Information Builders
Company: Information Builders, New York, NY
Entry Submitted By: Lewis PR
Company Description: Information Builders helps organizations transform data into business value. Its software solutions for business intelligence and analytics, integration, and data integrity empower people to make smarter decisions, strengthen customer relationships, and drive growth. Founded in 1975, Information Builders remains one of the largest independent, privately held companies in the industry.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Department of the Year
Nomination Title: Information Builders' Customer Support Services Department
Tell the story about what this nominated organization/department achieved since January 1 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:
Throughout 2012, Information Builders’ Customer Support Services (CSS) department achieved record marks for customer satisfaction. Not only was this a remarkable accomplishment in and of itself, but CSS was able to achieve these results while dealing with an especially aggressive product release schedule.
Then came Superstorm Sandy! Through extensive planning, collaboration, teamwork, and an unwavering commitment to our customers, our Technical Support Representatives (TSRs) were able to provide uninterrupted, quality customer service through Sandy. As we are headquartered in the New York City area, many of our TSRs and managers were without power for extended periods of time, struggled with flooding in their homes or damage from fallen trees, and in some cases could not even remain in their homes. The entire transportation grid was compromised and gas was difficult to find. Yet they managed to balance their personal necessities with the needs of our customers to provide continuous 24x7 support.
TSRs in remote locations, including Europe, that were not affected by the storm, worked extra hours to help those that either could not work full time or only had limited access to communications and systems. Multiple daily conference calls were held to coordinate coverage, insure that any communication or system problems were addressed and to triage customer situations as needed.
At the same time that our TSRs were recovering from Sandy’s impact, they had to support a major new release of our extensive flagship product family. The complexity of this completely re-architected suite of products would have challenged their technical abilities in the best of circumstances. Yet through their dedication and perseverance, our TSRs were able to respond to the needs of our customers and provide the same level of superb service that has led some customers to tell us that our support is the main reason they rate our products so highly.
We continuously survey customers on support cases. They rated our service at 90% overall satisfaction for 2012 and 93% for the last 3 months of 2012! According to experts such as the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA) these are truly world class level results.
Moreover, further enhancements based on feedback resulted in an astounding 95% satisfaction for the first three months of 2013! See below for details:
First 3 Months 2013/Last 3 Months 2012/Overall 2012/Last 3 Months 2011 Overall
Satisfaction 95% 93% 90% 88%
Response Time 95% 89% 87% 82%
Professionalism 97% 98% 97% 97%
Technical Prof. 95% 97% 94% 92%
Solution Quality 93% 93% 90% 89%
Many factors led to such great results. For instance, a bonus program specifically designed for CSS leverages the metrics most important to our customers. It emphasizes goals for case duration, responsiveness, knowledge creation for self-service, and customer satisfaction.
Our support management also believes strongly in world-class training, which benefits our customers while maintaining high job satisfaction. TSRs are required (and encouraged) to train each other and take internal and external training. A testament to the emphasis placed on TSR job satisfaction is evident not only in the dedication shown by them in difficult times, but also in the longevity of their service to Information Builders – 15 years on average.
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Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated organization/department:
Stu Madison: Stu Madison is the Vice President of Corporate Technical Support Services which comprises the IBI Helpdesk, all internal technical training, user groups, and Customer Education. His background spans technical writing, software development and systems analysis, systems programming management, and teaching to field technical support and SE management. Stu has been a key player in the success of Information Builders throughout his 27 year tenure.
Doug Tina: Doug Tina is Director of Information Builders’ Customer Support Services. He has held various positions in the post-sales support area working closely with customers and field technical support. In his current position, Doug manages a team of managers who work continuously to improve the customer experience by driving customer centric processes and policies.