Big idea: BigMachines serves up new customer support portal

By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff July 25, 2008

BigMachines , a specialist in on-demand sales configuration and proposal software, is expanding its Customer Support program to include a new online Support Center, an interactive customer idea forum called “ My BigIdea, ”and online customer collaboration tools.
The multi-faceted support program extends customers’ software investments through open online access to customer-shared and industry-leading best-practices, BigMachines product tools and support information, and a collaborative network of BigMachines customers.
A key component of this customer-facing initiative is the launch of a new online Support Center, extending BigMachines’ comprehensive customer services to its worldwide user base. BigMachines’ online Support Center provides the company’s global customers with a single point of entry to a repository of support information and tools, as well as an interactive community to share best practices and drive innovation in product design and development.
In addition, Web 2.0 community applications have been added, including My BigIdea , an interactive forum where customers can submit their own ideas for product enhancements. Using My BigIdea , other customers can view the suggestions, add their own comments, and vote on the ideas they would like to see implemented.
Other feature on tap:
• Integrated global CRM platform to manage customer accounts and contacts;
• Online Support Center Web portal offering single point of access for customers;
• Helpdesk with new Voice Over IP (VOIP) system integrated to a CRM system to ensure that BigMachines support agents have relevant customer information at their fingertips;
• Customer knowledge base allowing access to comprehensive solutions database online;
• Customer collaboration tools to share ideas within the customer community and directly with BigMachines staff; and
• Dashboards and metrics reporting tools to track and monitor helpdesk case load, including causes, volume and frequency of issues; and patterns and trends over time.
In addition, BigMachines Customer Success Managers are responsible for proactive communication to customers, sharing best practices, and ensuring that BigMachines customers achieve full adoption and value.
According to Mei-lin Cheng, VP Enterprise Services for BigMachines, “With these enhancements, we can continuously monitor customer adoption, enabling us to ensure that customers are getting all the benefits available to them.”