CUSTOMER SUPPORT!
CUSTOMER SUPPORT!
CUSTOMER SUPPORT – The Biggest Con in the Industry
Most people reading the first line will not even bother reading this post of mine but still here goes my point of view.
India from a Security Industry Manufacturer perspective is a dream haven… Why?
Let’s examine the methodology.
The Security Industry works in the following hierarchy
Manufacturer – Distributor – System Installer / Integrator – Client / End User
Most
Manufacturers are based out of India and manufacturing done outside
India. Products are imported by the Distributor / System Integrator and
then delivered and installed at an End User Site. So what happens when a
product fails under warranty? The Process is simple the Integrator
approaches the Distributor / Manufacturer to process an RMA (Return
Material Authorisation ) which the Manufacturer processes and provides
for a replacement / warranty repair. The replacement / repaired goods
need to go through Indian Customs and duty needs to be paid once again
for this and at the end of the day a replacement / repair process takes
anywhere between 3 - 4 weeks.
The Integrator sits pretty
because he hides behind this state of affairs and has this excuse of
process and procedure. After so many years in this industry I know that
the person who suffers the most is the client and end user who actually
uses the product and actually paid to buy it based on his basic decision
to go with any particular manufacturer.
The entire
process ensures that the client loses around 4 weeks of time and god
forbid if it is a Major component his entire security system is put at
risk.
Today most of the big multinational names that
operate here in India have offices and so called service centres in
India... This was probably a brain wave of a sales guy and most of these
guys go around using and putting these clauses in tenders that the
manufacturer needs to have a service centre in India. After nearly 10
years of such experience the time taken for this is nearly the same and
most times if the item is out of warranty then the standard answer is
that the product is unrepairable / cost of repairs provided is higher
than buying a new item…
So what do you call this? I call it the biggest farce and con going around in our Industry.
Which now leads me to the same point Customer Support!
What
exactly is Customer Support? To me customer support starts much before a
sale is done and continues till the life time of the product under its
various stages of evolution..
- Prior to sale
Customer Support plays a role in provide the correct technical inputs
for the application. From a CCTV perspective this is imperative... Most
times sales guys promise the moon when factually the entire system
cannot achieve the objective desired. Especially today where Video
Analytics are specified. Unfortunately in today’s world and specific to
CCTV, most sales guys don’t even know what they are selling… I had the
experience recently of a chap who wanted me to sell his cameras come up
to me and talk about his products when he had no idea behind the
technology of the product he sold.
- During the sale process the
Sales guy needs to be actively involved along with his technical team to
go through the BOM and ensure that it complies with the exact
requirement of the customer.
- Software expectation and the
hardware to run this software needs to be perfectly in sync and should
not cause a problem later on or for that matter the Sales team should
ensure to educate the client to actually specify a bit above the minimum
to ensure that the Hardware will be able to grow with additional
updates to the software which may happen a year down the line. Every
manufacturer has a cheat sheet which it shares to its sales guys showing
the future path and time frame. This should be shared by the sales team
with the future client to ensure that the client is aware if the growth
pattern.
- During the Sale / PO process the teams need to hand
over the entire process to the project team and hand hold this team till
execution so that what was promised is delivered.
- Post Sales
the Service team needs to stock sufficient spares to ensure that any
failure is bridged by an immediate replacement and the client is not
held at ransom by the process for replacement. Should this be a problem
then the Sales team needs to be honest to indicate to the client to
stock some spares as well. Sales teams rarely take this line because it
reflects badly on them and contradicts most of the stand that they take
in order to make a sale… being local company service centre, quality,
low failure rate etc… Here the Sales team needs to educate the client
and indicate the actual scenario by being honest and upfront about the
process and hey... electronics can fail at any time however good the
quality control… Space craft’s blow up on takeoff too…doesnot mean that
quality control failed.
- Ability to provide proper training and hand holding during change of teams at the client end.
- Upgradation of software when available should be communicated to the client immediately.
- At the end everyone should remember it is the client who invested in the System!
After
nearly 30 years of experience I have been able to see only one Company
in the world which meets or exceeds the expectation of Customer Support
as I define it!
Sadly our Industry is still to learn what is CUSTOMER SUPPORT!
CUSTOMER SUPPORT – The Biggest Con in the Industry
Most people reading the first line will not even bother reading this post of mine but still here goes my point of view.
India from a Security Industry Manufacturer perspective is a dream haven… Why?
Let’s examine the methodology.
The Security Industry works in the following hierarchy
Manufacturer – Distributor – System Installer / Integrator – Client / End User
Most Manufacturers are based out of India and manufacturing done outside India. Products are imported by the Distributor / System Integrator and then delivered and installed at an End User Site. So what happens when a product fails under warranty? The Process is simple the Integrator approaches the Distributor / Manufacturer to process an RMA (Return Material Authorisation ) which the Manufacturer processes and provides for a replacement / warranty repair. The replacement / repaired goods need to go through Indian Customs and duty needs to be paid once again for this and at the end of the day a replacement / repair process takes anywhere between 3 - 4 weeks.
