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CYBERSUPPORT

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: ...THE KEY REASON FOR WEB PRESENCE

CYBERSUPPORT

Contrary to popular belief, not everyone is connected to the Internet ... yet.
But the Inet is growing ... dramatically.
According to International Data Corporation (IDC), a Framingham, MA market research firm, there are 2,100 new Internet users every hour. That's 35 new potential customers every minute. No wonder everyone is still running to launch a new and better dotcom.
The problem is that everyone is certain he or she has the killer solution, the killer site. What we tend to overlook is the fact that these 140+ million Internet users can visit an estimated 25 million web sites. That number is growing with 10,000 new company Web sites being added every day -- 417 every hour, 7 every minute.

Justifying a Home Page
With this growth (and potential) corporate managers have little difficulty in justifying the cost of developing and maintaining a Web home page. They simply show senior management business to consumer (B2C) sales and sales projections. Estimates of $360 billion by 2004 make corporate managers wonder if brick and mortar will give way to click and order.
But B2C sales almost look like chump change when we see business to business (B2B) sales were $114 billion in 1998 and by 2004 it is estimated B2B will be 6X larger than B2C or more than $17.3 trillion (Deloitte Consulting).
During a break at a recent Internet conference, a Webmaster commented on how difficult it had been for him to justify his firm's Web presence because the company was really a supplier to suppliers in the semiconductor industry. The company needed to raise visibility with system design engineers but didn’t really sell to these engineers. He was there to find
out how he could make his Web site more interesting and attractive so more people come to the firm's site for information on the company, its products, its services and the benefits the company ultimately delivered to the design engineer. He also wanted to link his site to more locations.
When we asked him if the firm had put customer service, customer support and technical documentation on its Web site, he said the idea had never been brought up. We explained that by giving customers (and customers of customers) 24-hour access to this information the company could probably reduce support calls as well as printing, postage and fax bills.

Customer-Oriented Technology
By putting customer-oriented technology, application and manufacturing process information on the site, he could even approach customers about linking his home page to theirs. This would make it easy for engineering and manufacturing personnel to directly link to the site for design and manufacturing information.
When the session presentation was completed we provided the inquiring webmaster a CD copy of our presentation which contained some of the pertinent information he would need in moving forward.
This included:
• Sun cut their supply channel costs 30% with their buy-thru site
• B2B sales can reduce paper processing costs by 20%+
• Cisco saves $400 million annually with on-line support
• Cisco reduced their phone support calls by 70% with their site
• Cisco estimates a 20% improvement in productivity with their Web site
• IBM handles 90% of their operations over the Internet, 80% of support is obtained by users from the Web site with more than 43 million+ online service requests annually saving $275 million in support costs
• Intel does 60% of its customer support from the Web site, reduced customer support calls by 45% and improved productivity by 25%
• Lucas Entertainment’s support volume has increased 40% by only 1/5th of the support is provided by phone vs the Web site
• According to the META Group web support costs only $.03 whereas a live person response costs about $5. Web-based customer support can cut call center costs by about 53% and the support can be increased by 33+% at less than half the comparable support person cost
The next day, he said that he had been up until three in the morning preparing Web-centric recommendations and had e-mailed them to the firm's offices in Germany, Phoenix and Singapore. He had already received two enthusiastic endorsements--one from the vice president of engineering, one from the president.
The Web site had gone from being a marketing tool to a strategic communications tool between customers, suppliers and the company. It was no longer something that 160 million+ people located in 83 countries might visit. Instead, it was going to be a global focal point for 1,000 customer and potential customer locations.
Concrete ROI
It was no longer a question of cost-justifying the effort. There were real dollar and time savings involved. Management understood what Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence and other books, meant when he wrote successful companies focus on keeping customers...not winning customers.
They realized what Lou Gerstner, president of IBM, meant when he said, “The Internet and Web are about competition, growth and reaching out to customers.”
Based on the proposal our session attendee had forwarded to his offices and management that the site could be put to pro-active work to:
• enhance the company, customer relationship
• reduce costs
• eliminate inefficiencies
• improve productivity
• ultimately improve sales, profits
Customer support and service managers agree that 80 percent of the customer queries can be solved with the first call. The questions have been asked and the solutions are known. A “self-help” help desk on the Web site that includes frequently asked questions and answers allows people to get the information they want, when they want it.
Posting application and technical documentation on your Web site, rather than storing it in binders and filing cabinets, provides an immediate value to firms in your market. That also means an immediate value to you.
Powerful Business Tool
Let’s look at a negative example.
For months we had urged a client to add a searchable customer support/service database to their Web site rather than the usual and generally useless list of FAQs. Our reasons were selfish. Customers would have problems, call the contract customer support firm for assistance, be put on hold for what many claimed were hours and out of frustration go to the firm’s Web site to search for someone who might help them.
In the company’s pressroom they would find our email address. On a weekly basis we would receive 10-20 irate emails about our “horrible company” or pleas for assistance. To calm or assist the individual we’d respond properly and cc the marketing director, engineering manager and, if necessary, the CEO.
One poor customer from Montreal had been searching for assistance and getting a run-around for nearly three months. We not only responded but we sent the individual’s audit trail of support contacts to 15 key managers including the CEO.
In an hour the latest version of the product was being sent overnight to the customer and he had received four separate reports on the action that had been taken and apologies.
It was an expensive means to an end for the company. Now the company is “looking into” a Web-based support solution.
Our solution was more immediate and more complete. We resigned and had our contact information removed from the company’s Web site. We explained that sales and profits came from customers – not the sales department – and we didn’t feel it was in our best interest to be associated with a company that didn’t understand or didn’t believe that the marketplace was shifting to a one-to-one arena.
The Inet and WWW are powerful tools for business. They allow firms to economically exchange information with hundreds of thousands of people around the globe. They permit companies to seek and exchange valuable competitive, business and product information. They allow firms to reach and become involved with customers in new and exciting ways.
But the real value of Web presence and Internet connections come from helping firms develop strong one-to-one customer relationships. Relationships that are difficult for competitors to unseat.
If management can’t or won’t address the relationship issues first, no amount of print, visual or Web promotion will help them succeed. Too many customers understand the difference.
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