Today's Date: 22 May 2012
29
Apr

Being the customer - the shoe on the other foot!

I’ve recently had an internal job change which has seen me move from a role in Intergen’s Project Delivery team, working to deliver solutions to meet our customers’ needs, to being a customer. My new role has got me thinking about what it is that IT customers want. A few key themes have become evident to me, and I thought I’d share them so that those delivering IT solutions can step into the shoes of the customer:

  1. Be the expert
    As a customer, we expect the vendor who has agreed to deliver our solution to know how to do the work they have signed up to. Whether it is the person we are dealing directly with, or another expert in the organisation, we expect the vendor to know their stuff. Make us feel confident that you (as a representative of your company) know how to do the job. Go on, be the expert!

  2. Understand our business
    Please attempt to understand our business so you can deliver us a solution that is going to streamline our business and help us achieve our goals. If you don’t understand our business or our business goals, how are you going to deliver us a solution that meets our needs? Ask us. We’ll be really happy to tell you about our business, and it will increase our trust in you and your organisation.

  3. Help us to problem solve
    If I have a problem, there is nothing better than someone listening to me and offering guidance on how it can be resolved. To expect the customer to have done all the thinking around solution options and to know exactly what they want is unrealistic. You would be expecting someone, who will usually not know as much as you about technology, to provide the answers to something they may know very little about. Make it easy for us. Tell us what our options are, give us the pros and cons – be it helping us to modify requirements, suggesting alternative technologies or resetting our budget expectations, we need to know. Help us to problem solve!

  4. Keep us posted with progress
    Keep us updated regularly on what is going on. Not only does that keep us in the loop and highlight any risks/issues early, it creates a relationship between us, and increases our confidence that you are going to deliver. If you don’t communicate with us, we are going to wonder what is going on, which will likely lead us to pepper you with phone calls or, worse still, go above you to your manager or a leader in the organisation to vent our concerns.

  5. Be responsive
    If we ask you a question or communicate with you and need a response, where practical, try and get back to us within a reasonable time period. Again if you ignore us, we’ll wonder what is going on and if you are still providing us a service. Don’t make us ask twice - please be responsive.

  6. Patience is a virtue
    If we lose our cool with you, please don’t lose yours with us. Try and appreciate there will be a reason why a customer is being a grump. It is likely we are feeling that you are not delivering to our agreement. We may be feeling nervous that the solution isn’t going to be a success. It might be that we have managers who are pushing for progress. Justified or not, remember we are the customer. Kiwi hospitality teaches us ‘the customer is always right’. Of course that is not always true; however, in the world of service delivery, excellence in customer service is paramount. Take a few deep breaths, try and jump into our shoes and imagine what it is like spending 10s to 100s of thousands of dollars (and then some) on a solution. I know we can sometimes be tricky customers, but patience is a virtue ... and is appreciated even if we don’t always remember to say ‘thank you’.

  7. Think smart, look to the future
    If your product/solution doesn’t fit our needs today, be smart and tell us if (and how) it will in the not too distant future. Give us an idea about the roadmap. Don’t lose business by simply saying ‘no’. Not only does it leave us high and dry with no potential solution, we will lose confidence in you as a company who can deliver. Let us know what is coming, keep us abreast of our options – now and in the future.

  8. When it all goes well
    You completely impress the pants off us. We marvel at how you listened to us. How you translated what we communicated to you (deciphering our mumbo jumbo), to deliver us a solution that meets our needs and improves our business. We will sing your praises to our bosses. We will tell our colleagues how great you are. We will talk about you and the success of the project over coffee with friends. We rely on you to get it right, and we love you for it when it all goes well.
Posted by: Laurie Hogg | 29 April 2008 Tags: Project Management

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