The Integrator sits pretty because he hides behind this state of affairs and has this excuse of process and procedure. After so many years in this industry I know that the person who suffers the most is the client and end user who actually uses the product and actually paid to buy it based on his basic decision to go with any particular manufacturer.
The entire process ensures that the client loses around 4 weeks of time and god forbid if it is a Major component his entire security system is put at risk.
Today most of the big multinational names that operate here in India have offices and so called service centres in India... This was probably a brain wave of a sales guy and most of these guys go around using and putting these clauses in tenders that the manufacturer needs to have a service centre in India. After nearly 10 years of such experience the time taken for this is nearly the same and most times if the item is out of warranty then the standard answer is that the product is unrepairable / cost of repairs provided is higher than buying a new item…
So what do you call this? I call it the biggest farce and con going around in our Industry.
Which now leads me to the same point Customer Support!
What exactly is Customer Support? To me customer support starts much before a sale is done and continues till the life time of the product under its various stages of evolution..
Sadly our Industry is still to learn what is CUSTOMER SUPPORT!
Most people reading the first line will not even bother reading this post of mine but still here goes my point of view.
India from a Security Industry Manufacturer perspective is a dream haven… Why?
Let’s examine the methodology.
The Security Industry works in the following hierarchy
Manufacturer – Distributor – System Installer / Integrator – Client / End User
Most Manufacturers are based out of India and manufacturing done outside India. Products are imported by the Distributor / System Integrator and then delivered and installed at an End User Site. So what happens when a product fails under warranty? The Process is simple the Integrator approaches the Distributor / Manufacturer to process an RMA (Return Material Authorisation ) which the Manufacturer processes and provides for a replacement / warranty repair. The replacement / repaired goods need to go through Indian Customs and duty needs to be paid once again for this and at the end of the day a replacement / repair process takes anywhere between 3 - 4 weeks.
The Integrator sits pretty because he hides behind this state of affairs and has this excuse of process and procedure. After so many years in this industry I know that the person who suffers the most is the client and end user who actually uses the product and actually paid to buy it based on his basic decision to go with any particular manufacturer.
The entire process ensures that the client loses around 4 weeks of time and god forbid if it is a Major component his entire security system is put at risk.
Today most of the big multinational names that operate here in India have offices and so called service centres in India... This was probably a brain wave of a sales guy and most of these guys go around using and putting these clauses in tenders that the manufacturer needs to have a service centre in India. After nearly 10 years of such experience the time taken for this is nearly the same and most times if the item is out of warranty then the standard answer is that the product is unrepairable / cost of repairs provided is higher than buying a new item…
So what do you call this? I call it the biggest farce and con going around in our Industry.
Which now leads me to the same point Customer Support!
What exactly is Customer Support? To me customer support starts much before a sale is done and continues till the life time of the product under its various stages of evolution..
- Prior to sale Customer Support plays a role in provide the correct technical inputs for the application. From a CCTV perspective this is imperative... Most times sales guys promise the moon when factually the entire system cannot achieve the objective desired. Especially today where Video Analytics are specified. Unfortunately in today’s world and specific to CCTV, most sales guys don’t even know what they are selling… I had the experience recently of a chap who wanted me to sell his cameras come up to me and talk about his products when he had no idea behind the technology of the product he sold.
- During the sale process the Sales guy needs to be actively involved along with his technical team to go through the BOM and ensure that it complies with the exact requirement of the customer.
- Software expectation and the hardware to run this software needs to be perfectly in sync and should not cause a problem later on or for that matter the Sales team should ensure to educate the client to actually specify a bit above the minimum to ensure that the Hardware will be able to grow with additional updates to the software which may happen a year down the line. Every manufacturer has a cheat sheet which it shares to its sales guys showing the future path and time frame. This should be shared by the sales team with the future client to ensure that the client is aware if the growth pattern.
- During the Sale / PO process the teams need to hand over the entire process to the project team and hand hold this team till execution so that what was promised is delivered.
- Post Sales the Service team needs to stock sufficient spares to ensure that any failure is bridged by an immediate replacement and the client is not held at ransom by the process for replacement. Should this be a problem then the Sales team needs to be honest to indicate to the client to stock some spares as well. Sales teams rarely take this line because it reflects badly on them and contradicts most of the stand that they take in order to make a sale… being local company service centre, quality, low failure rate etc… Here the Sales team needs to educate the client and indicate the actual scenario by being honest and upfront about the process and hey... electronics can fail at any time however good the quality control… Space craft’s blow up on takeoff too…doesnot mean that quality control failed.
- Ability to provide proper training and hand holding during change of teams at the client end.
- Upgradation of software when available should be communicated to the client immediately.
- At the end everyone should remember it is the client who invested in the System!
Sadly our Industry is still to learn what is CUSTOMER SUPPORT!
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