Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Customer Satisfaction Surveys - A sound business practice and you can learn much by simply listening!

A CAPSYS business partner located in the Midwest recently shared with me the results from their Customer Satisfaction Survey he received for a very recent implementation of CAPSYS Capture Online - the Software as a Service (SaaS) alternative to the traditional on-premise document capture option.

Before I go any further, how many of you make it common practice to conduct formal "Customer Satisfaction Surveys? Before you answer that question, continue reading on.

Second, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that our CAPSYS partner takes a very unique approach towards managing their customer relationships: Conducting customer satisfaction surveys after each engagement, not just once or twice a year. Kudos to the partner's management team for designing and executing upon a disciplined customer relationship management process!

The overall objective of the project was to provide the customer with a budget savings opportunity- more specifically, for the line of business owner - achieved by replacing the existing capture solution with the lower cost CAPSYS alternative. The cost savings would not only be measured in savings by eliminating annual software assurance dollars but by also eliminating the internal charges that were being assessed by the IT department - in excess of $10,000 per year!

The total projected annual cost savings shared by the customer to the CAPSYS partner indicated the annual savings was expected to be in excess of over $30,000.00.   Not bad.

Ok, its one thing to "claim" the savings during the sales cycle, but what were the actual savings? From the customer's mouth, "a whopping $39,753.00!" Now that is a rather remarkable story in an of itself. However, the real story only begins with the money savings.  I was rather jazzed to see the results of the customer survey:

On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 - poor, 3 - average and 5 excellent), please rate the performance of our organization as it related to the "XXXXXXXX  Document Capture Project":  

A) Met Original Business Objectives - 5

[The End User] is now very happy with the CAPSYS software functionality and stated that it is meeting her expectations as presented in the sales cycle. [The End User] did go back and examine the cost savings and confirmed that CAPSYS has in-fact reduced her costs by about 40%, as predicted in the sales cycle. The CAPSYS features & functions also met their objectives so they are very happy overall in this area.

B) Delivery of Expected Features/Functionality - 5

The CAPSYS software functions as expected.  [The end user] likes the CAPSYS interface and likes the software much better than [their previous Enterprise] capture software package.

C) Met Delivery Time-line - 3

This rating had to do with the time-line delays due to [customer's] rigid security & Firewall issues. [the end user] was very clear that she understood these issues were outside of [the CAPSYS Partner's] control. [Customer's] IT staff & resources were problematic for her but it still ended up delaying the project and causing issues for the business.

D) Overall Project Cost - 5


[The end user] was very happy at the overall cost. She appreciated that [the CAPSYS partner] honored the fixed bid commitment and did not bill her above the [agreed] contract amount for services. She is very pleased with how [the CAPSYS partner] handled the issues and will let other [Enterprise End User] business units know that [the CAPSYS Partner] and the CAPSYS organization are great companies to work with and that CAPSYS is a great product.

E) Professional Services Cost - 5


See above. Very happy, felt fees were very fair.

F) How would you rate [the partner's] technical expertise related to the services delivered for this project? -5

[The Partner] did a great job!  [The end user] said the engineer assigned on the project was very knowledgeable on the CAPSYS software and very responsive. Also happy with technical support department and the support she has received so far.

G)  Please rate your willingness to recommend [the partner] for future Capture/ECM projects at your company. - 5

[the end user] is very willing to recommend [the partner] & CAPSYS to other [end user] divisions as they  inquire about the CAPSYS solution. Given my conversation with her today I believe [the end user] will be a tremendous advocate for us at [the end user]. She also expressed, she liked the sales process, SOW, documentation & our support is great. Very happy with the software, much better than [previous Capture software vendor]. It’s easier and less complex to use.  
Overall, a very satisfied customer and a very satisfied CAPSYS business partner.  Congratulations and job well done!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Document Boss says ECM industry is going to get pounced upon!

I love these kinds of articles: edgy, thoughtful and in this particular case, Document Boss furthers along (indirectly) the value proposition of CAPSYS.  Our partners over the last 15 months rapidly have embraced the SaaS Capture opportunity and this article further confirms our thought process - that our cherished partners have made the correct decision.  The author says, "SaaS does have some strong economic arguments in its favour, as follows:
  • Reduction of customer's IT requirements
  • Consequential lower operating costs
  • Speed and ease of deployment
  • Departmental flexibility where management can circumnavigate their own IT “gatekeeper”
The author continues with, "The end user is now primed for a [ECM] SaaS revolution and the real barrier is no longer the customer (not to the same degree, anyway) but the supplier. The end user is now primed for a SaaS revolution and the real barrier is no longer the customer (not to the same degree, anyway) but the supplier."

To the CAPSYS Channel, congratulations on making the correct decision to embrace the SaaS revolution.  You are poised to propel your businesses to the next level and leave the competition behind in the smog of ancient thinking.  You have an abundance of opportunity before each of you and your customers are ready and willing to hear your unique value propositions.  Good selling!

Full article from Document Boss here.