Customer Solution Case Study
/ / IT Services CompanySpeeds Response Time, Improves Customer Service
Overview
Country or Region:Canada
Industry:Professional Services
Customer Profile
Based in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, ExpressComputerServiceCenter provides IT services such as troubleshooting and maintenance. The company has a staff of 12 consultants and engineers.
Business Situation
The firm’s technicians, who spend most of their time working at client locations,had problems remotely accessing client information stored on a server at Express headquarters.
Solution
Express installed Groove software, now part of the Microsoft® Office System, for real-time information sharing among staff and with clients.
Benefits
Faster response time
Greater accountability
Improved customer service
Increased billable time of 10 hours a week per technician / “The faster we can respond to [clients], the faster they can get up and running again. With Groove we’ve been able to shrink our response time.”
Darren Layton, President, ExpressComputerServiceCenter
ExpressComputerServiceCenter provides on-site IT services for clients in British Columbia, Canada. The firm’s technicians spend 80 percent of their time on the road, working at client locations to troubleshootemergency problems or conduct regular maintenance.Previously, client documents and background information were stored on a central server at the Express head office. The technicians had difficulty accessing that information while at client sites or traveling between sites. To solve that problem, Express installed Groove software, now part of the Microsoft® Office System. Express technicians now have up-to-date client information at their fingertips, and clients can track the firm’s work-in-progress. The solution has helped Express improve its accountability and customer service, and resolve client issues faster.It has also led to an increase in billable hours.
Situation
As a music producer in British Columbia, Canada, Darren Layton worked with many of the region’s top artists and once produced “Best of BC,” a compilation of the greatest groups in the area at the time. But his biggest hit has been Express Computer Service Center, an IT services firm based in Surrey, British Columbia, that has grown steadily through its focus on treating clients as partners, with a goal of building their businesses.
For more than 10 years, Express has served as the virtual IT department for companies ranging from 5 to 200 employees in British Columbia. The firm provides a variety of IT services including network infrastructure design and implementation, hardware procurement and configuration, marketing and business systems development, and software consultation.
Layton, whose interest in computers began during his music recording career when he incorporated technology into his music composition, leads a staff of 12 consultants and engineers as President of Express Computer Service Center. Since its founding in 1992, Express has served more than 500 companies representing a broad industry spectrum from insurance to construction, manufacturing to medical, financial services to transportation.
To provide the on-site, personal service that Layton promises his clients, the firm’s technicians spend most of their time traveling from client to client, troubleshooting emergency problems or conducting regular maintenance.The challenge: providing technicians access to client documents and background information while they’re at a clientsite.
“Like a lot of companies, we had all of our clients’ information stored on a centralized server in our home office,” says Layton. “The problem was that when technicians were out on the road, where they spend about 80 percent of their time, they had a difficult time accessing that information.”
For a time, Layton’s team retrieved client records through a technology that allowed technicians to connect to the company server remotely.But because this solution required Internet connectivity, it failed when technicians couldn’t get online—a common occurrence due to:
Down connections. Internet connectivity was frequently down at client sites, preventing technicians from connecting to the company server. “We found that we were often responding to customers that had no Internet service available,” says Layton. “That’s why they were calling us.”
Remote sites. The company’s technicians must update project information or review documents on their laptops while traveling between client sites.Often they must do so from a coffee shop or from the car, with no place to plug in. “We were responding to customers but we were floating,” says Layton. “We were in our car or away from the office.”
Denied access. Client companies protect their networks by preventing outsiders from connecting to the Internet within their walls without permission. Express technicians occasionally lacked that authorization. “Sometimes we go to a client site where gaining free Internet access is not convenient,” says Layton. “But that access is something you need when you’re a technician. You need to be able to plug in and get going.”
Because technicians were often unable to connect to the Express network and server, their temporary solution involved transporting client information from site to site on paper in binders. Layton wanted to retire this system for several reasons:
Security concerns.Should a binder be lost or stolen, confidential client information would be at risk.
Poor information sharing.Only the technician with the client binder could view the information, preventing others from accessing the records.
No real-time updates.Updating client records in the binder, and then transferring those updates to the corporate server led to duplicate efforts and wasted time.
