A colleague and I were recently talking about how he felt about his recent role shift within his company. He is a brilliant software engineer and couldn’t understand why he was moved to the support team, away from the company’s flagship project; it felt like a demotion.
What a difference a month can make! If we had this conversation a few weeks ago, I would’ve completely agreed with his perspective. However, I’ve been deeply immersed in the world of marketing lately and have learned about the importance of branding in the organization.
From the perspective of marketing, specifically through the lens of branding, my colleague was enrolled in the company’s most important and critical role in the company.
Support teams are in place to help with client problems. When encouraged to think like a marketer, our support team must recognize that issues arise when our brand promise is broken. It becomes the support team’s tremendous responsibility to make things right. Their actions could re-establish the trust of our clients, and strengthen the relationship, or erode it completely.
It would be ideal to produce perfect software, do without a support team, and strive to deliver on the brand promise. However, this is a utopian view and, if there is something certain in the world of software, every piece of software has bugs. You are bound to break your brand promise at some point. Therefore, as an executive, director, manager, software architect, or software developer, be aware of the importance your support service has in the value chain: “It may be your last chance to retain your customer.”
In today’s software industry, establishing recurring revenue streams through the adoption of subscription licensing models is becoming a standard strategy. Software organizations are realizing more value from their customers. However, it is easier for a customer to cancel a service and move on to a competitor. Nowadays, customer expectations are greater and test the organization’s ability to protect and grow its brand equity. In other words, brand marketing is becoming more relevant and challenging in the world of software products.
So, my friend, if you’re asked to move to your support team, congratulations on your promotion! You have the opportunity to make things right with your client. You just landed the most important job in your company!