That was the wrong answer - why? We often hear about how expensive it is to support customers and other close relationships that exist in day-to-day business operations, but what are some of the specific reasons?

First and foremost, let's consider right off the top that you must commit to the expense of the phone lines and infrastructure, which depending upon the size of the organization, can be thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Once the lines are in, there is inherent waste in the form of productivity busters such as:

• documenting the details of the call, in some cases excessively
• "good-will" banter - while good for the relationship, it becomes a time drain across the support continuum
• inability to multi-task effectively

• How do we control who is emailing our company? Are these people supported?
• Are the right people getting the emails? The ones who have knowledge regarding the questions being asked.
• Are the emails even being received at all. Is that person on vacation? Deleting them by mistake?
• How can this communication be monitored? We have no way of knowing what information is being relayed to our customers.

• Minimize transcribing time by letting the customer document their question or problem.
• Shorten the solution time by making sure the case is being sent to the correct person who can solve it.
• Build a knowledgebase of answers so customers can search it rath
  Career Burnout And How To Resolve It
  Sarah is a highly effective, multitasking business professional with a strong passion for her work. She is also a loving and caring mother of three kids. Sarah is happily married to an equally busy man. They have lots of friends and an active life outside work. It sounds too good to be true! How does she manage?Some years ago Sarah was overwhelmed, frustrated, constantly tired and ready to stop her professional dreams. She worked over 60 hours per week, and tried desperately to catch up with dead lines and proj
  ften hear about how expensive it is to support customers and other close relationships that exist in day-to-day business operations, but what are some of the specific reasons?

  First and foremost, let's consider right off the top that you must commit to the expense of the phone lines and infrastructure, which depending upon the size of the organization, can be thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Once the lines are in, there is inherent waste in the form of productivity busters such as:

