Just as Sabermetrics is utilized by baseball front offices to gain a competitive advantage, explore just how metric-driven Datamax is; and how we showcase our service responsiveness and strength by constantly measuring powerful metrics.
America’s national pastime today is a game more and more driven by analytics.
Sabermetrics is described as the empirical analysis of baseball through statistics, used to predict the performance of players. Simple box-score elements like hits, runs and errors have given way to stats like WAR (wins above replacement), BABIP (batting average on balls in play), ISO (isolated power) and DIPS (defense-independent pitching statistics). In today’s “scouts” vs. “stats” era, these exhaustive numbers go beyond what a scout’s gut may say, to actually predicting level of success.
There’s real power in numbers. In business, metrics provide much more substance than overwrought advertising clichés or hollow guarantees. They have tangible, predictable value on what your organization can expect moving forward.
In terms of service, what are your technology partner’s performance numbers? Are they batting a good average?
Copier Service Sabermetrics: Three Questions You should be asking Yourself:
1. Do you know your (Technology Partner’s) numbers?
It’s something you should ask.
The “blah blah blah” doesn’t work in today’s data-driven world. You know the type… “we deliver great customers.” “Our team is highly trained.” Entering into a service agreement without metrics to back up guarantees is like going to bat without a helmet on. The result? More often than not, it can mean extended downtime and collective panic from your team. Your copier, after all, is the backbone of your daily workflow and an integral component to efficiency.
You should know – without hesitation – that a technician will be onsite within a given time frame, and provide resolution within a certain amount of time. Protect your employees. Secure your productivity moving forward.
2. What numbers should you be asking for?
In short, you should ask for numbers that matter most to you. If it’s not relevant to the customer, it doesn’t matter.
Datamax understood that reasoning well. After conducting a double blind survey of both customers and prospects, we found that the top three customer “wants” were (not surprisingly):
- They want us to resolve their issues quickly.
- They want high speed response to their support/service requests.
- They want their equipment repaired on the first visit.
With that understanding, three recommended metrics to absolutely seek are Response Time, Response + Resolution Time and First Call Completion Rate. Rapid service call responsiveness (Response Time) is certainly a key indicator of potential downtime for your device, but Response + Resolution is a powerful metric for how well your service team executes on the field.
- Response Time: Responding quickly to customers "is" the foundation of great customer service. Business interruptions and disruptions are costly, annoying, and painful. A copier service provider who can’t address and then accurately interpret service requests intelligently and with speed has little value.
- Response + Resolution Time: Speed without ability is of little value. Ability without the right target is pretty much the same. This is where a considerable investment into the training of service and support delivery teams can be a crucial element in deciding on your next technology partner.
- First Call Completion Rate: Achieving service success, especially on the first visit, relies on aligning the right resources at the right place at the right time with the right parts and know-how.
3. Are these numbers being watched? Improved upon?
Much like in baseball, where teams are filling their staff with data heads for digging further into the analytical side of the game, metrics are not a stale entity. They’re a living, breathing thing that can swing two directions over time.
A few elements that indicate a technology vendor’s commitment to service performance are:
- Proactive Communication: When you call for service, are you even speaking to a live person, at a local location? Can you expect proactive calls just to check in, to follow up and ensure that you are up and running?
- Parts availability: Do your technicians have the right parts in their vehicle PRIOR to dispatch? Or is it going to require a second visit because the right part is back at the office?
- Remote Device Management: Device-embedded tools can allow for the remote monitoring of your device, anticipating future service needs, automating tasks like toner replenishment and meter readings, and also give technicians direct access to device service data PRIOR to dispatch.
There's power in numbers. Have you seen our's? Just as Sabermetrics is utilized by baseball front offices to gain a competitive advantage, explore just how metric-driven Datamax is; and how we showcase our service responsiveness and strength by constantly measuring powerful metrics. We call it our Datamax Service Response Quadrant!
