Customer Service in Hosting, Part 1: the Expectation of Service

Editor’s Note: With this post, our Director of Managed Services, Jim Tricarico, kicks off a three-part series on customer service in the hosting industry with a post about customer service from the hosting side. Check back in coming weeks for posts on the meaning of “supported” software and applications and the five things to always remember when submitting a support ticket.

Customer service is a tricky thing. Customers often judge the quality of care they receive based on how little they interact with a service representative. They often think that the quicker their problem is resolved, the better care they must be receiving—and, conversely, that they must be experiencing bad customer service when it takes more than a few hours to bring up a site that has gone down.

The truth may surprise you: often it’s the calls that take hours—or even days—that show you when your customer service team is giving you the best they possibly can. Let me explain, and in the process maybe shed a little light on how customer service in the hosting industry works.

To begin with, here’s a hard truth: sometimes our customers’ problems are so far outside the scope of our normal activities that there’s nothing we can do but say sorry and point them someplace else. For example, as odd as it may seem, more than once we’ve gotten requests from customers to help them troubleshoot the speed of their home Internet connection!

Pointing those customers in a different direction for their answers is easy because it’s clearly the best way to get them a quick solution. The gray area is when customers ask us to troubleshoot third-party software they’ve installed themselves, but can’t get adequate support for from the manufacturer. When these situations come up we try our best, but — well, maybe an example will help illustrate the difficulty of the situation.

I remember a customer whose site kept crashing. He was using a piece of software we didn’t officially support—and the sum total of the help he received from the software manufacturer was, “It’s not our fault, call your host.” We didn’t see the cause right away, but we agreed to work with the customer to troubleshoot the issue and spent a week peeling back one symptom at a time until the root cause was identified. In the end, this ticket took seven days to close out and had a total of 147 comments in it between our MST and the customer and from one tech to another. And yet, because this customer’s foremost concern was simply how long it was taking to fix the problem, he complained loudly about the customer support he had received.

Now, in this example we could have—and maybe we should have—spent more time explaining the causes of his site crashes and all the incremental steps we were taking to solve each one, but this is a delicate balancing act. Some customers want to know everything that is going on all the time, while others just want it fixed. Knowing how much a customer wants to hear when the problem is not yet solved can be tricky in the heat of the moment.

Make no mistake, there are incompetent and lazy hosts out there who run slipshod customer service operations. But you won’t find them by simply looking at how long it takes for them to “fix” your problem. If they’re continually trying new solutions and eliminating possible causes, they are doing exactly what they should be doing.

If you want to know if your hosts’ customer service is superior, ask yourself these questions:

1. How many questions do they ask me when I have a problem? (The more the better.)
2. Am I asking them to fix something that is completely out of their scope of support: unsupported software, issues with connectivity outside of the host’s network, etc? (Have realistic expectations about what your host can and will help you with.)
3. Are they willing to at least look at my problem whether or not all of my applications are “supported software?” (A good host will acknowledge that there’s often no way to know the cause unless they’re willing to at least take a look.)
4. If I ask, do they try to explain why something happened so that I can prevent it myself in the future? (A wise and valuable trait in superior customer service operations.)
5. Have they ever simply told me they can’t figure it out and I’m on my own? (If they said this regarding “supported” software, it’s time to look for a new host.)

Photo by Jeremiah Ro

What exactly is “Managed Hosting”?

Sometimes, as industries evolve, they spawn new jargon that only means something if you’re inside the industry. To outsiders — even potential customers — these turns of phrase can seem confusing at best, and downright mysterious at worst.

So it is with the term “managed hosting.” Search the web for a definition, and you’ll get 10 different answers from 10 different companies. As ServInt’s Director of Managed Services, I want to take a minute to explain what managed hosting means to us. You may find that our definition is more expansive than those offered by our competitors.

Let me start with a pet peeve of mine. It really bugs me when web hosting companies use the terms “support” and “management” as though they were the same thing. They are not.

Support is reactive. It’s what you provide when things go wrong. It’s important, but if your goal is to achieve maximum uptime, support alone doesn’t help much — because it doesn’t avert catastrophe; it simply restores order when things go wrong.

Management — and, by extension, managed hosting — is proactive. It avoids problems. Here are some specifics from our to-do list at ServInt:  we provide compatibility checks; custom requirement analyses and one-on-one product and platform consultations; custom software installations; port, service and system monitoring; OS system patches and upgrades; and personalized technical advice and assistance. In other words, we don’t just support our customers when things go wrong; we manage the hosting of their sites to try and prevent things from going wrong in the first place.

Web hosting is a service industry. There may be lots of technology behind the solutions hosting companies offer, but the service they provide is what really differentiates their solutions. That’s why you see company after company touting their level of customer service as “heroic,” “fanatical,” “stupendous,” and so forth. Service sells! All I can say is: ask questions. Make sure that when they say “service,” they mean proactive management — not just support — of your online business.

One last thing: to get the most out of your relationship with your managed hosting service provider, stay close to them. Let them know when you’re expecting spikes or surges in traffic, or when you plan to launch a new app on your site. Inform them when you roll out a killer marketing plan, or when your site’s “high season” is about to begin. That kind of information will help them help you.

 

Photo by Karen Eliot

Introducing Jim Tricarico, ServInt’s New Director of Managed Services

[Editor's Note: ServInt cast a wide net when looking to fill this role. We received hundreds of resumes and interviewed dozens of exceptionally qualified candidates. We were looking for individuals who were committed to -- and possibly a little obsessed with -- exceptional customer service. I therefore shouldn't have been that surprised when an employee from within our ranks rose to to the top of the pack and convinced us that he was the right man for the job. Jim is a veteran of our Managed Services Team and he easily stood out with his keen understanding of the day to day challenges facing our NOC. With his terrific analytical mind and wealth of ideas to further improve the division, I'm ecstatic that Jim is taking the reins of our MST and look forward to his leadership. -Christian]

I’ve been a computer enthusiast for a really, really long time. I started tinkering with hardware as a child, and by the time I was 14 I was running my own bulletin board, my interests continued on to more complex projects in highschool and college that eventually led me to ServInt. So, I think it’s fair to say that I’m passionate about technology, and as that technology has grown more and more complex over time, so have my personal technological interests.

As ServInt’s new Director of Managed Services, my job is to make our support even better. Here, in story form, is how I’m gonna do it.

I’ve been at ServInt for nearly 6 years, starting as a Tier 1 Support Technician on the front lines of our Managed Services Team. It was there that I got my first taste of the hosting experience. Diving headfirst into UNIX and trying to fix what were sometimes incredibly ambiguous quirks was  appealing to me. Needless to say, no two challenges are alike, and helping people overcome technical problems and get back to making their businesses thrive was – and still is – an incredibly rewarding experience.

While the challenge is definitely invigorating, what’s really important is ensuring that our support experience is as pleasant a process as possible for everyone. When it comes to your business, we get that there is no such thing as a small problem. Our clients come in at all skill levels, from hosting novice to server expert. Whether you’re capable of compiling a Linux kernel with a toothpick and chewing gum, or your an aspiring blogger trying to tell your story, our Managed Services Team will help you get up and running.

The ServInt MST is committed to tackling issues as quickly and as effectively as possible. At ServInt, we do everything we can to get it right the first time because for us we take service personally. Overcoming intricate issues is part of our collective DNA.

At the end of the day, my goal is to simply uphold the core tenets of our Managed Services Team.  Our job is to ensure every customer experience is efficient, fast, and most importantly, accurate. So sit back and relax, your server is up and running.

~ Jim