Quantifying the Customer Support

The assignment content focuses on customer support and account management strategies for a tech start-up. It highlights the importance of measuring customer support performance using metrics such as response time, mean resolution time, successful resolution rate, complaints against customer service agents, and sales after contact. The content also emphasizes the need to create and maintain information about customers and industries, and to track key metrics such as frequency of contacts and number of recommendations to measure customer attractiveness. Additionally, it discusses unique value propositions for the tech start-up, including customized solutions, and provides a plan for using customer account information to develop new business prospects.

CUSTOMER ACCOUNT
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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Task 1: Understanding buying practices of customers....................................................................3
Task 2: Understanding customer support issues..............................................................................5
Task 3 – Understanding your own business value...........................................................................6
Task 4 – Preparing for customer procurement................................................................................9
Task 5 – Using information to plan customer accounts..................................................................9
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................10
References:....................................................................................................................................11
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Buying decision making
unit of ABC Pvt LTD
Deciders
Managing
Director of
ABC Pvt
LTD
Influencer
Line manager of ABC
Pvt LTD
Initiators
The procurement manager
of ABC Pvt LTD
End-Users
Employees of
ABC Pvt LTD
Buyer
Designated
personnel of The
procurement
team
Introduction:
The decision making process of a customer is a complex act which is influenced by several
factors. However, a clear understanding on the customers’ decision making process helps an
organization to realize the actual needs of their clients. As a result, they can redesign their
offerings in such way so that the products and services easily meet the needs, which in turn, keep
the organization in a more favorable position in the market in respect to its competitors. Here, the
customers accounts of a tech start-up, which provide antivirus and other security solutions to
individual and the business-clients, are analyzed. The report mainly includes discussion on the
buying processes of customers, customer support issues and the business value. The customer
procurement issues and process to plan customer accounts are also discussed in this report.
Task 1: Understanding buying practices of customers
A purchase can be considered as a combined decision of several individuals who together forms
the decision making unit (Ernest, 1980; Janner, 1987; Young, 1982). In this report, the DMU of
ABC Pvt LTD, one of the major business clients of th current tech start-up, is created and
analyzed. A DMU consists of several individuals including the decision makers, initiators, end
users, influencers and buyers.
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Figure 1: DMU of ABC PVT LTD
The personal needs of the persons and the decision making process: The DMU of ABC PVT
LTD consists of its decider or the managing director , end-users or the employees, initiators or
the procurement management, the influencer or the line manager and the buyers or the
designated personnel of its procurement team. The decider or the managing director of the ABC
PVT LTD was looking for a customized antivirus for the organization. However, she involved
other individuals from the organization, too, for making the decision.
The line manager is responsible for carrying out the day to day activities and therefore, can
easily identify the vulnerable areas that can be risky for the organization (Lancaster & Jobber,
1993). In this case, she acted as the influencer, identified what ABC needs, compared among the
available solutions in the market and selected the current security solution provider.
The security solution was used the employees who are the end users and therefore gave their
input while making the decision. They required a solution that is simple to use and will not
require much time to scan and remove malicious files from their system. The need of employees
played a significant role in the line manger’s choice. The buying process is carried out by the
procurement team (Greenberg & Greenberg, 1990; Cole L, 1991; Beer, 1981). They needed a
product which is cost effective. The procurement manager was the initiator as she started the
purchasing process and the payments were made by the designated personnel of the procurement
team.
Factors to establish preferred supplier situation and Use of quality measures: Ease and
effectiveness of virus scanning is the first and the foremost thing that the buyers check before
buying an antivirus
(Allen, 1988; Cheverton, 2008; Christie, 1982; Fenton, 1981). In this case also the influencer
assessed such capabilities of her chosen solution. Additionally, the features like auto-updates,
huge database of malwares and the protection against ransomware also made the solution
investment worthy. Additionally, the current security solution provider was also chosen because
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of its ability to deliver faster services, reputation in the market, reasonable cost, and capability to
provide tailored solution.
Task 2: Understanding customer support issues
My organization offers customized antivirus, security assessment services, enterprise network
security services, data center security services and special protection against ransomware to
individual clients and small and medium business organizations. Among these, here the customer
support issues associated with customized antivirus are discussed.
Development process and reason to develop the product: The incidents related to cyber security
attacks are increasing day by day. Not only are the large organizations, the small and medium
ones, too, also encountering these problems every day. However, the security risks are different
for each organization and so, a standard solution cannot ensure the maximum security for these
organizations. Therefore, to meet the requirements of every single client, the antivirus was
developed which can meet the specific needs.
Customers’ input to the process: Each business has different vulnerable areas which need to be
handled with security solutions. The analysis on the cyber security market indicates that the
customers were not satisfied with the performance of existing standard solutions and were
looking for a tailored solution. The increasing demand of customers to handle their different risk
issues compelled the organization to develop the customized solution.
Technical and support sources: The organization was already providing security solutions to
their clients. So, it not much technical resource was employed by the organization. However, the
new antivirus was completely different from the previous versions. Therefore, huge amount of
support resources were utilized while developing the new product. While offering the new
product, the customers were provided with detailed description on how the new anti-virus will be
used. In addition, while developing the anti-virus the customers were involved a lot so that their
needs can be identified accurately.
Process to add value to the customer: The new anti-virus was more valuable to the customers
than their previous counter-parts. The previous security solutions provided by the organization
used to meet some general security issues only whereas the new solution was able to meet every
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security risks faced by the them. As the antivirus was customizable, users can tailor it later also
in case, the business needs change anyway.
Quantifying the value: As stated by Weymes (1990), the True Economic Value (TEV) of a
product or the Economic Value to the Customer (EVC) is an effective metric to understand
whether a product is valuable to the customer. Mcdonald & Rogers, (1998) also stated that a
positive absolute EVC of a product indicates that the particular product will add high value for
the customer. Here, to quantify the value to customized security solution, absolute EVC of the
product is determined.
The cyber attacks can cost 1.3 million dollar on an average which the enterprises can save using
top quality security solutions. On the other hand, the average cost of security solutions vary from
30 to 50 dollars. According to Miller, Heiman & Tuleja, (1988), the absolute EVC of a product is
the difference between True economic value and the cost a customer has to bear to own it. It
indicates that the absolute EVC of the customized security solution is quite high and hence it has
significant value for the customer.
Steps taken by consumers to add extra value: The organization took several steps to add value
to their customers. At first, the organization conducted survey among customers to understand
their needs. In addition to it, the organization also analyzed the market to get an idea on the
demand of customized security solutions. The opinions of security experts were also sought to
understand whether development of the customized security solution would be profitable for the
organization. All these analyses helped the organization to understand exactly what changes
should be made to their product.
To add value to the customers, the production process was also changed. In the new
manufacturing process, the input provided by customers was treated with great importance. It
also helped the organization to understand the specific security issues faced by their clients and
provide them with necessary solutions.
Task 3 – Understanding your own business value
Plan to customer support: Customer support helps organizations to develop a trusted relationship
with their customers and it, in turn, makes them loyal to the organization (Rackham, 1987).
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Hence, it is necessary to have proper plan for customer service for retaining the existing
customers.
In the tech start-up, the customer support will be provided at all stages of product delivery.
Initially, meetings will be organized to identify the areas where the customers may need support.
In case of cyber security solutions, the customers may need assistance to understand- the extent
to which the solution will protect them, the licensing facts, the installation and the usability facts.
The following table indicates how the customers will be provided with supp to solve their
problems.
Areas to support Plan
Basic understanding on the product Pre-delivery meeting and demonstration
Installation Providing with a user-manual and necessary
guidelines
Licensing Written guidelines will be provided
Way to use User manual containing guidelines will be
provided
Technical issues 24/7 customer care service will be available where
the customers can contact easily
Table 1: Plan to customer support
A user manual makes the product easy to understand for the customer (Salisbury, 1992). Hence,
a manual will be provided to the customers so that making them aware of the product becomes
easier. Follow-up meetings will be organized with the customers so that the issues faced by them
can be understood quickly. In addition, the customer care services will be available all the time
so that the customers can get their issues resolved as soon as they encounter those.
