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It’s all about the customer: we have plenty of room to improve

This week I am blogging from the lovely pacific northwest, from our meeting off-campus with our teams from around the world focused on customer and partner satisfaction. I partner with Toby Richards from our Sales & Marketing Services Group on how we listen and respond to out customers and focus on improving our satisfaction across the board. Internally, we call this the Customer and Partner Experience (CPE) effort, and I focus on supporting the efforts in our three product divisions, across all of our product lines.


On the topic, Eric Lai from Computerworld has an article this week that takes a look at our effort to dedicated to improving customer satisfaction.



“According to its surveys, that strategy has borne fruit, says the company.


“We have plenty of room to improve, but overall satisfaction is at their highest levels ever,” said Toby Richards, general manager for worldwide customer experience at Microsoft in an interview Monday.


“For instance, Richards says that Microsoft’s decision to repeatedly delay the release of Windows Vista in order to tighten up its security and features was heavily influenced by survey results that showed customers asking for greater “product stability and reliability,” Richards said.”


As noted, we created the CPE effort to be a nimble, cross-group team, lead by exec partners Kathleen Hogan (worldwide customer support and services), and my boss, Jon DeVaan, who leads the Core Operating System Division in Windows. We work to continuously improve and drive improving the experience for our customers and partners every day, and on the things we do that impact our customes and partners.


But it’s a continuous journey, as I’ve heard our senior execs say.


We are dedicated to improving our “listen and respond” systems, our product quality and overall security & privacy (which are closely intertwined), as well as how we handle and reacts to issues such as the changes to daylight saving time.


Tags: Microsoft, loyalty, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service.


Also available via http://bit.ly/8fcF3

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Customers with Vista beta and RC: Preview versions expire on May 31, 2007

As Nick posted on the Windows Vista blog last month, the Vista beta and RC preview versions will expire on May 31, 2007.



“On 31 May 2007, all Customer Preview Program (CPP) pre-release versions of Windows Vista will expire.  If you are running a pre-release version of Windows Vista (Beta 2, RC1 or RC2), you will begin to receive warning notifications about the upcoming expiration on 18 May.  To avoid work disruption and loss of data, we strongly recommend that customers running any of these pre-release versions of Windows Vista migrate their PCs to the final version of Windows Vista prior to 31 May.


“For more information on migrating away from CPP versions, please go to http://www.windowsvista.com/preview.mspx.  We’ve included below a listing of frequently asked questions to help those of you still running a pre-release version of Windows Vista on your PCs to get started.”


For more info, please see Nick’s post – there is also a comprehensive FAQ included. 


Added May 13: Also, keep in mind that if you have one of these trial versions of Vista installed, you’ll have until August 28 to back up any important data from your PC.


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A last migration to Vista, starting with Windows Easy Transfer

What a week. There are so many things going on at the office right now, with a number of meetings and reviews, and we’re just about to kick off a set of meetings to discuss (the continuing efforts of) how we can improve upon satisfying our customers and partners. (hello to all who are making the trip… dress for cool but sunny spring weather.) More on that next week.


Tonight after spending a rousing evening with 22 eight and nine year olds at my son’s ninth birthday party (at a local “Inflatable Party Zone“) and finally getting our boys to wind down, I began the migration of one of my last Windows XP machines at home to Windows Vista. As I ran Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor previously, I downlaoded and installed Windows Easy Transfer for Windows XP, a utility that helps move the files and settings on your current Windows XP (or even for PCs running Windows 2000 or Vista) to your new Windows Vista PC.



“Download Windows Easy Transfer for your Windows XP-based PC so you can automatically copy your files, photos, music, e-mail, settings, and more to your new Windows Vista based PC. This software enables you to transfer data with Easy Transfer Cables or across a network, external drive, or CD/DVD.” 


My plan is to use Windows Easy Transfer to copy the data to an external drive and then move it to my new computer.


Interestingly enough, after downloading the app, I noticed the following…



What Others Are Downloading



What I found interesting was that the Windows Easy Transfer Companion (Beta) wasn’t listed as a recommended programme on the Windows Easy Transfer download page. When you download this beta app, you’re pointed to “Windows Easy Transfer for Windows XP” as something that others downloaded. Windows Easy Transfer Companion helps transfer programs from a Windows XP PC to a new PC running Windows Vista. Programs can be transferred with an Easy Transfer Cable or over a network connection (I’ll use the latter, as I have a cross-over Ethernet cable handy).


Now it’s off to run the apps on this machine.

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Customer Satisfaction Breakdown: JetBlue’s David Neeleman is out

I read today on inc.com that jetblue’s founder is stepping down as CEO.



“David Neeleman, founder of embattled low-cost airline JetBlue, is being replaced as CEO, company directors announced Thursday.”


Sad, as Neeleman has been a poster child for great customer servcie and attention: he flew his own airline regularly to get a sense of the service. That was until the massive issues in February, when jetblue took the brunt of a major snowstorm: thousands of jetblue customers suffered while stranded during a major snowstorm that hit the northeastern states. jetblue took out ads in order to apologize to their customers, put out a heart-felt video on YouTube (plus this collection of clips on YouTube) and even penned a customer bill of rights to address the issue. (jetblue’s Bill Of Rights in pdf)


Wired saw this coming when they dropped jetblue off the Wired 40 earlier this year. But I still enjoy the approach with comfortable seats, sat TV and great service… when the weather cooperates.


 

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MTV Networks on the SharePoint Customer Evidence Site

This from Kristian Kimbro Rickard’s blog on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (aka MOSS)…



SharePoint Customer Evidence Site (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA102066081033.aspx)


“Need some customer evidence to share with your customers about what our customers are doing with SharePoint? Here’s a site that consolidates everything. Great ones for Enterprise Search, MOSS 2007 for ECM, MOSS 2007 for automating business processes, etc.”  


On the site you can read about how companies from ACNielsen and AXA, to Johnson & Johnson and Mary Kay are using MOSS. 


In one example, you can read how MTV Networks uses MOSS 2007 to automate “a paper-based process for new employees… a collaboration site for project management… [and] used the business intelligence capabilities of Office SharePoint Server 2007 to create a dashboard that provides enriched analytics on application metrics, saving six hours a week with an automated data submission process.”


(see http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=201102