Almost 1 year to date I did an interview with Julian Stone of Proworkflow to discuss his business model and software as a service. During this interview he discussed the future of his organization and I wanted to follow up with how things have transpired over the last year. In case you didn’t get a chance to read the first interview you can jump over to that post below.

November 2006 Proworkflow Interview

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Well the holiday season is officially upon us, or as someone commented at a pre-holiday Sunday brunch last week, “It is now officially the season of eating.”

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Over the past 6-8 weeks both our Sales Team and Technical Support teams have been deploying servers for a new viral website that is gaining international media attention and driving massive amounts of traffic to their load balanced web hosting solution.

FreeRice.Com (http://www.freerice.com)
FreeRice has two goals:

1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

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Our technical support and data center engineers work day and night in a server environment comprised primarily of Dell servers and storage equipment.  They handle entry level servers all the way to the biggest, baddest enterprise class systems in Dell’s arsenal.  In fact, FastServers.Net is the second largest purchaser of Dell hardware in the Midwest.  Working with such an enormous inventory of hardware presents some real challenges to any organization, and FastServers.Net is no exception.  What makes us unique is the time and attention we devote to the continuous training of our support staff on the technology they use every day.
This past week, a sizable number of our support and data center engineers underwent a rigorous two day training session on the latest server technologies from Dell.  Pulling our staff away from their day-to-day jobs creates challenges of its own - we have to keep supporting our customers 24/7 and processing new server orders without interruption.   Ultimately, we feel the time and effort spend focusing on training really does pay off.

We gathered the participants in our Chicago headquarters and flew in an expert from Dell to conduct the two day curriculum, which also provided the opportunity for Q&A sessions with our staff.  The sessions covered a wide range of topics outlining Dell’s full range of server products and practices, including:

-    System performance tuning
-    Advanced hardware monitoring
-    Evolution of automated deployment techniques
-    Troubleshooting complex component issues
-    RAID diagnostics and recover procedures
-    Updates to server and operating system support
-    Windows 2008 and Dell servers
-    System recovery techniques

At the conclusion of the sessions, everyone in attendance took part in a Dell examination intended to test their knowledge, experience, and understanding of the curriculum.  All of our support and data center engineers present for the training passed the exam (we expected no less).
As we wrap up 2007 and move into an even more promising 2008, more Dell training is being scheduled, as well as  training on our other core product offerings such as Barracuda, Cisco, and Arsenal Digital.  The goal is for continuous training to result in continuous advancement in our service and support capabilities.  The addition of new technologies to our set of service offerings will always be combined with in depth training for our support engineers.   We believe these efforts are well worth the time, and represent another reason that FastServers is a step above the rest.

Interactions we have at FastServers amongst our internal departments often lead to good things.  When we talk about our customers, we usually go into their specific solutions and how they take our services and apply them to a specific application.  More often than not, these types of discussions lead us to think of new ways to improve our overall services.  As a recent project illustrates, employee discussions and customer feedback lead directly to implementation of ideas that work.

The first week or two of service are usually the most critical for clients.   From the time they receive the setup information, the pressure is on to launch a new service, migrate data, and produce a technically sound server solution to deploy their specific widget.  One of our Sales Engineers was discussing a recent solution she helped launch and felt the need to call and check in with the client.   What resulted from continuing the line of communication was a very positive review by the client.    This one suggestion and action by a single person blossomed into a department-wide project that now includes courtesy phone calls to all new servers are that deployed.    After 30 days of implementing callbacks, the entire Sales Team agreed on the success of the project and the added satisfaction it brings new solution deployments.

We have made some additional customer service driven changes, and you can count on us getting your feedback once we have deployed your server. We believe it’s crucial to have a follow-up with customers once we have turned over the server to them. While it is fresh in everyone’s mind, that short phone call can illicit great ideas on how we can improve our processes and make things easier for the customer. In addition, it is an important gauge on whether we are properly setting customer expectations and delivering on them.  Not setting proper expectations can be disastrous for a customer new to managing a dedicated server or coming from a shared hosting environment.  Our Sales Engineers have to be detectives, probing for all the clues that will make your relationship with FastServers.Net a success.

