Customer Satisfaction

You talk about any co (not just IT), and it boasts of a high CSI (customer-satisfaction index). But interestingly, most customers still stay dissatisfied. So, is that high CSI a cooked-up figure used in the marketing management, or are customers not doing their job when giving feedback?!

I work at Cadence, and like most IT cos struggling in the competitive environment, Cadence is trying to improve its CSI. But the catch here is "trying".

Recently I took upon myself to figure out why my customers are not as happy as I'd like them to be. Now, see this... if a customer finds a problem (be it a bug, or a challenge in the use-model), there are 2 ways for him -- correspond with an FAE, or call 24x7 Customer-Support. I extracted the data on Service-Requests (SRs) created by Customer-Support (CS) engineers based in SJ and Noida offices for my software product, and did some analysis on that data.

I found a startling fact! 60% of the SRs could have been avoided! They happened because the customer did not know the rudimentary info. Worse: neither did the CS AE.

I am yet to see my customers reading User's Manuals. They tell me that they want someone to tell them the solution to the problem, and not teach them how to use a software. Given this feedback, isn't it time for the cos to relook at what purpose the User's Manuals serve in today's world?!

Well, coming back to the point... it is not that AEs are not trained on a software! It happens; it happens all the time. But then the problem is that the training happens months after the customers have started using the software, and in the interim period, AEs stay blissfully ignorant. There is such a huge disconnect between R&D and AE communities that they just do not correspond. The AE creates an SR, and then a change-request (CR) for the R&D engineer, and thinks that his job is done. No. That is simply wrong. His job is to get a solution/answer to the customer, and get it done ASAP. The R&D engineer thinks that his job is to look at this schedule, and then see when he can implement the CR.

In this entire mess, the customer suffers. I really get pissed off when I see such stuff in the business of CS&Q. There is absolutely no sense of urgency. I guess that is the price of working in a big (and dare I say, stable) organization. I am at arguably the best company to work for, but at times, I really wonder whether it is best... for me!