Solid support is vital to successfully selling a communications solution.
So you are looking for a communications vendor.
Whether you are an entrepreneur looking to get started, an established communications provider seeking a better option to support your growth, or a different kind of solutions provider wanting to branch into communications, our biggest piece of advice to you is this:
Find a vendor that will be your partner.
That partnership will play many roles throughout your growth journey, but one of the most important ones is via technical support.
No technology is free from issues or challenges, and this is particularly consequential when you are selling the solution to your own customer
Give yourself peace-of-mind that the product you take to market is backed by a reliable, experienced, trustworthy support team.
Support can be provided in-house or outsourced.
You will surely come across vendors that outsource their support to save on money and resources, but this is not in your best interest.
Outsourced support teams are detached from the vendor and solution, uninterested in your personal success, and slower to offer solutions.
On the other hand, in-house support teams are far more capable of meeting their customers needs, leading to less frustration and faster resolution times.
Benefits to choosing a communications vendor with in-house support
1. In-house support teams give you a more consistent experience
By partnering with a vendor with in-house support, you will experience consistency throughout your time as a customer.
The same company culture you encounter in the sales team when you sign on will apply to the support team with which you regularly interact. For example, if you choose a vendor because of their integrity and commitment to innovation, you can expect to encounter those same values in their in-house support team.
Furthermore, as your vendor becomes familiar with your business and product, this information will be passed over to the support team during internal communications and meetings. This personalized approach will remove much of the frustration surrounding technical support.
Finally, in-house support teams will have much lower turnover rates, so you can form a relationship with the support team and expect consistency. When companies outsource support, they often change teams or companies looking for a better, cheaper option, meaning you never know what to expect when contacting support.
By keeping the support team in-house, your vendor can give you a positive experience that is consistent with your expectations.
2. In-house support teams have deeper product knowledge
Thanks to the firsthand knowledge that in-house support teams have of the products and solutions you are using, they can offer a more comprehensive level of support.
In-house support teams typically know the products inside out, having been involved in the development process and beta testing phases.
Contrarily, outsourced support teams may receive a demo and training on the products, but it will just be one in many solutions that they must learn and support.
Support teams that are integrated right into the vendor will be among the first to discover new features and nuances of the products, putting them in a position to troubleshoot issues more quickly and effectively.
3. In-house support teams can get answers for you more quickly
While their expertise will be deep and far reaching, the time may still come when your support team will not immediately know the answer to your questions. But an in-house team will be perfectly positioned to get answers more quickly.
Not only will they have easy access to product developers and engineers, they will probably also be part of regular meetings and conferences to stay on top of emerging or common issues.
Since we are talking about communications solutions, your vendor is probably going to be using their own product internally. This means they will probably have a Unified Communications (UC) app with group and individual messaging, video meetings, file sharing, and more.
In short – information sharing will be extremely fast and easy, meaning a faster turnaround time for you.
4. In-house support teams give you customized support
Continuing on the idea that an in-house support team will get to know you and your company personally, and that they are intricately connected to the product and its development that they are supporting, they will be capable of giving you specialized, customized support.
As we mentioned previously, the decreased chance of changes to the support team will mean that a relationship will form and you will not need to explain or give a history of your business each time you open a support ticket.
But even more than that, the support team will have a deeper understanding of the industry and market as a whole, so they can better support your specific needs and niche.
For example, say that one of the vendor’s partners finds a niche selling to car dealerships. This will become a familiar niche to the support team and if any other partners find their way into the same niche, the customized support will be waiting for them.
5. In-house support teams value your feedback
Partner feedback is extremely important to communications vendors that want to make their solutions more feature-rich, innovative, and lucrative.
While an outsourced support team may accept feedback and pass it on to the vendor, they will not have the drive and impetus that an in-house team has to understand and utilize your opinion.
In-house support teams are often very invested in both new product development and the success of their partners, so they will genuinely want to gather and pass on your feedback.
In addition to doing better at collecting feedback, in-house support teams are better positioned to communicate your suggestions and complaints to the right people. They will have inside knowledge of who is who and how to ensure your feedback is received and applied to future developments.
In-house support gives you peace-of-mind to take your product to market.
The advantages of in-house support are clear.
By working with a support team that has a vested interest in their product, insider connections to product developers and engineers, and the ability to customize their support solutions, you will enjoy a less stressful and more personalized experience.
As you search for a vendor to come alongside your business as you pursue growth and evolution, consider prioritizing the support offering and looking for an in-house option.
Bicom Systems has an in-house, highly experienced support team for our partners.
For over twenty years, Bicom Systems has kept all of our development and support in-house to ensure a customer-centric, personal approach to partnership.
Our support team is deeply embedded into our company culture and development, committed to offering each of our partners reliable, fast, and personal support.
Our highly experienced team of individuals is available 24 hours a day from Monday to Friday, with support for emergencies available 24/7.
And perhaps best of all, the support team is just one of the in-house teams that supports our partners.
We also have dedicated Account Managers, a Business Success team to engage with partners on a regular basis, a Deployment and Training team to onboard new partners, and a Partners Program with access to additional teams and support options.
It would be our privilege to support your business in its path toward growth and success. If you would like to partner with Bicom Systems, just contact us today to get started.