[BC] Professional Respect - from the other side of the street...

[Jeff Welton]

Perhaps I should have avoided the example, we're getting sidetracked on =
that when I was hoping to focus more on the expectations regarding the =
level of support you expect when you walk through the door of a site to =
be confronted with a piece of smoking wreckage (or some lesser degree of =
failure!).

I guess what I'm looking for are answers and ideas.....

- what can we do to make your job easier (I'm not talking about doing =
the job for you, just taking some of the stress out of your life at 3 =
am).  We all know stuff breaks; now, what should I be expecting from you =
and what do you expect from me when you pick up that phone?

- how can we get information to you?  This goes mostly to station =
engineers, but would also apply to contractors.  As an example, how many =
of you are aware we've put "live chat" on our website?  It's been there =
over a month now and it's pretty quiet, so I'm guessing the answer is =
not too many of you know about it.  (if you go to our site and click on =
the "customer support" tab, there is a link there to the live chat =
function)

- what is your preferred method of receiving information on =
software/hardware/firmware upgrades and whether or not they apply to =
your specific equipment?  Would you prefer an email notification, =
receive an upgrade package via mail/courier (to the station or to =
yourself if you're a contractor?), or should we just post it on our =
website and let you figure it out, assuming we provide enough =
information to empower you to do so?

- it's been raised before, but at what level will you accept that we may =
need to find somebody else with the answer?  As an example, I get more =
calls on HD Radio at the moment than anything else.  Although I've been =
involved with it since the implementation stage, the tech has changed so =
often and so rapidly, I might not know how to set up the PAD for SPS2 on =
an importer running v1.2.0 software (to tell the truth I don=92t - but I =
know how to do it for v2.0.1!)  Is this a question you would reasonably =
expect us to be able to answer after hours, or could it wait til the =
high priced guys get in tomorrow morning?  Alternately, some of my newer =
guys may not immediately know that it's 3F2 that takes your AMPFET50 =
down to half power and that the fuse is 20A and located behind the =
bottom exciter drawer.  We have backup plans and phone lists for that =
sort of stuff, but what level of support should be provided after hours? =
 Off-air only, reduced power, install/configuration questions, parts =
information, or any requests at all?

This is the kind of information I'm looking for - along with any other =
ideas you may have.  I certainly didn't intend to start a lambasting =
session of the possibly hypothetical station in my example.  That was an =
example of the type of call we receive at least once a month though, =
just to give an idea of the extremes we face.  Incidentally - =
hypothetically, the station owner was told two days ago that indications =
were that the station MIGHT be out of tolerance, that there were =
problems with the transmitter and that his contract engineer had been =
asked to get the tools necessary to identify the problems so we can help =
to resolve them.  No word back as of this writing.

Best,

Jeff Welton
Customer Service Department
Nautel=20
+1.902.823.3900 x 127
www.nautel.com
=20
MAKING DIGITAL RADIO WORK

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