Quantifying the customer support:Measuring the customer support on regular basis is necessary
to get an idea on its effectiveness (Still, 1981). Here a scale of 1-10 is used to evaluate the
performance. The below table includes some key performance metrices and their ratings.
Metrices Ratings
Response time 9
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Mean resolution time 7
Successful resolution rate 10
Complaints against customer service agents 9
Sales after contact 6.5
Table 2: Evaluating customer support
The following table provides evidences against the arguments.
Metrices Performance
Response time Immediate in more than 90% cases
Mean resolution time 7.5 mins on an average
Successful resolution rate 100%
Complaints against customer service agents 1.5%
Sales after contact 65% cases
Table 3: Measuring performance of customer support team
The above table indicates the performance of the customer support services in the last quarter is
analyzed. Waiting for higher time to get response irritates most of the customers as they don’t
get chance to talk with the right person (Storholm, 1982). The table shows that the customers of
the tech start –up m communicated with the right person in no time in most of the cases.
However, in other cases, the representatives failed to answer the question due to complexity of
the problem and passed the call to the supervisor. The time taken to resolve issues and rate of
successful resolution indicate productivity of the customer support team (Tack, 1979). In this
case, both metrices were lower indicating that the customer support team is productive enough.
However, more time was required to solve the complex problem and it should be improved to
serve the customers in a better way. Right now, the customer support team cannot gain much
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success in cross-selling. The organization has planned to work in collaboration with the sales
team so that the rate of cross-selling increases.
Task 4 – Preparing for customer procurement
Creating and maintaining information about customer and the industry: Collecting feedbacks
from customers is a useful way to get information from the customers (Dalrymple & Cron, 1992;
Hopkins, 1989 ; Goldmann, 1968). In the tech start-up, the order forms and enquiries are also
used to collect information regarding the customers. CRM (Customer relationship management)
software is used to manage the information as it is a simple way. However, confidentially is
maintained while storing the information. The industrial journals are followed to collect
information regarding the sector where the customer ( MD of ABC PVT LTD) deals with and the
data is managed using software.
Process to measure customer attractiveness: The behavior of the selected customer is monitored
closely to measure the attractiveness. Frequency of the contacts a customer makes is an
important measure that tells whether the person in interested in organizational products
(Adams,1987; Chonko et al.1992). Number of recommendations is another factor that indicates
how much the customer prefers a particular organization. Here, the frequency of meetings with
the customer and number of recommendations are tracked to know the value.
Type of contracts available for the customer: The standard contract of the organization ensures
that the customer gets quality products and the support services throughout an agreed period.
Hence, the standard contracts are able to meet basic needs of a customer. Here, the selected
customer is using a standard contract. Till now, it is profitable for the organization. However, if
the customer found to be loyal, a special contract can be created.
Unique value proposition for the tech start-up: The competitors of this tech start-up are – large
scale cyber security service providers like Bitdefender, Avast and Kasperkey. However, all of
these organizations provide standard solution whereas the start-up provides customized solution
which is the relative strength factor for this organization. For the chosen customer, promoting the
customized solution will influence the customer and keep the organization ahead of its
competitors.
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Task 5 – Using information to plan customer accounts
The following table indicates the prospects from the current customer account.
Information from current account The detailed information on the security issues
faced by other organization which operates in the
same industry with the current customer can be
collected
Where to carry out the prospect In the similar industry which the current customer
belongs to.
Frequency to update the account The customer is contacted once in a month to
know whether there is any issue
New account development plan Sales persons can approach mthe similar
organizations directly.
The present customer also can be c requested to
recommend the start-up.
Linking New account to the current account
management
The current customer is satisfied enough. So, the
customer can be used as a reference to others.
Table 4: Utilizing customer account
Conclusion:
Maintaining a customer account is critical for sales team managing a customer account helps an
organization to serve the customer properly. However , satisfied customer can be a source of
future business prospects, too, if the account is managed properly.
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