The main reason the the website and back end are getting “renovated” is the fact that Vembu Technologies has released a new version of their software (which is what powers our backup service). The newest version (v3.0) brings a couple of long awaited features to their StoreGrid product which makes it more robust and easier to manage. The drawback from our perspective is that it is going to require some rejigging of hardware and interfaces (aka the website) in order to integrate properly.
The other reason for the face lift is… well to get a fresher, lighter, cleaner look using a simple system (Wordpress). The old site was cumbersome and not as easy to work with as it should have been.
So over the next couple of days/weeks you will see some changes here. Some of the content from the “old” site will be migrated here and the look will become more stylized as things develop on the back end.
In any event, I hope that you like the changes and of course I am always open to comments/suggestions.
Mike Lavender
CEO Simply Offsite.
Customer Service Epiphany
Today was an interesting day from a customer service perspective. I had an epiphany… no wait a re-enforcement of how important customer service is. I have to admit that there was some irony in the event too.
Let me start at the beginning. I am always (almost always) available. I have a cell phone that goes everywhere with me and for the most part I am pretty good about answering it. There are occasions when I am out of range or unavailable for various reasons, such as foot thick concrete and steel, no service or in the shower but that is relatively rare (don’t worry I shower regularly).
This morning was one of those times. I spent most of my morning in a location that has poor to no reception. During this time a long time client was trying to get a hold of me to let me know that things had changed on their end. They had a new server and the backup needed to be moved to that server from the old one.
It was about 2 hours later that I ventured out into the light from the bunker and my phone started to make chirping noises and vibrate my teeth letting me know that I had missed something…several in fact. So the first thing I did was to return the call(s) and start to deal with the issue at hand. Ok, all was good.
So were does the epiphany come in? I had arranged with my wife to pick our daughter up from after-care and then pick her up from an event that she was attending at TCU place here in Saskatoon. This required that she drop the car off for me to use at the end of the day since they give me a ride to work in the morning.
The end of the day rolled around and I headed out to the car with lots of time to spare when I realized that I did not have any car keys. Hmm, what was I going to do… I had a couple of options all of which would have required several taxi rides, and a lot of time. Since my wife does not carry a cell phone it was not just a simple matter of calling here and filling her in on the situation. I decided that the best approach was to head back into the office, call my daughters’ after care provider and let her know what was going on, then try to get a hold of my wife at TCU place.
First problem – there was no answer at after-care so I left a message. I called friends that lived close by to the after-care, maybe my daughter could go there if things took too long. Again, answer. So then I called TCU place, the only published number in the phone book. Voice messaging system telling me to press a number of keys to maybe talk to someone…. No answer, try again, still no answer. Try a different call queue, no answer, just a message – the same message as before but this time telling me that they are in fact open for business.
General concern and frustration starts to set in. I Google the contact information for TCU place. Jackpot! There are lots of numbers to call now but which one should I start with? the CEO… no a bit extreme. I start with the Box Office numbers (3 of them)… no answer. The Events Department (6 numbers)… no answer. How about administration (6 numbers)… no answer. Sales… no skip them. CEO – no answer. Operations (10 numbers) after 3 calls with no answers I finally get a response from security on the second try! They agree to page my wife and have her call me at work. All of this took about 30 minutes FOR A BUSINESS THAT IS OPEN?!?!
I have to admit I was more then annoyed and as a result I have vowed to boycott TCU place/center as a result of this which should not be to hard for me. So this is where the epiphany comes from. Customer service is not just solving problems with a smile it is answering the damn phone during normal business hours and making sure that you or someone can be reached.
From now on I will make sure I answer the phone asap and if I am not going to be reachable make sure someone is.
So what happened? Well my wife called me on intuition. She thought I might not have my keys so phoned to check in. She picked up our daughter and then came to get me and the car and we all made it home as a happy family with a lesson learned.
Mike Lavender
CEO Simply Offsite.