech Target blog that is mostly opinions but has some reviews, too. According to the web page, it's "The latest iSeries opinions on systems management, programming, web development, recovery, security, and more." Check it out here.

That's pretty much all I could find. I know, it's pathetic. I did discover a lot of useful blogs such as this one: http://wdsc.wordpress.com/, which occasionally mentions products. The general consensus from my research, though, seems to be that if you are interested in a new product, try to find the message board on the vendor's web page and see how fast and how well the company answers customer questions. Also, ask for customer referrals before you buy a product. Talking to another customer is a sure way to avoid the bogus salesman speak.

Posted by ebradford at May 20, 2008 1:53 PM