She outlined that whilst the opportunities Google, Facebook, and PayPal offer to businesses are sizeable, ways of getting in touch with them if anything goes wrong are inadequate.
The kind of support businesses receive was fittingly described by business and technology blogger and radio personality Paul Wallbank as the “web 2.0 way of doing business”.
“The core of their business model is that there is no contact. Rather than having a call centre helping they will have a web page with frequently asked question and web forum where users can crowd source a solution”, Paul Wallbank explained.
These valuable insights raise serious questions for businesses. How important is it to be able to pick up the phone and speak to a real expert if issues arise? What does this level of support mean to businesses? Is it worthwhile for business owners to invest in services with in-house technical support that has a face and a voice?
For our CEO Craig McDonald, the value of delivering on technical support could not be more apparent. It is in fact a key point of difference which has seen MailGuard become Australia’s leading email and web security provider.
“Our 98% first call resolution rate and average 9/10 technical support rating differentiates us from our competitors,” he says. “Despite being a David compared with the global Goliaths of Symantec and Google, our customers value and trust our easily contactable support.”
[pullquote]Awesome technical support has helped MailGuard become Australia’s leading email and web security provider.[/pullquote]
Businesses that choose to go with the ‘web 2.0 way of doing business’ should not be surprised to receive the ‘web 2.0 way of doing support’. For some companies this level of support may cover their requirements. Being at the mercy of Google’s web support might not be an issue for them. But for others technical support is a key factor in order to do business with a company.
Companies need to carefully consider what kind of support suits their individual needs.