Companies often focus on product development. This is indeed worthwhile. They also focus getting new customers or acquisition. Shepherd is no different. Shepherd, however, does place great importance on another aspect of their business: customer support and satisfaction.
For any of their users that also prioritize this part of customer retention, Shepherd provides the tools to make good customer service even easier: the Shepherd solution’s Support Desk module and the topic of this blog.
An automatic part of the asset’s history
As the name suggests, this is the system, not the people needed to run that aspect of the business. That system, however, is purpose built to maximise efficiency of the processes those team members work with and maximise the positive outcomes for the party with the issue being resolved. Here’s how:
Shepherd’s (and NetSuite’s) case functionality is the starting point. This is designed to immediately, from the outset, ensure that whatever is raised with customer support is already digitally tied to that customer’s profile, service agreement, service plan within NetSuite.
This first step avoids that old headache of a written call report being stuck in fiing limbo through a lack of a clear customer file to add it to, whether down to omission, hideous handwriting or damage to the record itself.
Adding to the historical record
So now a customer calls, the support staff identifies them and their case gets logged against the machine, location, service schedule, all of which becomes part of any existing case history.
Typically, there is initial phone support. The time spent on this is also logged since some service agreements cover support up to a point and only charge beyond it. When that point is reached, the Support Desk solution will have the necessary confirmation both for billing calculations, and dispute resolution if the end customer questions the figures that result.
In some cases, and mostly because it’s not an option customers think of using, you can even engage the Internet of Things that Shepherd already utilises (covered in this blog) to bring in service data from the field automatically. In such situations, when particular conditions are reached, the machine could, itself, trigger a support case, having fallen out of spec during a period when the service interval would have meant it shouldn’t.
Indeed, pooling the data from Support Desk to cultivate performance and reliability reports (known in the trade as failure analyses) on a given asset will be the topic of a subsequent blog piece.
Effortless roll out thanks to a single solution source
Support Desk, being part of Shepherd’s portfolio, means users can implement it with all other chosen modules. As mentioned in the “one app” blog this saves money in time, subscriptions to 3rd party providers, implementation and integration work. All of these go toward a more cost-effective set-up that is boosted further by already working as a whole with all the other modules in place. It means the Shepherd solution stands as a modular kit, rather than some Franken-EAM composed of parts from various sources, nigh-on jerry-rigged together.
Most readers of this blog will remember occasions when a call to a customer service department might mean repeating the very same story to a string of CS agents before finally landing on one who is actually competent to address the issue. With information entered then accessible to all, Support Desk can avoid this problem, if internal processes let it. The same goes for technicians referring to this record in the field or in preparation for going there.
Access to those who need it
What Support Desk details in an asset’s record is also the same record that field service will use and update. Any relevant Shepherd user will be able to see what others have entered, making it a complete history of both problems and resolutions. Times, notes, and any other data is all kept there. The integrity of those records is not dependent on the effectiveness of a third party’s prioritising of data, storing of data, or dismissal of it.
Another, less frequent scenario, but one that can be very useful if the need arises, is being able to rely on Support Desk entries as part of an audit of how well a partner has followed the applicable service agreement. By contrast, just consider the potential for disaster when one system handles the SLA, and another system, unrelated to it, handles field service.
Ready for when it’s needed
In terms of prime candidates, the Support Desk is usually favoured by larger organisations with a budget for a fully-fledged CS department. But every company wants to grow. That small SME that succeeds may well one day have a CS department of their own, and with Shepherd integrated, all that is needed is to switch that once-dormant module on, and Support Desk is suddenly there, ready to go, with only a training session or two needed before it can be used.
SMEs who decide to use the Support Desk module, despite being a small company, can take advantage of it and other modules all being under the Shepherd umbrella: the same training and user interface means that smaller companies can commit their technicians to Support Desk duty in times of reduced activity. Since they have virtually all the training needed already from their exposure to the Field Maintenance or Rental modules, for example, their productivity can be optimised, the company’s costs reduced, and its services expanded.
No fishing around for providers, and negotiating terms. Just toggle on, administer some configuration, and they are ready to go—and only being invoiced for that feature when it’s actually being used.
If you need this scope of service now, or want it waiting at the ready for when you do, book a demo today and get a closer look at what Shepherd could look like for you.
