Troubleshooting: A Case Study in

Improving Customer Satisfaction

Jeremy Stephens, Corptax

Malcolm Carlaw, Impact Learning Systems

Poll: What type of offering do you personally support?

Software

Hardware

Services

All of the above

Primary Drivers of Customer Satisfaction

Customer

Satisfaction

Time to

Resolution

Service Skills

Employee

Satisfaction

What are the Issues?

Poor or Good

Troubleshooting

Skills

Resolution

Time

Documentation

Hand-offs

Call-backs

Collateral

Damage

Lost

Trust

Unnecessary

Parts

Ordering Additional

Resources

Employee

Satisfaction

Resolution Time Drives Customer Sat.

Data developed by MetricNet

Engineer Satisfaction Drives Customer Satisfaction

Data developed by MetricNet

What is in the balance?

Customer Satisfaction

Operational inefficiencies

Lost trust – clients/co-workers

Morale

7

Poll: What are your top two troubleshooting issues?

Resolution time

Hand offs/ documentation

Operational inefficiencies

Lost trust – client/co-workers

Employee satisfaction

Mitigating the Problem

Troubleshooting skills vs technical knowledge

Critical thinking

Common troubleshooting process

Common language

9

Common Troubleshooting Process

E-book available with details about each of these steps

Good

Decision

Making

Diagnostic Troubleshooting Process

Problem Identification

Problem

Resolution

Verify

Problem

Define

Problem

Isolate

Problem Identify

Cause

Justify

Solution

Resolve

Problem

Problem Identification Problem Resolution

Level 1 support

Setup

Results

Operational Efficiency

Increased Satisfaction

Typical results

» 5-9% improvement in TTR

» 4-8% improvement in C-SAT

» Focus on specific metrics

Support Staff Excellence Program

2009, 2010, 2011

2012 (pending)

Case Study: Corptax, Inc.

Jeremy Stephens

Manager, Customer Support

About Corptax

14

Corptax Support

88% percent of support staff are accounting professionals

15

Poll: How do you measure resolution time?

• Months

• Weeks

• Days

• Hours

• Minutes

16

Our Story

• 2008 Launched Customer Support training with Impact Learning

• Results indicated other weaknesses to fill

• Q1 2009 Launched Diagnostic Troubleshooting

17

Implementation Issues

• Lack of Executive Support

• Scheduling Issues With Home-Based Staff

• Management Requires Training

18

Adoption

“This training was very helpful. The tools to identify the root cause — and not just the underlying direct

cause — have helped me save a tremendous amount of time and has helped me obtain quicker resolutions

for my customers.“

Shellie Bailey, Customer Support

19

Maintaining the Focus

• Syncing Troubleshooting skills adoption with Q/A process

– “The program was valuable in providing a structural process for troubleshooting.”

• Reinforcement tools

– Weekly “announcements”

– Poster reminders

20

Customer Surveys

21

0.89

0.91

0.93

0.95

0.97

0.99

08

Q3

08

Q4

09

Q1

09

Q2

09

Q3

09

Q4

10

Q1

10

Q2

10

Q3

10

Q4

11

Q1

11

Q2

11

Q3

11

Q4

12

Q1

Skills and Knowledge

First Contact

22

35%

40%

45%

50%

55%

60%

65%

09

Q1

09

Q2

09

Q3

09

Q4

10

Q1

10

Q2

10

Q3

10

Q4

11

Q1

11

Q2

11

Q3

11

Q4

12

Q1

First Contact Resolution

24 Hour Solution

23

0.6

0.65

0.7

0.75

0.8

0.85

0.9

09

Q1

09

Q2

09

Q3

09

Q4

10

Q1

10

Q2

10

Q3

10

Q4

11

Q1

11

Q2

11

Q3

11

Q4

12

Q1

Resolved Within 24 Hours

SLA Achievement

24

0.93

0.94

0.95

0.96

0.97

0.98

0.99

1

09

Q1

09

Q2

09

Q3

09

Q4

10

Q1

10

Q2

10

Q3

10

Q4

11

Q1

11

Q2

11

Q3

11

Q4

12

Q1

SLA Achievement

Beware of Success Q1 2012

25

Award winning

LEVEL 1 & 2 2011

LEVEL 1 & 2 2010

LEVEL 1 2009

Excellence in Support Services – Small Company

Excellence in Support Services – Emerging Companies

Finalist – Continuous Improvement in Support Services

Additional Information

Next step: Deeper dive into the product

Thursday May 31st 10:00 AM PT

Tuesday June 5th 11:00 AM PT

Questions?