Solution
In 2002, Express installed Groove software, now part of the Microsoft® Office System. Since then, Express has been able to overcome the information-sharing challenges faced by its remote technicians.For each client, the firm now creates a Groove workspace, and includes within it confidential client information such as credentials, passwords, and network configuration.The appropriate technicians are then invited to the workspace, providing them with the most recent information on each customer at their fingertips. They can then make updates to client work whether they’re working from a client site, a coffee shop, or a home office.
“The technician pulls up the information from the Groove space and, of course, records what he has done.” says Layton. “When he connects to the network from the office, from home, or from another client location, his changes are automatically synchronized and the rest of the team can see what’s been done.”
The many features of Groove software have made the product an essential collaboration and management tool for Layton and his staff. The Files tool, in which the technicians can organize, view, and co-edit computer files, enhances document storage and sharing. The Calendar tool, in which they track their scheduled services and client events, keeps everyone on the same page. As technicians try to coordinate the numerous tasks and details associated with servicing 200 clients, Groove has made life easier in other ways, such as:
Project oversight. Customers frequently hire Express for project installations, which usually involve installing a solution comprised of hardware, software, and services, such as a new e-mail server installation. Using the Project Manager feature in Groove, Layton can track multiple projects simultaneously, assign responsibilities to team members, and monitor their updates in real time.
Key contact lists. Clients aren’t always available to answer questions about their networks. Layton’s staff makes a point of having other sources to contact in an emergency. Using the Groove Contact Manager tool, technicians compile critical contact information on people to call to resolve issues for each client, such as someone within the client’s business or an outside service provider.
In addition to using Groove internally, Layton is beginning to introduce it to his clients.For one of the firm’s larger clients, work-in-progress and billing matters are tracked and administered inside three Groove workspaces.Before Groove, the two companies had to exchange work through monthly e-billing reports from Express or through paper documents transported manually by technicians. Now they use the Groove Files tool for real-time document review and document exchange, and track plans and activities with the Groove Calendar.Using the Groove Meetings tool, Layton conducts more effective conferences with clients. He organizes the agenda in advance, posts decisions reached during the meeting and records tasks that need to be completed.
Benefits
Small companies beat their larger competitors by working faster and smarter, and turn a profit by keeping a scrupulous eye on business and operational expenses. Groove has helped Express keep ahead of the competition and lower costs.
Faster Response Time
By having ready access to current client information anywhere at anytime, rather than lugging paper binders with outdated documents, Layton and his staff solveissuesfor clients in a hurry.“We look for anything that can help us to speed a resolution,” he says. “The faster we can respond to [clients], the faster they can get up and running again. With Groove we’ve been able to shrink our response time.”
Greater Accountability
Accountability is a term often overused in business, but Layton legitimately points out to clients that his firm is more responsive using Groove because technicians can more easily track information and chart the progress of work.“With Groove on our laptops and our client’s laptop, the client can see what we’re doing and track it, and that’s a point of accountability,” he says. “We use the fact that we have a complete outline of our work as part of our new business pitch.”
Improved Customer Service
Layton says using Groove with clients truly adds value to their working relationship. “They like to be part of our process and we like them to be part of the process,” he says. Express Computer Service uses Groove “very actively” with one client, says Layton, and has near-term plans to extend it out to the firm’s entire client base.
Increased Billable Time Per Technician
Using Groove to manage procedures and processes enables Layton’s technicians to accomplish more with less. Their utilization rate—or the amount of billable time they achieve each day—has jumped from about four hours per day to as much as six hours per day.Not surprisingly, that increase in billable hours has added to the firm’s top line, though Layton says he’s more pleased with the way Groove helps his team over-deliver for clients.“We’re a small business and revenues are important,” he says. “But the ability for us to exceed customer expectations is equally important. We have to blow our customers away.”
Microsoft Office System
The Microsoft Office System is the business world’s chosen environment for information work, providing the programs, servers, and services that help you succeed by transforming information into impact.
For more information about the Microsoft Office System, go to:
For more information about Microsoft Office Groove® 2007, part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system, go to: