Relationships Are More Important Than Ever

 

Changes in Innovative Customer Support Create Focused Relationships

This guest blog post comes from Hilary Newman, Senior Vice President of Client Success and Support

This is an exciting year for Innovative Customer Support, starting off with the recent announcement of several department changes focused on building relationships with customers. The Customer Support leadership team is constantly evaluating how we can improve our service to deliver a consistent and superior experience and I’m thrilled to share some details of this change.

The biggest change in 2019 is for our Sierra and Millennium customers. Our staff has been re-organized into smaller, cross-functional teams of librarians and technical staff that share ownership of the libraries in one of five geographically-based regions. The regional team members are working together, and with a new Level 3 expert team, to broaden the product understanding of each team member as Innovative prepares to launch a series of new products, starting with Discovery.

The focus on building relationships means we will be more customer-centric. You can expect to see us move away from transaction-based, or ticket-based support, to a more holistic view of your issues and tickets. We are creating small teams who will work with a more limited number of customers to foster stronger relationships. A customer-centric support approach cultivates natural insights into what’s going on at your library and if open tickets are related to a single issue. As the relationship naturally develops, the regional teams will be able to help you identify training and consulting resources to make the most out of your investment.

As we settle into this new model of support, you will see improved communication and a support team with better understanding of what makes each libraries’ set-up unique. The goal is a customer support team who knows each library well and is fully trained to handle the support needs. If we are not meeting expectations, our customers will have a clear, consistent and known escalation path for feedback.

To learn more about these changes, you can view our recent webinar through your Supportal login. We will also be attending the IUG Annual Conference in May where you can meet your regional support manager or attend a presentation on the new Customer Support model.

We are very excited for this change as well as a continued effort to streamline processes in 2019. We understand it will take some time for everyone to adjust to the new structure. Please consult the rules of escalation before contacting a Support manager and be patient with our staff as they learn their new roles. We plan to share an update on the new process in Q3. We look forward to working with you!