From owner-freebsd-chat Sun Jan 19 20:01:10 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) id UAA09222 for chat-outgoing; Sun, 19 Jan 1997 20:01:10 -0800 (PST) Received: from genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au [129.127.96.120]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) with ESMTP id UAA09217 for ; Sun, 19 Jan 1997 20:01:06 -0800 (PST) Received: (from msmith@localhost) by genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (8.8.2/8.7.3) id OAA28248; Mon, 20 Jan 1997 14:30:42 +1030 (CST) From: Michael Smith Message-Id: <199701200400.OAA28248@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Subject: Re: FreeBSD into larget corp. environment? In-Reply-To: <11447.853497856@time.cdrom.com> from "Jordan K. Hubbard" at "Jan 17, 97 02:44:16 am" To: jkh@time.cdrom.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 14:30:41 +1030 (CST) Cc: andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu, hasty@rah.star-gate.com, msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au, chat@FreeBSD.ORG X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL28 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-chat@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Jordan K. Hubbard stands accused of saying: > > So you think that the customer won't insist on talking to a human > being as an initial contact? I guess I really don't have a good feel > for how customers regard email as an effective support tool these > days. I think that many customers (not necessarily all) would find email support quite acceptable, however others will insist on phone contact. The biggest problem with email support these days is that many smaller companies use it as a technique for _avoiding_ support issues. Of the dozen or so companies that I've interacted with in this fashion, I've met very widely varied results. For eg., Globetrotter (FlexLM etc.) have been very helpful, always getting back in < 24h with useful answers, despite the fact that I haven't spent any money with them, and have made it clear that I won't be for some time, if at all. At the opposite end of the scale, try Research Systems Inc., who take their cue from the FBI; "deny, deny, counter-allege". They take days or weeks to respond, and their responses are usually unhelpful, regardless of the fact that we're one of their larger Australian customers and are pushing their product into places it's never been before. I think that email support can be cost-effective and efficient, and the availabilty of a web-based form for submitting problem reports would be a big plus, but in some cases and with some clients there will _have_ to be a voice behind a phone. > If they're comfortable with the idea of just sending a message > into the void and expecting some sort of timely response back from us, > well, I guess I certainly won't argue. I'm just not entirely certain > of that latter point. That sort of comfort can be taught, and should be encouraged. > Jordan -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control. (ph) +61-8-8267-3493 [[ ]] Unix hardware collector. "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick [[