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Article & Video: BusinessWeek on “Customer Service Champions”

Of interest is this video clip from BusinessWeek on “Customer Service Champions” from their report earlier in the year, a ranking of the top companies that put the customer first. 


On tap in the report is a look at how the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain (number 11 on BW’s list) focuses on service values and how to engage the customer.



Video still“From hotel chains to retailers, BusinessWeek reveals the companies that do the best job of catering to you. We’ll take a closer look at a luxury hotel company that made the list and show you how it’s taking personalized service one step beyond.”


“In BusinessWeek’s first-ever ranking of the best providers of customer service, we set out to find the service champions, but also to dig into the techniques, strategies, and tools they use to make the customer king. To launch the process, we created a list based largely on brands in J.D. Power & Associates’ database. In addition, we polled 3,000 of our readers, generating a pool of names most associated with treating customers well. We then asked J.D. Power, which, like BusinessWeek, is owned by The McGraw-Hill Companies, to survey customers about the brands that were nominated by readers but not already in its database.”


In BusinessWeek’s top ten…



  1. USAA Insurance

  2. Four Seasons Hotels

  3. Cadillac

  4. Nordstrom

  5. Wegmans Food Markets

  6. Edward Jones

  7. Lexus

  8. UPS

  9. Enterprise Rent-a-Car

  10. Starbucks 

What makes a customer service chapion? BusinessWeek says that it’s a combination of great people, great products and great execution.


Of interst: Apple is #18: “Despite frustration about iPod battery replacements, Apple’s customer service phone support ranks tops among electronics providers. In particular, customers rate its automated phone system as easy to navigate and good at resolving questions.”

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$25,000 Home Office Makeover courtesy of Vern Yip, Microsoft and HP

From the I-reall-need-to-find-thestuff-in-my-home-office-piles-of-paperwork, Vern Yip of Trading Spaces fame is teaming up with Microsoft and HP for a contest to set things right…



“Tell us about your home office and you might win a makeover from Vern Yip, Microsoft and HP. The grand prize winner will receive a home office makeover and technology prize package valued at $25,000. See Prizes for details on the grand prize and prizes for the three finalists.


 


“Enter before July 4, 2007. See Rules for complete details.



http://www.microsoft.com/office/makeover/default.aspx


 


“In 250 words or less describe how a Microsoft Home Office Makeover will create an overall positive change in your personal and/or business life. Submit one photograph showing the entrant in the home office space that needs the Microsoft home office makeover.”


If you’re bold enough, you can also submit a video clip highlighting the space that should be (or was) your your home office in need of a makeover.


 


BTW, employees of Microsoft and various sponsors and agencies are NOT eligible 😉 nor are immediate family members. So call your cousins and neighbours.



http://homeofficeentry.com/makeover/submission_form.aspx


 

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Accenture Study: Lots of Customer Service Problems in Consumer Technology

Accenture notes in their recent study that a significant majority (73%) of customers who receive “average” customer service are at risk to take their business elsewhere, and that the efforts to provide self-help and automated service systems aren’t successful with a majority of consumers.


“Too many of these companies fail to realize the dire long-term repercussions of not making the proper investments in customer service, including missing out on millions of dollars in business opportunities,” said Brett Anderson, managing director for Customer Relationship Management in Accenture’s Communications & High Tech Practice.  “This is a wake-up call that customer service should no longer be relegated to a mere instrument for extracting costs out of the business. Instead, this service should be a powerful and crucial investment target for accelerating full-throttle toward delivering high performance.”

As noted, Accenture surveyed 1,200 technology consumers around the world and interviewed senior execs at major consumer technology companies.


And woe is the company with customers that have a “below average” customer experience: Accenture found that 81% of these customers said they “will purchase from a different supplier the next time.”



“With so many technology products on a natural path to commoditization, technology companies need to use customer service to differentiate themselves from competitors,” Anderson said.


The report also outlined something we see happening in the industry, that the voice of a single customer can have a ripple effect throughout a company’s customer base, thanks to the power of the Internet, blogs and word of mouth.


According to the Accenture reports, there were several take-aways that companies should note when they think about their strategies to address poor customer service, including…



  • More than four in 10 customers surveyed (42 percent) said they had to access customer-service channels multiple times to resolve their problems.

  • More than six in 10 customers surveyed (61 percent) said they believe that technology has not improved customer service.

  • The vast majority of consumers—78 percent—said the service they receive is “at or below” the level competitors offer.

  • Companies are wasting millions of dollars on customer-service initiatives that customers don’t view as important, particularly self-service capabilities.  

From your questions: “where can I find the Accenture study you wrote about?


To access the research findings, go to www.accenture.com/customersupport.

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TechNet article: Mark Russinovich on Windows Vista User Account Control

I’ve received several mails asking for more info on User Account Control (UAC) since my last blog entry on Windows Vista UAC.


Mark Russinovich from our group has a new article on TechNet, “Inside Windows Vista User Account Control” from the June 2007 issue of TechNet Magazine. Mark explains in depth the architecture UAC, how its used and the benefits to users and administrators…



“Running as standard user has numerous benefits, including helping to protect systems from accidental or deliberate damage and protecting the data and integrity of users sharing a system from unauthorized access. UAC’s various changes and technologies will result in a major shift in the Windows usage model. With Windows Vista, Windows users can for the first time perform most daily tasks and run most software using standard user rights, and many corporations can now deploy standard user accounts.”


I learned more about UAC in this one session than I have to date in my work with Vista, particularly in explaining how UAC provides easy access to administrative rights. Certainly worth the time to read and reference. 


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Of interest: Windows Home Server release candidate released

A quick note of interest… the Windows Home Server team released their release candidate publicly this week (see the blogs entry on this milestone here). 



Home Server is the term I use personally… although more appropriate seems to be the “personal server.” I’ve used the Mirra Personal Server (now Seagate) as launched by an old friend’s company and found it to be easy-to-use and manage. Such systems are great for data file management and backup in the home, as well as for small businesses. My opionion is that for regular network backup and for sharing content across the network (and when configured correctly, via the Internet securely), a personal server makes it easier. For this category to be successful, it needs to be easy to use and configure, well supported by the manufacturer, and reasonably priced.


An example of how this works in a real home? This from the Home Server blog…



“What I found most interesting is how Home Server is helping them with their two home-based businesses, a video production company (Jeff) and a corporate gift basket and commercial packaging biz (Denise.)  Video takes up lots ‘o space, as we all know.  Home Server’s storage helps Jeff consolidate it all in one place…no more drive letter/external drive/CD insanity.  And he really values how he can easily add more space as he needs it.  Backup saved his bacon the other day, too.  A video project got corrupted, but he simply restored it from a Home Server backup.  “I lost 30 minutes instead of, perhaps, a client.”