MPS FOCUS
We Saw It In ENX Magazine
DECEMBER 2010
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IS AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME MAKING YOU AVERAGE? importance, respectively. However, even guarantees of providing same-day or four-hour response only appeared in a third of customer contracts. Furthermore, the study clearly shows that differentiation is key in first-time customer's award. However, with repeat engagements for MPS on the rise, delivery of ontime and effective service is critical evidence used by your customer in contract renewal. One argument might be that offering guarantees of service levels might create a punitive system where the dealer would suffer because response times cannot be met consistently. However, I might challenge those who believe the standard benchmark of average service response time will continue to be acceptable to customers. In an MPS solution, the customer is buying the outcome you provide, and measurements of uptime and utilization are much more effective in telling a customer if they are getting what they paid for. In a sales engagement, your customer is asking one key question, "Can I trust you to deliver a solution to my particular problem, consistently?" In that instance, your service history and support of most accounts stands as your greatest testimonial to renewal. Ask what value your company could bring by estab30
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lishing a crisp, easy-to-understand scorecard, including your commitment to service select devices and drive toward sustained availability. Surely, you will be held to this standard, and the failure to meet such a standard may well be your main concern. However, have you thought about being your customer's accountability partner and trusted advisor by using this balanced scorecard to elevate your elite team above the typical antics everyone else plays out each and every contract renewal cycle? Will they pay you more for this 'personal trainer' style of service? Perhaps, but more importantly you should be asking yourself who is already offering this to your customer in other areas of their lives and whether you are minding the gap this creates. u As a senior consultant with the Photizo Group, Ken Stewart comes from and works directly with channel providers in the managed services space, developing educational tools and resources to promote lasting business transformation (http://mpswin.com). Ken also owns and operates an industryniche blog, ChangeForge (http://changeforge.com), focusing upon the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology in an information-centric world.