The Hotline Magazine
The Redefinition of Customer Support
The SaaS & Success Project

Thursday September 9, 2010




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Real Economic Value vs. Break/Fix Support

Challenging my assessment that Support as the "Department of Break/Fix" offers no real economic value to anyone,  a reader asked: “Please explain to me how a broken phone, computer, car, truck, network connection, Web site or anything else provides as much economic value as a working one. ... Keeping things working provides enormous economic value to every business.” Thinking that the act of restoring lost functionality in exception situations is somehow of the same stature as the value-purpose

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SaaS & The End of Bloatware

There’s an ugly little secret about the software business that is ripe for a change.  The average user of a software application, at best, taps less than 10% of its features & functionality.  As the SaaS sea-change continues to unfold, the implications of this simple fact for the software industry are very powerful.  The dramatic success of Apple’s iTunes is about enabling people to easily buy a single song instead of the entire album the music industry would like to force consumers to purch

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SaaS, Support, and Owning the Customer Relationship

Since the beginnings of the software industry, Sales has claimed to own the customer relationship. Under the traditional premised-based model, the connection between company and customer is almost invariably transactional in nature, an exchange of up-front money for software licenses. Sales gets their commissions, and has but little interest in the customer afterward. The burden of extracting value from their technology purchase remains entirely on the customer, although software manufacturers h

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It’s Not About the Software Anymore

When the features and functionality of Product A are essentially the same as those offered by Product B, what will truly distinguish one software company from another?  For a time, SaaS manufacturers held an edge over their on-premised perpetual license based competitors, but those days are swiftly passing.  The rumors of a coming shakeout in the on-demand market are steadily becoming observable reality, with SaaS vendor pitted against SaaS vendor with survival at stake.  To succeed in this pres

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SaaS/Cloud & Support: Significant Questions

When I first heard of the SaaS/Cloud model, where the application and all the data reside on a server somewhere out on the internet instead of on the local PC, I immediately saw that it had some serious implications for Support as a profession. If all you need to access your applications is a browser and a web connection, then the operating system of the local PC is no longer a significant factor. And since most of the issues flooding into customer support groups all over the industry are about

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By Mikael Blaisdell

TRCS print V2 SM 300x134 The Redefinition of Customer SupportIt’s time to profoundly reinvent the profession of Customer Support. From the beginning of the technology industry to the present time, Support has been the Department of Break/Fix; “when something breaks, we fix it.”  As such,  the “profession” offers no real economic value to anyone; it never has.  Even more significantly, as we move deeper into the gathering recession and farther into the rapidly unfolding SaaS era, Support as it is currently defined has no future.   There are two paths that lead away from this point for companies and support reps.  One is downward into obscurity, obsolescence and ultimately extinction.  The other is towards an authentic profession based on the exchange of true economic value.

For Mutual Benefit

money symbol in maze vsm 300x217 The Redefinition of Customer SupportThe case against Break/Fix has been made elsewhere in a number of HotLine Magazine articles.  Where companies have been forced to offer Support, and customers to pay for it, nobody is pleased by the transaction.  The change to the subscription model of SaaS ended the once-powerful hold software vendors had over their customers even as the shift from the desktop to the web removes most of the cause of support issues in the past.  What the SaaS tsunami doesn’t sweep away, however, is the vital point that offers a foundation for the new profession.

At best, the average customer uses less than 10% of any given application’s functionality.  Every complex/powerful application requires an investment in learning in order to gain the productivity and profitability benefits it offers.  Customers will learn to do the minimum required in order to automate their regular tasks.  They won’t, however, take the time to explore further to discover and deftly apply additional functionality.  In the old paradigm, where the software was installed on the customer’s site, the Support team couldn’t see what was being used and what wasn’t.  As a result, Support was entirely reactive; the only conversations between the parties happened when something broke or if a question was asked by the customer.  SaaS, however, powerfully changes the picture.  Reactive Support is becoming history; the future offers a wealth of proactive possibility.

handshake business sm 300x225 The Redefinition of Customer SupportWith the application on the web, Support can see clearly what functions are being used and by whom.  The increased visibility allows the team to proactively reach out to encourage and to lead the customer on to greater productivity and profitability.  The benefit is mutual; in exchange for the increased value, the customer pays for the professional service.

Towards the New Profession

networked people sm 300x225 The Redefinition of Customer SupportThe pieces of the solution to the gap between limited usage and the customer’s full realization of the application’s power are currently scattered piecemeal throughout the organizational structure of the software manufacturer.  It’s time to unite them, and to provide effective leadership for a team of true professionals with something of immense and clearly measurable value to offer.  The transformation will require both vision and commitment.  The rewards for those willing to make the effort will be huge.

For community discussion of this topic on The SaaS Support Forum (LinkedIn), use this link.

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