I’m sure everyone would agree that communication is the most important (and oftentimes most challenging) aspect of doing business. Every time I’ve been in a meeting that addresses improvements to an organization, “better communication” is always at the top of the list. I wish I had a nickel for all those times… Believe me; at FastServers.Net we are constantly working to improve communication between sales and tech/Ops. We hone and hone and hone. It’s a knife that is never quite sharp enough, and we are never quite satisfied with the results. It’s a dynamic, never-ending process.  It is this same devotion we have to connecting with our customers.  We simply cannot receive “TOO MUCH FEEDBACK”.

FastServers.Net always remains pro-active with downstream communications, including newsletters, blog posts, forum updates, and an open line of communication that is just a phone call away.  We promise to be even more vocal with new products and services in the future, letting you know what FastServers.Net is doing to stay ahead of the curve.  Our major resolution for the coming year (yeah, it’s not too early…2008 will be here before we blink) is to improve the upstream communication from our customers or, better said, partners. That’s not just a buzzword, it is a true partnership. We provide the dedicated servers and support to help your business grow and run smoothly.  You in turn give us feedback on how we can help you run your business by streamlining and improving our processes, offering new products, and suggesting solutions to your issues and needs. It’s a true win-win.

One of the ways that you can provide feedback is through our online surveys. You see links to these surveys when you either set up a new server or <gasp!> cancel a service.  I would implore you to take a little time and let us know how we have done and what we can do to improve your experience. Have we met your expectations? Have we provided you with all the tools, technology, or services that you require? What would you like to see us provide? Nothing irks me more than seeing a low survey score for products and services without indication of what we’re not offering that is being so sorely missed.  As Dr. Evil would say, “Throw us a friggin’ bone here!”

I would like to add that you don’t have to order/cancel a server to provide feedback. Our lines are always open and you even have the secret key code: 753-FAST. (See end of this article on how to activate your secret key.)   We have a comment/contact form on the website at http://www.fastservers.net/about-contact/ and on our forum at http://forum.fastservers.net/, both readily available for you to provide valuable input. If you haven’t set yourself up on our forum, what are you waiting for? It’s updated with valuable information on our products, maintenance, network updates, issues, and announcements. The forum is a great place to start a discussion with our tech staff concerning new technology and service offerings. Finally, you can also email our sales staff or call me directly with your comments or concerns and I will make sure they get channeled to the appropriate department.

New products and services are a focus for the rest of 2007 and moving into 2008.    The Ultra Guard Suite (code named UGS) has been internally deployed and will go public later this month.   This product is the result of customer feedback on the need to be more secure while having pre-installed tools for our support team to resolve technical issues quickly.    The management team has opened the flood gates for future products and services.   Suggestions, ideas, and customer requests have made it back to the management meeting topics list.  If you have any special requests, you can utilize the 753-FAST secret key code to activate this idea!

And we’re not stopping the dialogue a couple of weeks after your server is set up. We’re making a commitment to keeping the communication lines open, especially for our customers that have solutions that are likely to scale.  An ongoing dialogue is important for us to help you plan as your company grows and your solution expands. Anticipation and forethought are the best insurance when it comes to ensuring you are set up with the right solution for tomorrow, as well as today.

So the next time you are thinking of contacting FastServers.Net, hopefully we have already reached out to you first and have received your feedback on outstanding issues, product and technological needs, and expansion plans. We look forward to better communication leading to your success in 2008!
To activate your super secret code, pick up your phone, prefix it with 1-866, and give us a call.    The full key code is 1-866-753-3278 (FAST) and this will provide you access to some great listeners who will be your vehicle and communicators for the entire company!