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“Exceeding Client Expectations of I.T.” If you have read any of my previous articles, you know by now that I believe that an I.T. Organization should be managed as a business. Successful businesses need satisfied clients to survive. The same is true for successful I.T. Organizations. If you are not delivering exceptional service to your clients, they will look elsewhere, and you will soon be out of business. As an I.T. Leader, you need to make sure that every decision that you make takes into account how it will affect your clients. When an I.T. Organization fails to satisfy its clients, it leads to the following: · The creation of “shadow I.T.” groups within the business segments · Business Partners looking to Vendors as the more credible authority on what should be done with regard to Information Technology decisions · Clients circumventing all established processes in an attempt to avoid using the I.T. Organization · Disengagement of I.T. and its relationship with the business segments These are just a few of the more significant items that occur when an I.T. Organization fails to satisfy its clients. This scenario basically creates such chaos within the company that the ultimate solution is to blow it up and start over- usually with new leaders. An I.T. Organization that does not satisfy or exceed its clients’ expectations may be able to limp along for a short period of time, but they will always inevitably FAIL. A happy client is your best advocate. I.T. Organizations need to be committed to delivering exceptional customer service to its clients. I believe that there are 3 actions that Technology Leader must take to demonstrate their commitment to their clients. These actions are as follows: 1. Understand the needs of the client 2. Demonstrate true respect for the client 3. Communicate and Deliver solutions that exceed the expectations of the client Understand the Needs of the Client Take every opportunity to communicate with your client base. Discover what their goals are and the role that you can play in assisting the client in reaching them. You must clearly understand the needs of your client. Listen to them carefully, and actively question/clarify what they are saying. Demonstrate to your client that you are genuinely interested in their opinions and that you care. When attempting to understand your client, look for the hidden issues. Many times what they say is very different from what they mean. For example, your client may express total frustration with your Help Desk, but in reality their issue may be that the 2nd level support group that the Help Desk properly forwarded the problem to has been less than responsive in resolving the issue. You would only find this out through additional questioning. Either way you have an unsatisfied client, but now you know where the root of the issue is and you can begin addressing it. As you are communicating with your client, find out exactly what their expectations are. If your client is vague in their responses, you must work with them to clarify. For instance, they may say that they expect I.T. to be helpful. This is very subjective and needs to be expanded upon. I would bet that if I asked 20 people to define what “helpful” means to them, I would get 20 different answers. Without a clear understanding of what “helpful” looks like, it will be very difficult for you (and others) to determine whether the expectation has been reached. Help the client clearly define their criteria in objective terms that can be quantifiably measured. Once you have agreed upon the criteria for success and measurable expectations (metrics), establish regularly scheduled meetings with your clients to review the metrics and address any concerns that have arisen since the last meeting. When it comes to conducting these meetings to review the metrics, you review all of the metrics regardless of how they look. You should NOT under any circumstances attempt to gloss over or hide any unfavorable performance with regard to a specific metric. If you choose to take this path, you will lose all of the credibility that you initially attained by creating the metrics. Rather than gloss over unfavorable results with your clients, attack them head on and give them more attention with your clients than you do the favorable metrics. This demonstrates that you are actively interested in engaging with your client, and are well aware of the areas that you need to improve upon to reach full client satisfaction. Demonstrating True Respect for your Client When it comes to your client, you need to approach your job as a Technology Leader just as a sales person that wants repeat customers would. You need to feel and demonstrate that your Client is your livelihood. You have to have a sincere belief that your client is important and your goal is total client satisfaction. An insincere approach will be recognized immediately and you will fail. Communicating and Delivering Solutions that Exceed the Expectations of the Client Effective and frequent communication is vital to successful a I.T. Organization. Engage your clients in the I.T. process and obtain their feedback. Allow the client to become an advocate for I.T. rather than a barrier. As a leader, you can only succeed through working WITH your client in establishing the criteria for success. Once you understand what will make you successful from your client’s point of view, you can focus your organization’s efforts on meeting or better yet, exceeding the expectations of the client.
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