Stream International Inc. (''Stream'') is a leading software manufacturer, distributor and technical support organization. Stream currently provides technical support for many hardware and software products, including Microsoft Windows 95. Stream also provides internal help desk support on a contractual basis for certain of its customers.
Problem. Support contracts between Stream and its customers were increasingly requiring Stream's support representatives to track different information for each of their customers. These requests began to outstrip the capacity of Stream's internally-developed support system. In addition, Stream realized that to shorten caller waiting time it needed to reduce the length of time it was taking operators to access customer information.
Solution. After undertaking an extensive review of alternative solutions, Stream decided to replace an existing support system with an integrated solution based on ScopusÆ SupportTEAM, TeleTEAM and Workflow Automation products. Hundreds of concurrent users now use a Microsoft Windows-based Scopus system for call management, call handling, dispatch and contract entitlement tracking. Stream customized SupportTEAM to track customer-specific information with information prompts which automatically change depending on the product to which the call relates. Workflow automation provides Stream with additional flexibility by allowing each of its customers individualized routing and escalation features. Such customization enables Stream to deliver tailored support based on the requirements of its individual customer contracts. In addition, through an integration with Lotus Notes, Stream allows its Lotus Notes-based customers to replicate information gathered by the SupportTEAM and to monitor the status of support given to their customers.
TeleTEAM enables Stream to offer its customers ''skilled-based routing'' of support calls to those Stream support technicians best suited to field user problems. Through integration with telecommunications hardware, TeleTEAM also shortens customer waiting time by synchronizing calls with an automatically generated screen of customer information as the calls come into Stream and are transferred among its Dallas, Texas and Canton, Massachusetts facilities..
Synopsys, Inc. (''Synopsys'') develops, markets and supports high-level design automation models and software for designers of integrated circuits and electronic systems. Synopsys also offers a comprehensive set of synthesis, simulation, test and design-reuse solutions.
Problem. Synopsys initially used an internally developed, Macintosh-based system for its external customer support and call tracking. Limitations in the system prompted Synopsys to evaluate software that could provide the functionality, scalability and reliability required to support its growing operations. In addition, Synopsys desired to integrate its external support and defect tracking systems to deliver closed-loop problem resolution to its customers.
Solution. Scopus Support TEAM provided Synopsys' 40-user customer support organization with the diagnostic and workflow capabilities it needed without any significant source code changes. Synopsys and Scopus integrated the system with an on-line knowledge retrieval application that now enables Synopsys' customers to directly obtain problem resolution updates through either the World Wide Web or e-mail. Scopus SupportTEAM is also integrated with an internally developed order entry system that updates the Scopus system when new accounts or primary contact names are added to Synopsys' customer list. Synopsys is currently interfacing SupportTEAM with SAP's Enterprise Requirements Planning System.
After installing SupportTEAM, Synopsys implemented Scopus QualityTEAM throughout its 300-person engineering organization. Using a common database, the two Scopus products now handle substantially all of Synopsys' customer support and defect tracking needs and allow Synopsys to deliver integrated customer support. The combination of SupportTEAM and QualityTEAM has enabled Synopsys to substantially increase its hotline customer support services without a corresponding increase in support staff.
"We could never have handled the huge calling volume increase without Scopus. ProTEAM's problem resolution system and workflow management capability helps us answer questions quickly and manage calls much more efficiently.
For Rick Llewelyn, Director of Computer Systems, and Shel Waggener, Manager of the Response Center at Sybase, Inc., the tale of the cobbler's children who went without shoes is an old and familiar one. It describes their situation only a year ago, as the rapidly growing Sybase, a leader in relational database management systems, logged an average 60 percent increase in call volumes to the company's overburdened and under-automated internal systems support department.
"Here we were selling advanced data management software, while our own service and support groups used flat-file electronic mail storage and paper tracking to record more than 3,000 service requests a month," notes Llewelyn. "We knew that as call volumes continued to increase, we would either have to double the size of the department, or start leveraging technology to get answers to our employees faster. Tracking through paper and email just wasn't doing the job. You can't generate reports from email; you can't analyze patterns, and you can't establish accountability. For these objectives, we needed a true call tracking and problem resolution system. Fortunately, we've implemented a solution that gives us the accountability and accuracy we need, along with the scalability to continue keeping pace with Sybase's breakneck growth."
