Network Alliance, Inc.
Company: Network Alliance, Reston, VA
Company Description: Network Alliance, Inc. (NAI) provides a hosted desktop service for a complete IT solution for small and medium-sized businesses at a predictable monthly fee. NAI allows clients to access their desktop and business applications from any location or device connected to the Internet, eliminating costly downtime and maintaining the highest level of data security.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Awards Department Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Department of the Year – Computer Services
Nomination Title: Network Alliance, Inc.
Tell the story about what this nominated department achieved since the beginning of July 2012 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
NAI recognizes that for most people, doing their jobs is complicated enough, and technology should not make things more difficult. The mission of the entire team at NAI is to make IT simple for their clients.
As the customer base has grown and the range of NAI’s IT solutions has become more complex the support team is charged with maintaining an exceptional track record of customer satisfaction.
Behind the scenes, tech specialists in the level IV data center are proactively monitoring, managing and responding to system alerts 24x7. They also upgrade networks, software and hardware on an ongoing basis.
NAI does high-touch, personalized IT support vs. general product support. The team of eight manages about 20,000 IT support requests per year.
• All phone calls are picked up by a live representative
• Response times in 2013 averaged 98 seconds per call
• The team responds to inbound emails within two hours
Each employee is empowered to do whatever it takes to solve a client’s problem. According to team leader Lourdes Ashamalla, “we don’t just resolve an issue for you, if you call us, we’ll tie your shoelaces…we’ll teach you how to tie your shoelaces.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsgA3Ij-2Iw
The importance of customer satisfaction is ingrained in each employee from Day One, starting with day-long cultural orientation led by the founder and CEO. It’s reinforced every day by NAI’s focus on transparency. Their support performance is shared openly with customers and prospects. In fact, a running tally of customer satisfaction scores and direct customer feedback is posted in real time, front and center on the company’s home page, http://www.networkalliance.com.
At the end of each support call, customers receive a survey to rate their experience on five aspects: communication, courtesy, knowledge, timeliness and overall satisfaction. Over the past two years, NAI has collected over 6000 surveys. In 2013:
• 93% of support cases received a high score of 5 for all categories
• 98% of support cases received scores of 3 or higher across all categories
All client feedback is imported into a Business Intelligence system for dashboards and reporting which is monitored daily by members of the management team. We respond to all negative survey responses on the same day received. Dashboards and reports are used for support team benchmarking and team training.
Comments customers include in their surveys are posted directly on the online Daily Satisfaction Report and keep the support team motivated. A sampling of the feedback demonstrates their success:
•As always, NAI resolved my problem quickly, thoroughly, and courteously. So nice to get such great customer service in this day and age.
•I have been calling Network Alliance for 8 years and never had a bad experience.
•Great customer service! I never dread calling for assistance unlike other support teams I've worked with.
•I have worked with various employees at the company and all of my experiences have been stellar. Keep up the good work!
As a direct result of the customer service emphasis, NAI has maintained a 98% customer retention rate, year over year.
Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated customer service organization:
Lourdes Ashamalla, VP of Service Assurance
Lourdes has provided quality client service for more than 14 years. As the primary point of contact to all Network Alliance clients, she serves as the change management agent, provides training and assistance, develops and maintains strong knowledge of client’s environment and business processes that support it, develops processes and procedures and advises team members on how to interact with clients.
Ben Martin, VP of Client Service
Ben Martin has more than 20 years of business and information technology experience working with both large and small organizations. Currently, Ben directs IT support operations for Network Alliance.