Technical Support Management

Foundation Requirements 

In addition to the renewal team the company likely has an activation, registration, and serial number process in the product that assures the product in use has been acquired properly.  This information needs to be captured and linked to the Maintenance/Support contract information used by product sales and the renewal team.  It is critical to have this data available and maintained in order for an Entitlement Check process to work effectively. 

The Process 

The quality and easy availability of the above information will drive the Entitlement checking process.  If you are just starting the process, it will require more direct involvement of the support team.  Early in the case creation process, while collecting product information the support representative needs to collect product Serial Number and query the contract data base to assure that the maintenance/support contract is current.  If current, proceed with the support case. If the contract data base shows that the contract is not current, there are two choices and likely will depend on the confidence that the data is accurate.  In the start up process it probably is best to alert the person requesting support that the contract is not current, but then go ahead and provide support.  The Renewal team needs to then be notified that an exception has been made with the account, S/N information so that they can do the follow up.  Once the confidence in the data has improved it is possible to deny support and route the requestor directly to the renewal team.  This is very similar to the process that is likely in place to deal with activation, registration or serial number problems. An exception handling process also needs to be in place.  This will be particularly important during the transition phase described above.  If the overall quality of the contract data is questionable, the sales/renewal teams will likely require time to work out issues that surface.   

Benefits 

A mature software company will typically have one half of its revenue from Maintenance/Support.  This is a major source of funding for the operation of the company.  Entitlement checking is the best method of assuring the company is being fairly compensated for the services it is providing.