Stephen Lynn

What Does it Take to Provide Superior Customer Service

I recently read a blog post on Why Small Companies Are Better at Customer Service by Anthony Tjan. In his post Tony points out, “The key difference in these experiences is the common sense and empathy of the small local company. Too much customer service — especially in large companies — has devolved to standard operating procedures and scripted answers delivered with artificial calmness.” I agree that the key differences Tony points out are critical, but they wouldn’t completely explain why companies provide good or bad customer service. It also...
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Permalink: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 5:21 PM
Posted by slynn | 0 Comments
Filed under Dovetail Software, customer service and support
Dovetail Software: Easy to Use - Ask our Customers

One of the reasons our customers move off of our competitors’ software is because it is easy to migrate from other solutions to Dovetail CRM. Our development staff thinks like customers, so they develop from the perspective of the customer, i.e., how to make their jobs easier. There is nothing like testimonials from our customers, so hear is our latest example . Thanks for the kind words David. Until Next Time, Stephen
Permalink: Monday, September 14, 2009 1:55 PM
Posted by slynn | 0 Comments
Filed under Dovetail Software, CRM, CRM software development, customer service and support
Value of Software Maintenance & Support

We pride ourselves on the value we provide our customers for maintenance and support, whether it is on our own software products, or on the Clarify software products we also support. I have written frequently about the level of service we provide, often citing customer examples to back up our claim. We are often asked by customers who are considering switching to our Clarify Help Desk Program why we are better than Amdocs. Here’s what we highlight - First, Dovetail charges considerably less than Amdocs charges for support. In tough economic times,...
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Permalink: Thursday, August 27, 2009 10:26 AM
Posted by slynn | 0 Comments
Filed under Dovetail Software, Clarify user, customer service and support
It's About Making the Customer Successful

We have been accused of providing consulting work for free and it is an accusation I am quite proud of. While we are certainly in business to make money, it isn’t all about getting every last dollar from your customers. Take care of your customers, make sure they are successful, and ultimately you will achieve financial success. That is the Dovetail way. We pride ourselves on this approach and I have previously mentioned some examples. But a recent situation was more than just responding to a customer’s request. It was proactive consulting - providing...
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Permalink: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 8:37 AM
Posted by slynn | 2 Comments
Filed under Dovetail Software, forgotten space, CRM, customer service and support
Is SaaS for Everyone?

I had previously written about The Risks Associated with SaaS . Now more on this subject from Michael Maoz, an analyst with Gartner. In his blog post, SaaS is Hype to Most of the World, Dear Western Cloud Watcher , Maoz writes about his conversations with business executives outside the Western world. These business executives asked some really tough questions about the benefits of SaaS and the TCO. “There were intense questions about the true total cost of ownership for complex installations. Simple/static activities like most of the activities...
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Permalink: Monday, August 03, 2009 3:27 PM
Posted by slynn | 1 Comments
Filed under CRM
So How Good is the Commitment of our Customer Support Personnel?

I love talking about Dovetail’s Customer Support. I know it comes off sounding self serving, but if your customer support personnel were as dedicated to the customers as ours are, you would brag about them also. And since I always say “Actions Speak Louder Than Words”, let me use another recent example to demonstrate the level of commitment of Dovetail’s customer service. A couple of weeks ago, one of our customer support personnel (he prefers that I not name him) was at the hospital as his wife was in labor and about to deliver their new son. It...
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Permalink: Monday, August 03, 2009 11:00 AM
Posted by slynn | 0 Comments
Filed under Dovetail Software, customer service and support
Jeremy Miller's latest article in MSDN Magazine

Jeremy Miller, Dovetail Software's chief software architect, is a regular author for MSDN magazine. In this month's magazine, Jeremy writes about Patterns in Practice . Take a read and let us know your thoughts on Jeremy’s article. Thanks Jeremy for taking your time to contribute to the technical community. Until Next Time, Stephen
Permalink: Friday, July 31, 2009 2:25 PM
Posted by slynn | 0 Comments
Filed under Dovetail Software, Agile Development
The Risks Associated with SaaS

People tend to follow trends, and certainly the trend towards SaaS is growing. There is a lot of positives associated with on-demand applications, no doubt, but just like other similarly “can’t miss” opportunities (such as Bernard Madoff or Allen Stanford for investments), companies need to be aware of the risks associated with SaaS. Some of these have been highlighted previously, such as losing control of your data, or the long-term costs associated with SaaS are often higher than perpetual licenses, but one that hasn’t got as much attention should...
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Permalink: Friday, June 26, 2009 10:28 AM
Posted by slynn | 1 Comments
Filed under CRM, customer service and support
Customer Survey – Don’t Ask Unless You Really Want to Know

I recently spent a week-end at the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas. It was a lovely week-end, the staff was fabulous, we had a great room, and the restaurant was superb. About a week after our stay I received an email from the hotel asking me to complete a survey about our stay. I completed the survey and told them about one problem we had at the hotel. I thought it was important for them to know, and I even filled out the section where it asked if I wanted someone to contact me so I could elaborate on the issue. This is where their customer service broke...
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Permalink: Thursday, June 18, 2009 4:46 PM
Posted by slynn | 3 Comments
Filed under customer service and support
Jeremy Miller Travels the World to Speak at Norwegian Developers Conference 2009

It wasn’t enough that Jeremy Miller, Dovetail Software’s chief software architect, has spent a lot of his time participating in the technical community in the United States; now, he has taken his knowledge overseas to Norway. Jeremy will be speaking at the Norwegian Developers Conference this week in Oslo. For those of you who live in that part of the world and can participate in the conference, you are lucky as the conference has a really interesting agenda and a great list of speakers. Thanks Jeremy for taking your time to spread your knowledge...
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Permalink: Monday, June 15, 2009 4:33 PM
Posted by slynn | 0 Comments
Filed under Dovetail Software, Agile Development, Agile

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