Client Success
Stories
We Do,
Stories Speak
Client success stories provide insights into how Kepner-Tregoe consulting and training services resulted in measurable improvements in targeted KPIs.
Client success stories are organized by industry, but many are relevant across industries because they illustrate dramatic results based on the application of analytic thinking to the problems, plans and decisions made by individuals and teams in our increasingly digitized and changing business environment.
When Customer Satisfaction is at the Heart and Soul of a Company
Challenge
Cisco sales, customer standards, and expectations continued to rise after the collapse of the dot com bubble. “When markets are down, you need to focus attention on people,” says Frank Van Steenwinkel, director of technical support. “Training is key. So while other companies cut down on staff, we believe training is a strategic component to raising the bar to differentiate us from our competitors.” Most of the complex issues handled by TAC have never been observed before and many must be handled with urgency since each minute of network downtime is expensive. He sought a program that could meet these challenges and provide a significant performance boost.
Result
KT Resolve’s critical thinking-based approach helped TAC engineers rapidly resolve unique, complex problems. Customer service backlogs fell from 80 to 20 per month, reducing stress and increasing job satisfaction. Average solution time plummeted 58% helping EMEA TAC to record the highest increase in post-sales support satisfaction among Cisco TACs worldwide. Average customer service case backlogs fell from 80 to 20 per month.
KT for Highly Technical Support
Challenge
IBM BSL supports a highly technical client base that is more likely to report more complex problems than those raised in other technical support environments. While there had been some limited KT Resolve training, training needed to be expanded and properly supported. The challenge for IBM BSL was that KT Resolve “should be how we do what we do.” The plan was ambitious: to reach 100% of all support engineers and managers trained with KT Resolve, implement a coaching initiative and have all support teams using KT at full throttle.
Result
Training capabilities were to be expanded by sending a support manager to KT’s Leadership Development Institute in Princeton to become a KT Program Leader. KT Resolve has been fully adopted as the way work is done. Improvements are underway related to the speed and quality of complex problem solving. Customer complaints about bad problem reporting have declined. Early results include a 33% reduction in time taken to provide an actionable solution and reduced time to find cause of complex problems.
IBM Rational Builds Client Satisfaction and Reduces Backlog With Better Problem Solving
Challenge
IBM RCS uses client satisfaction, measured by transactional-based surveys, as the key indicator of its success. The surveys indicated that clients were generally happy but there was room for improvement in the speed and accuracy of issue resolution. While the client handling and technical skills of the staff were high, RCS asked Kepner-Tregoe (KT) to help improve troubleshooting performance. The challenge was to control the cost of support and increase client satisfaction at the same time by improving problem solving and reducing escalations as well as time-to-close. Because of its highly complex technical environment, RCS wanted “an efficient, simple, and scalable problem-solving approach” that would optimize interactions with clients by helping RCS quickly gather and use the right information.
Result
Overall scores improved 4% globally including 5% in Europe and a 3.5% increase in North America that pushed satisfaction above 90%. In addition, incident backlog decreased over 25% globally. Commitment to KT Resolve at all management levels has been strong as the speed of problem solving increased and better interactions with clients occurred. As the number of unsatisfied clients fell, the few that remained showed a lesser degree of dissatisfaction with the timeliness and effectiveness of responses to problems. Handovers of issues, especially escalations, have improved. RCS also credits the KT Resolve approach and KT processes for a dramatic drop in the employee attrition rate and for clarifying daily priorities.
How an International Architecture & Engineering Firm Avoided a Major IT Outage, Saving Up To $750,000 per day
Challenge
A scheduled IT upgrade over a weekend suddenly threatened to become a total system shutdown by Monday morning. The director knew a total IT system shutdown could cost the company between $500,000 to $750,000 a day. The IT team at an international architecture and engineering firm had been planning the scheduled upgrade throughout the year. The plan included an entire core network upgrade (“rip and replace”), server maintenance and a software upgrade that involved moving to a new vendor. The firm’s IT infrastructure resides and is managed at headquarters and supports employees at offices in the US, Europe and the Caribbean.
Result
It was immediately apparent that the new vendor was not approaching the problems systematically and had led the team in the wrong direction. The IT director and his senior architect had some experience using Kepner-Tregoe Problem Solving and Decision Making (PSDM) and had been through PSDM training. As part of the initial Situation Appraisal, it was evident that the new vendor was overly focused on a problem that seemed to exist solely at headquarters with no issues at other locations. The KT methodology allowed them to identify this separate problem as an outlier. They decided to use the KT approach to regain control and find the best way forward.
Customer Obsessed: Microsoft Customer Service & Support Embraces the Gold Standard in Problem Solving
Challenge
Microsoft asked Kepner-Tregoe to help implement KT’s suite of rational processes to enable their engineers and advocates to successfully sort, clarify and prioritize issues, find the root cause of customer problems with accuracy and speed, make decisions on best next steps, and minimize future customer concerns. KT provided a consistent and repeatable approach to help CSS solve customer problems more effectively and efficiently, aligned to a corporate strategy of developing a customer obsessed culture.
Result
To measure the impact of the KT training and support project, key metrics were recorded 12 weeks before the workshops and 12 weeks after. Results included total DTS down by an average of one day per case, TMPI fell to about 27 minutes per case, and customer satisfaction improved by 3.3%. In addition to measuring the impact on efficiency and the customer sentiment, Microsoft also tracks employee satisfaction with the program. KT workshops received a 92% approval rating from the engineers and managers who took the course.
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