Based in Emeryville, California, Sybase currently employs more than 4,000 professionals throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The company's Computer Systems Group provides hardware, software, database administration, networking, facilities, and human resources support for all U.S. and some overseas offices through a central support organization known as the Response Center. The Response Center acts as a central dispatch for more than 140 technicians and service managers across eight support groups within the company. These technicians and managers are skilled in an array of trouble-shooting practices for their "customers" (Sybase employees).
Today, only 11 months after Sybase's new Scopus SupportTEAM call tracking and problem resolution system was installed, the Response Center handles more than 7,000 service requests each month - an increase of more than 125 percent - with virtually no increase in staff size."We could never have handled the huge calling volume increase without Scopus," says Waggener. "ProTEAM's problem resolution system and workflow management capability helps us answer questions quickly and manage calls much more efficiently."
The Scopus system, implemented in October, 1993, helps the Response Center maintain a complete database of all support calls, including the time the call came in, when it was assigned, who serviced the call, the activities that were completed, and the time it was closed - thereby establishing a comprehensive way to manage all service requests. As a result of implementing SupportTEAM, the group reduced its average service time per call from 11 minutes to seven minutes, most of which is spent in quality time dealing with the customer's problem."Before we installed SupportTEAM, much of the time we spent with customers on the phone was devoted to tracking down the status of a service request they had previously logged," Waggener explains. "Now, we spend less than five seconds calling up that information from the database, and the remainder of the call can be devoted to higher-level problem-solving. We've experienced an 80 percent reduction in administrative time per call."
Choosing a Help Desk System Llewelyn and Waggener recall the search for a Help Desk solution vividly. The process began by identifying three key requirements for the company's support tracking system. First and foremost, the system had to be interoperable across the major hardware platforms Computer Systems Group technicians and managers used: Windows-based PCs, Apple Macintoshes, and UNIX systems from Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard. These platforms are utilized throughout Sybase's worldwide offices, and are mirrored in the support organization. Secondly, the new support system would have to leverage the capabilities of Sybase's advanced SQL Server relational database management system.
"We wanted a system that exploited SQL Server to the fullest extent," says Waggener. "That means it had to be robust enough to handle thousands of calls with split-second speeds, using SQL Server's high-performance engine and on-line transaction processing capabilities. Beyond this, the system needed to be easily customized, because at our rate of growth, we knew we'd be needing constant changes and updates." After evaluating four leading support management products, Sybase managers chose SupportTEAM because it was the only system that met all of the company's requirements and that demonstrated the scalability needed to take the company into the 21st century. At its current pace, the company could grow to more than 10,000 employees worldwide by the year 2000.
Customer Confidence with SupportTEAM
Today, Sybase's SupportTEAM-based system delivers all the accuracy and accountability missing from the company's old paper and electronic mail system. The system resides on a Sun Microsystems' SPARC 10 server that is accessible to all 140 service professionals and thousands of Sybase employees through the company's TCP/IP network. Each day, Scopus SupportTEAM leverages a Sybase SQL Server DBMS to handle hundreds of service and status request calls from Sybase's 36 domestic offices and from service providers in Europe. Sybase "customers" can request help for a variety of needs - from a new light bulb to an emergency backup system for a computer that has gone down - by calling the Response Center, sending an electronic mail request, or logging directly into the SupportTEAM system from their UNIX, PC, or Macintosh systems. In the case of phone requests, Response Center employees log the call into SupportTEAM manually.
Electronic mail requests, meanwhile, are automatically converted into SupportTEAM cases and logged into the database. In each case, Response Center specialists perform a "triage" operation on the request: if it's an emergency or something they can easily handle right on the "front line," they take on the request for themselves; if not, they assign the request to the appropriate service department. SupportTEAM generates a case tracking number, the name of the service provider the case has been assigned to, the case's priority, and an estimated date of completion. This data is fed back to both the service provider and the customer via phone, electronic mail, or SupportTEAM's online interface.
Any time customers want to check on the status of their service requests, they can simply enter their case number into the ProTEAM system, or send an electronic mail requesting status. On average, the system services 75 such requests each hour, most of them entirely without the involvement of Response Center personnel. "We actually service a smaller percentage of status request calls now than ever before," said Waggener. "This is partly because the very existence of a case number and an estimated date of completion gives our customers confidence that their problem is acknowledged and that it will be handled.
This, plus the ease of using the system, has improved customer confidence and satisfaction throughout the company one hundred percent."For the future, the company plans to extend access to the system to more users in Europe by implementing a replicated database server there, and to expand system access to offices in Latin America and Asia. In addition, Llewelyn and Waggener plan to leverage InformTEAM extensions to SupportTEAM to implement enhanced notifications and automatic escalation of service and status requests.