  • documenting the details of the call, in some cases excessively
  • "good-will" banter - while good for the relationship, it becomes a time drain across the support continuum
  • inability to multi-task effectively
  If someone within your organization actually took the time to calculate how much each call is costing your company in relation to how much your customers are paying you for customer support (or even as a percentage of time expressed as productive utilization), you would be amazed. Ever wonder why many large companies are moving their call centers offshore? Ok, so what are our options? Email! Yes, electronic mail, a proven form of effective communication almost since its inception. Except email has its problems as well:
  • How do we control who is emailing our company? Are these people supported?
  • Are the right people getting the emails? The ones who have knowledge regarding the questions being asked.
  • Are the emails even being received at all. Is that person on vacation? Deleting them by mistake?
  • How can this communication be monitored? We have no way of knowing what information is being relayed to our customers.
  Solution, a web based CRM application. While some customers will always want to call, others can be asked to send their questions in via email or a web interface (possibly for a reduced support price). These questions can be turned into cases in a database that any internal CSR can access. Cases can be automatically forwarded to the CSR's that have specific knowledge in certain areas. Customers can check the status of their cases without calling and tying up CSR's. Other benefits include:
  • Minimize transcribing time by letting the customer document their question or problem.
  • Shorten the solution time by making sure the case is being sent to the correct person who can solve it.
  • Build a knowledgebase of answers so customers can search it rat
    The Advantages of Hook Loop Fasteners
    Hook-loop fasteners are a two-faced fastening system whereby one face is covered in tiny nylon fibers with little hooks on the ends of them, and the other face is covered in tiny nylon loops. When the two faces are pressed together, some of the hooks burrow in and catch onto the loops. The tighter the two faces are pressed together, the more catches that are formed. This forms a powerful bonding system that can support great amounts of weight. You can’t pull the faces of the hook-loop fastener directly apart; rather,
    d for the relationship, it becomes a time drain across the support continuum
  • inability to multi-task effectively
  If someone within your organization actually took the time to calculate how much each call is costing your company in relation to how much your customers are paying you for customer support (or even as a percentage of time expressed as productive utilization), you would be amazed. Ever wonder why many large companies are moving their call centers offshore? Ok, so what are our options? Email! Yes, electronic mail, a proven form of effective communication almost since its inception. Except email has its problems as well:
  • How do we control who is emailing our company? Are these people supported?
  • Are the right people getting the emails? The ones who have knowledge regarding the questions being asked.
  • Are the emails even being received at all. Is that person on vacation? Deleting them by mistake?
  • How can this communication be monitored? We have no way of knowing what information is being relayed to our customers.
  Solution, a web based CRM application. While some customers will always want to call, others can be asked to send their questions in via email or a web interface (possibly for a reduced support price). These questions can be turned into cases in a database that any internal CSR can access. Cases can be automatically forwarded to the CSR's that have specific knowledge in certain areas. Customers can check the status of their cases without calling and tying up CSR's. Other benefits include:
  • Minimize transcribing time by letting the customer document their question or problem.
  • Shorten the solution time by making sure the case is being sent to the correct person who can solve it.
  • Build a knowledgebase of answers so customers can search it rat
    Company Up and Running Just 2 Hours After Major Fire
    You might think that something as major as a building fire could put a serious dent in the productivity of any office, to put it mildly. Destruction of property equipment, furniture and files are almost certain. How much in terms of assets would be lost and for how long? What about the company’s mission critical data? Could it ever be replaced? Computers (especially the magnetic disks contained within a modern hard disk drive) are very sensitive to heat and critical data is likely to be irretrievable from a machine
    email has its problems as well:
    • How do we control who is emailing our company? Are these people supported?
    • Are the right people getting the emails? The ones who have knowledge regarding the questions being asked.
    • Are the emails even being received at all. Is that person on vacation? Deleting them by mistake?
    • How can this communication be monitored? We have no way of knowing what information is being relayed to our customers.
    Solution, a web based CRM application. While some customers will always want to call, others can be asked to send their questions in via email or a web interface (possibly for a reduced support price). These questions can be turned into cases in a database that any internal CSR can access. Cases can be automatically forwarded to the CSR's that have specific knowledge in certain areas. Customers can check the status of their cases without calling and tying up CSR's. Other benefits include:
    • Minimize transcribing time by letting the customer document their question or problem.
    • Shorten the solution time by making sure the case is being sent to the correct person who can solve it.
    • Build a knowledgebase of answers so customers can search it rat
      When All Is Not Well With Work
      When all is not well with work, what do you do? Do you quickly get frustrated and feel discontent? Do you look at each situation as a tiresome challenge or as an opportunity to learn something new? Have you ever considered looking at work problems from a spiritual point of view?When you look at work from a spiritual perspective, you will see that there are lessons for you to learn. Let’s look at a couple of situations that you or someone you know may have encountered. We will look at each scenario from a t
      interface (possibly for a reduced support price). These questions can be turned into cases in a database that any internal CSR can access. Cases can be automatically forwarded to the CSR's that have specific knowledge in certain areas. Customers can check the status of their cases without calling and tying up CSR's. Other benefits include:
      • Minimize transcribing time by letting the customer document their question or problem.
      • Shorten the solution time by making sure the case is being sent to the correct person who can solve it.
      • Build a knowledgebase of answers so customers can search it rather than creating new cases. Most questions and/or problems have been asked before and solved already, don't waste time solving the same problem twice.
      • Monitor all communication in and out of your company.
      • No lost emails.
      • Decreased calls
      • Keep track of which customers are using support the most and adjust your billing appropriately. Decrease the cost for customers that become more self-sufficient.
      • A happier customer base makes for a more efficient company.
      In the end, I convinced my friend to try the system for free - if they found it useful they could keep it, if not, no harm done. Well, I would not be writing this article if there wasn't a happy ending. Today, my friend's company is heavily reliant on the system. They not only track their customers support time with it, but they use it to track the time of almost everyone in their business. Practically every daily activity is documented in the system. They love it, live by it and cannot do with out it.

      Jim Cuoco,
      CTO, Support Fusion, Inc.