As Senior Warranty Manager for Insight, a global technology provider, Cheryl Fischer has witnessed the changes brought on by the subscription economy first hand. I recently sat down with her to discuss how her organization is using Lifecycle Advantage to digitize customer engagement and increase value across its global client base.
John: Can you share with us how digitization is impacting your business, and the role that Lifecycle Advantage has played in Insight’s digital transformation?
Cheryl: The success of Insight has always come from making our clients successful. There’s never a point in time when we think we’ve done enough for any one customer.
But the culture of IT has moved more toward digitization, and so the way our customers do business has changed. That’s where Lifecycle Advantage comes in. The program has empowered us to transform how we engage with our customers. We can now digitally manage our client contracts through the entire customer lifecycle – beginning from the onboarding stages all the way to our AutoQuote campaigns. This has freed us up to look at our client accounts more strategically and focus our efforts to ensure that we deliver value.
John: Specifically, how has digitization changed how Insight interacts with its customers?
Cheryl: Now, instead of calling clients to inform them that their coverage is about to expire, notifications are automated through Lifecycle Advantage. This gives customers the opportunity to see what is about to expire ahead of time so that they can better prepare and budget for upcoming renewals. Lifecycle Advantage also allows us to create more meaningful touch points throughout the renewal process. This feature has led to increased customer satisfaction and stickiness. Digitization has given us more opportunities to engage with our clients, and it makes the lifecycle management process far more effective. As a result, we have created healthier customer relationships for Insight.
John: What effects has digital customer engagement had on your internal team and organization as a whole?
Cheryl: Lifecycle Advantage has completely changed the dynamics between Insight and our clients. It improves transparency in our client relationships. It helps us become more proactive in our engagement with them. Through this transformation, we have increased our renewal rates through campaigns such as Second Chance Attach. We’ve become more successful overall at expanding relationships with customers.
As a company, we are now engaging when the client needs to be engaged, not necessarily when it is our time to engage them. They can see pertinent information about all their connected services. Customers can also easily maintain the support and warranties that are critical to their business operations. In addition, we gain a better understanding of how we can be of greater help to them in the future. Because Cisco tools manage customer contracts from beginning to end, it takes the burden off of the team to remember those things. It is sort of like having that additional headcount that you need to successfully manage customer relationships, but it gives you the opportunity to be more proactive and strategic, while also being a bit more hands-off.
John: How have your customers responded to the new digital experience?
Cheryl: Since we’ve started the Lifecycle Advantage program, our clients know that we are proactively looking out for them, and they expect to receive our digital notifications. They have greater visibility into the technology services and value we deliver. We have a more proactive conversation when it is time to renew–well before the last day of support. It’s clear to them that this is something that will help them grow and allow us to serve them better. There are simply no disadvantages to using it.
Visit SuccessHub to learn more about Lifecycle Advantage and how digital transformation is changing the way we engage with customers.
Nicely expressed service offering. Your customers would benefit from receiving the video.
Great insight, reflective of the value of the program to our clients as well as to us as a partner. Another example of Cisco continuing to support the partner community!