There are many reasons why you may need to contact customer support. Sometimes you need guidance and help from someone with the right expertise and enough time to help you solve your problem.
"Having a world-class support department is an important and highly valued part of our business strategy, "says Siri Norderhaug, acting team leader in Logiq’s support department. She is educated as an accountant, but has worked in IT for the past 10 years.
The eight other members of the team are Elisabeth, Caroline, Christin, Elin, Marion, Mette, Malin, and Hilde. They all come from different industries, such as IT, insurance, and retail. Together, they form a highly competent support team that is ready to help both existing and potential customers with their EDI challenges.
Extraordinary first-line support
Logiq’s first-line support does not follow the traditional pattern you may find with other EDI providers, where a switchboard operator receives the request and then must book an appointment with, or transfer your call to, a professional in another department. This type of support often leads to longer waiting times – when you need a prompt resolution to your problems.
"Our job is to maintain the excellent customer experiences and build strong relationships with our customers."
Siri Norderhaug
When customers contact Logiq, 96% of all cases are resolved directly by the first-line support team. And, if the case is too complex to be solved directly, they are backed by an entire organization of experts.
“We’re very hands-on,” Siri explains. “We have an efficient and functional case management system where all inquiries we receive are registered. As a team leader, I read through all cases and assess and prioritize them according to business criticality. We all have different experience and knowledge when it comes to specific customers, formats, and industries. However, I try to distribute the assignments as much as possible across everyone. I believe that if everyone has some knowledge about as much as possible, it makes the team stronger and less vulnerable.
Another thing we emphasize, is the follow-up of the customer after the case is solved. In most cases, we won’t close the case until we have confirmed that everything is answered, and things are working as expected. It is very satisfying to know that the customer has received the help they needed."
A customer-focused organization
The customer support team is located in Logiq’s headquarters in Halden, alongside other colleagues in sales, application development, implementation, and other departments. The short distance to these colleagues, just a few steps away, allows the support team to continuously keep up to date with new product development, new customers, and new trends in the market. In addition, it’s easy to get answers to any questions they may have.
"Support is both fun and demanding, " says Siri. "We have many customers, as well as many formats, systems, and industries we must relate to – including international customers. But this also becomes our strength. For more than 20 years, Logiq has built a good and broad industry knowledge – and especially in the building- and construction industry. We have also become familiar with many different ERP systems, even though this is not our core competence. Our services are mainly about the electronic communication between the parties."
Focus on competence and knowledge sharing
The support team at Logiq has a high focus on building competence and sharing knowledge. Among other activities, they have weekly status meetings where they review larger cases and often bring in other experts for professional input. The team members also participate in other specialized groups, such as the B2C (Business to Consumer) working group, where they get first-hand information from subject matter experts about anything from current trends to format changes.
These competence-enhancing measures ensures that the support team constantly develops their already solid knowledge base – to help the customers even faster and better.
The most common support cases
Siri and her team get a lot of different calls and cases. However, two categories of cases stand out: one is questions about orders in automated procurement systems, the other is about electronic invoices.
“We have many customers in the building materials industry. Even though our solution is one of the best on the market, errors will sometimes occur in the order flow. The reasons may be many. Sometimes, the fault lies in the transfer of the documents, while other times our customer simply needs a little help understanding the process,” Siri says understandingly.
"In such cases we need to have some knowledge of the different ERP systems and how they work. Further, we analyze the files to try to understand what the error is. We can do this even without accessing the customer’s ERP system. We also contact our customer’s ERP vendors or consultants if necessary. We are proactive and utterly committed to solve our customers’ challenges. Our focus is to deliver an exceptional service, even when they meet some challenges. After all, we are the public face of the company in many ways."
The second common category is questions about invoices, either received or sent. The questions are typically about the formal requirements that apply to the content of the invoices, such as the placement of references, the use of VAT codes, how the parties should be specified, or how pdf copies can be attached to the electronic invoice.
“Among other services, we offer two smart features that help to simplify invoice management for our customers, ” Siri explains. “One is Logiq Document Control, that validates and correct incoming invoices according to your business rules. The other is Logiq Multichannel, that ensures a better invoice flow and more accurate invoicing of your customers. "
“Often, we will explain to our customers to take advantage of these services and how effective they actually are. In many cases, we explain this to non-customers as well – and they get so excited that they become customers! Our job is to maintain the excellent customer experiences and build strong relationships with our customers,” Siri concludes.
