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365/24/7

April 7th, 2016 - Posted by Ben Thomson, Director of Operations

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Yes, that is an odd title for my thoughts, however it dawned on me the other day that in this connected world we live in this phrase it passed around a lot, especially in the world of cloud computing or Software as a Service (SaaS).

365 days a year. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week.

Well that’s the explanation of the phrase however what does it ACTUALLY mean?! I found out first hand at the end of leave I recently took with my family. We had decided to take a break and flew with one of the world’s largest airlines. To keep the lawyers at bay I will refrain from naming names, let’s just say you have probably flown with them at some point in your life! The journey to our destination went off without a hitch, it was only the return that is memorable. To cut a long story short (as am sure this needn’t turn into a whiny blog about customer service) the return plane was cancelled at the last minute, potentially stranding me, my wife and our 2-year-old son.

So as any (geek) head of the household would do, I looked at our options online and attempted to follow the re-booking process. With no alternative flights that were suitable (a 5-day delay would not have sat well with my MD!) I called the customer service line – available “365/24/7”. Bearing in mind this was a local number I was taken aback a little to be waiting over 20 minutes only to find myself in a discussion with a non-UK based call centre operative who knew very little about my personal situation. I was simply a “number”. Fast forward through another 15 minutes of misunderstandings and frustrations getting the better of me, I ended up having to cancel that flight and pursue making my own travel arrangements back.

Now don’t get me wrong, call centres are a part of this 365/24/7 world we live in and I have become accustomed to explaining myself by speaking more slowly (or louder in this particular case). How companies choose to put this availability in practice differs greatly from one to the next. Continuing my story, I called another well know UK based airline, using the local number advertised on their website, only to be put through to a UK call centre. The discussion lasted no more than 10 minutes and by the end I had been booked successfully onto a flight leaving the next day. 24 hours vs. 5 days. By the way, don’t get me started on the procedure to get a refund for the unused portion of the flight as I will be here all day!

With any company trading worldwide in this online era, people (including me) expect a rapid response to queries. However for me personally it really does come back to the old adage “quality not quantity”. When looking for Web to Print software for example, you require a response time and the ability to at least submit queries anytime, anywhere. With RedTie that’s exactly what you get. A ticket system truly available 365/24/7. Response times which can be quoted in hours not days (or weeks in some cases). Clear direction with an online Academy which is being constantly developed. The list goes on…

I am not about to claim we have the most available and quickest support response, I do however know from plenty of experience of cloud based software, and even support processes from different verticals (did you read the above?) that we are certainly way ahead of the curve. You don’t have to resort to negative comments on our social media sites in order to get the support you need. It is there and available already. If I had to compare offerings for a Web to Print solution, I know the type of support I would prefer.

Even taking timely responses out of the picture our support team uses our software every day, they are experts in the system. We don’t have front line support that goes through a list of questions and when that list is exhausted they are stuck and need to pass it up a chain of support. The people who can answer the support queries are answering the support queries. So with RedTie’s Web to Print solution you can be assured of a combination of timely and expert responses to you needs. It is not as common as most companies would have you believe!