Customer Service Week: Knocking it out of the park, again and again.

Today marks the first day of “Customer Service Week” – an international celebration that reminds us of the importance of customer service and of our team who serve and support customers on a daily basis. But in IBM’s Technology Support Services (TSS) team, we need no reminder, whether it’s mission critical mainframes, personally critical PC’s, help for an open source development software environment or any other of the tens of thousands of technology products we support every day.

Every day, I see how this team’s paramount goal is to delight our clients – helping them overcome their toughest technical issues – with a dedication and professionalism that is second to none. Let me tell you about just a couple of the recent stories I’ve heard about this team doing whatever it takes.

TSS works tirelessly to get the job done: A client experienced a devastating fire in their main office. While they luckily didn’t lose any lives or their primary computer room, they lost their network and all their power. The next morning, our client, armed only with her cell phone, texted our team and within hours, several IBMers coordinated the whole recovery including disconnecting, moving and reconnecting all the IBM equipment - in the middle of August in Florida with no power (so no A/C). From the client: “The equipment was very heavy, and it had to be moved across a parking lot and up a flight of stairs. It was miserable, exhausting work, and he did not stop until it was all up and running in an existing rack in my alternate computer room. Words cannot express how grateful I am to [your team], he is an extraordinary employee and exemplifies IBM’s commitment to outstanding service.”

TSS has the expertise our clients need: Another client, a major retailer needed to upgrade a system site that provided DR support for all their retail stores, B-to-B contract business, their online business, plus daily backup to tape for all the production systems in their headquarters. “If this was going to be successful, we needed an expert, a top gun if you will, and that is why we asked for [your team] to lead this effort on site. They planned for every contingency, pre-staged the work as much as possible, and completed the upgrade in half the down time that we had anticipated. When they turned the system over to us, it was perfect. Not a single card needed to be re-seated or moved, not a single disk drive failed to report in. It is that type of commitment to the success of the customer’s project, and that level of excellence in service delivery, that showcases IBM at its best.”

Amongst our team, worldwide we share and celebrate stories like these every day, multiple times a day. When I see the stories like this, I know we are doing valuable work that is appreciated by our clients. And that is bolstered by Net Promoter Scores that are higher than I’ve ever seen at scale – and they keep going up month after month despite the countless challenges that Covid-19 has presented.

The theme of Customer Service Week 2020 is “Dream Team” and I think that is incredibly fitting. Our team has embraced new ways of working, are passionate about serving, strive for excellence, adapt to change, and value teamwork, all the while keeping the client at the center of everything they do.

I couldn’t be prouder of this team. As we recognize customer service professionals around the world during Customer Service Week, I want to say a huge "THANK YOU" to the phenomenal TSS Dream Team, the best of the best. You all do an incredible job and for that I’m incredibly grateful and privileged to be part of your team.