Agile Business Navigator

I've been dealing with a program that I downloaded as a demo and decided to purchase. I purchased the license two weeks ago and up until today have not been able to use it since the demo expired. The support staff has been quite helpful suggesting various fixes - that up until now have not worked. Today they sent me a fix that entails turning off a feaure on my operating system.

In other words, they've asked me, the customer, to alter my behavior to fit theirs. I'm the customer. I'm always supposed to be right, right? But we both know in the real world that isn't true.

Most companies ask us to alter our processes to fit into their processes. What they should be doing is providing processes that are flexible enough to adapt to individual customer needs. But that's a huge task isn't it. Make a process that bends and flexes? As a programmer, I know that software doesn't always bend and flex very well.

People don't either. How many times has someone in your company said to you - But we've always done it this way.

So what's the key to establishing a way of dealing with customers without making them responsible for the bending? Creating a standards based and event driven customer service process. Your process should deal with customers according to a set plan, but allow for flexible responses.

Example: Now that the software company has determined my issue is solved - they should put the setting that was the culprit into their documentation and establish a check for it when the product starts. I should have been notified when I started the product that I need to turn off the setting. Or better yet, notify me and ask me if it was okay to turn it off. A flexible response to the customer problem. I shouldn't have spent the last two weeks without a working program.

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