Part III – Waiting for the bell to ring? Not us.
In the second post of this series, ‘Pressure Testing the Pillars of Customer Success’, Syncron’s Chief Customer Officer, David Reiling, provided a detailed perspective on how Syncron’s Customer Success pillars of, (1) delivering on a customer centric mission of value, (2) building and maintaining an expertise based organization, (3) delivering world class services and support, and (4) enabling an external ecosystem guided interactions with customers and mobilized new ways of serving customers over these past six months.
In the final installment of this series David wraps up with his perspectives on what the teams have learned and of those lessons, what will continue to be applied to the business long after the global pandemic is over.
Question: Was there anything surprising to you about Syncron’s Customer Success organization during this time?
Answer: I was absolutely blown away by the commitment and the speed at which the organization pivoted to new working styles. Not only were they responding to an altered set of customer needs and value, but they were also responding to an altered way of delivering and collaborating. Would there be risk in decision making? Would they slow down? NONE of that happened. We delivered on new implementations and consulting engagements 100% virtually, responded to support requests around the globe and continued measuring business value through our customer success managers. In my opinion, the Syncron team demonstrated unbelievable spirit and commitment to delivering for our customers.
Question: Was there anything surprising to you about Syncron’s customers during this time?
Answer: Manufacturing was arguably one of the most impacted and visible industries brought to paralyzing halt in the initial days and weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cash was king, and there was that very human reaction to nearly ‘shelter in place’. However, I was inspired and impressed with how quickly our customers shed that attitude, and in our space, we have customers that serve the needs of manufactures, and they quickly recovered and remained fairly robust. With our customers it was really the speed that they reacted and their willingness to solve very complex business challenges – in some cases by leveraging their Syncron solutions in creative ways.
Question: Are there any unexpected lessons or skills that your team learned during this time that you plan on applying to the business moving forward?
Answer: Yes. We’ve really become experts in digital delivery models. Previously, in any given project, we delivered about 80% of our implementations virtually with 20% onsite. Because that face-to-face interaction was no longer an option, we were forced to find new innovative ways to deliver while still maintaining a high-level of service quality and completing projects on time. To do this effectively we further invested in our e-learning capabilities, online collaboration tools and other digital technologies to ensure our customers were receiving the same level of value from their Syncron solutions whether we are onsite or virtual. The highly interactive and critical interactions during the design workshops is an area I was skeptical we could pivot to digital delivery, but we and the customers did effectively. In fact, our teams were recently recognized in the Annual Network Product Guides 2020 IT World Awards® for our implementation capabilities. While we always enjoy being face-to-face with our customers, I do believe our increased strength in this delivery model will be a valuable option for our customers, new and existing.
Question: What do you want all Syncron customers to know about the Syncron Customer Success team?
Answer: I’d like our customers to know the four guiding pillars really are what drives our interactions with customers. It is what motivates us every day and we want to know if we’re delivering on them. The commitment and the dedication that the team does on behalf of those pillars, especially during this time, is not just a job, our teams truly recognize the business outcomes and value they can deliver.
Question: What are you looking forward to into the future?
Answer: In general, trending back to normalcy. Circumstances like these, if you’re not caught on your heels, give you an opportunity to make some changes and some tweaks that will increase productivity and ingenuity. I ask myself how do we get back on the springboard even faster? At Syncron, we’re not going to sit here and wait for the bell to ring. We’re constantly improving and innovating and know we’re prepared to deliver value for our customers at even higher levels than before.
If you missed the first or second part of this series, ‘Pressure Testing the Four Pillars of Syncron Customer Success’. You can access them here:
- Part I: This is Different, Time to Listen and Relearn
- Part II: Pivoting to Focus on What Matters Right Now
If you have additional thoughts or experiences to share, please connect with David Reiling directly on LinkedIn or share your thoughts via email.