Possibilities - The XYQUEST Information Line: Better Customer Support for Less

Contact:   eSoft, Inc. (Makers of TBBS)
           15200 E. Girard Ave., Suite 3000
           Aurora, CO  80014
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THE XYQUEST INFORMATION LINE: BETTER CUSTOMER SUPPORT FOR LESS
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*** From May 1990 Possibilities Newsletter ***
*** Copyright 1990 by eSoft, Inc.  All Rights Reserved ***

The XYQUEST Information Line: Better Customer Support for Less
by Alan Bechtold

Providing after-sale customer support for technical products can be 
expensive.  Because producers of technical products are often judged by the 
support they provide, however, the search for ways to provide better 
customer support for less is a necessity.  XYQUEST, Inc., publishers of 
XyWrite, a well-known and popular word processing program, expanded their
customer support inexpensively with the tbbs Information Manager.

Roughly a year ago, the company decided to set up "The XYQUEST Information 
Line", a TBBS based system offering extended support to XYQUEST customers.  
Because they were concerned about the cost of developing and running such a 
system, XYQUEST charged customers a $50 annual fee for use of the 
Information Line, to defray the system's cost.

System designer Christine Madsen set up "The XYQUEST Information Line" and 
handles day-to-day system chores.  The system runs on a single Epson Equity 
II computer, with each of its incoming phone lines connected to 2400 baud 
modems.

According to Madsen, initial set-up went quickly.  "It didn't really take 
all that long," she said,  "about a month.  I was pleased with the length of 
time it took to get something together and have it look the way I wanted it 
to look."

Due to Christine's careful planning and awareness of customer needs, the 
response was much better than anticipated.  Soon, "The XYQUEST Information 
Line" was actually generating income, rather than simply paying its own way.  
Since XYQUEST's goal was to charge customers only enough to meet the 
system's expenses, the yearly fee was cut in half, to $25.

A new feature, XYQUEST Xchange, allowing callers to trade tips and 
information in real-time conferences or on a variety of message bases, was 
also added.  The result was a system that was even more useful to XYQUEST's 
customers, at lower cost.  Customer response improved even more, and the 
system is still more than paying its own way.  In addition, the daily lives 
of the customer support people at XYQUEST are now much more productive 
further reducing support costs by making better use of personnel.

This success, after barely one year of operation, speaks well of XYQUEST's 
use of the tbbs Information Manager software.  The system is useful to their 
customers, who now use it regularly and enjoy XYQUEST products more as 
result.

Customer support is one of the more popular corporate uses of tbbs.  
Designers of these systems can attest to the fact that they can offer 
tremendous added value for their customers.  XYQUEST's system obviously 
provides such value.  Their customers are even willing to pay for access to 
the system in increasing numbers.  Also, every customer who uses the system 
is one that will need live customer support less.

The secret to success with a tbbs customer support system is providing the 
information customers need, as easily and quickly as possible, while keeping 
the frustration of using the system itself at a minimum.  We asked Christine 
how XYQUEST had met these goals.

Flexibility was a concern from the beginning.  "When the decision was made 
to put together a XYQUEST support system," said Madsen, "we checked out 
several other packages and determined that they just didn't offer the 
options and flexibility that tbbs did.  I really liked the idea that I could 
make the menus look just exactly the way I wanted them to with tbbs."

Madsen designed a unique Q&A file that automatically sets users to receive 
either ANSI or plain ASCII menus.  "I'm fortunate that I know all my users 
are running IBM equipment," Madsen said, "but I don't know if they have 
ANSI.SYS installed when they are calling in, so I put them through a little 
test using tbbs' Q&A survey capabilities.

"My survey shows them a sample line and asks them to report back whether 
they see graphics characters or line-drawing characters.  Then it sets them 
to filter the ANSI characters or display them properly, based on the choice 
they make.  This was an extension of making automatic user flag changes 
depending on answers to a Q&A file.  I now don't have to worry about whether 
or not a caller can use ANSI."

Madsen also made extensive use of tbbs' Keyword Search capability.  "We have 
hundreds of printer files online," she said, "so somebody with even a 
little-known computer/printer combination can search for his printer 
manufacturer and easily find all the files we have on that manufacturer's 
products.  He can also search for the printer name and find the printer file 
that matches.

"We also have a series of application notes that cover a wide range of 
topics and we made them keyword searchable as well.  So, for instance, if a 
user wants to find all application notes that discuss PostScript, up pops 
this list of application notes that may or may not have the word 
'PostScript' in the title, but he knows that these are the Notes that 
discuss PostScript."

tbbs' keyword search capability makes a large amount of detailed technical 
information readily available to the XYQUEST system's users.  And, Madsen 
has made innovative use of this capability to put the 120 most-often-asked 
technical questions online.  With this capability, callers can search by 
keyword through the list of most-often-asked questions, select an individual 
question and instantly get the answer.

This is the heart of a quality electronic customer support system: rapid 
customer satisfaction with minimum load on customer support personnel.  It's 
the ability to tailor an electronic information system easily, to meet the 
demands of any specific support task, which sets tbbs systems apart.  It 
makes the technology available directly to those who are engaged every day 
in customer support activities, and understand what their customers need.

The result is a system that allows a customer to independently find answers 
to his problems, often faster and better than with a voice phone call to the 
customer support department.  Any required materials can be downloaded 
immediately.  The customer doesn't have to wait while they are mailed.  And 
24-hour access is available, allowing the customer to solve a problem 
immediately, when it occurs.

Christine Madsen has discovered and put to use a number of features and 
techniques to make "The XYQUEST Information Line" more useful and easier to 
operate.  But she wasn't always a knowledgeable, sophisticated system 
operator.  In fact, she wasn't even a bulletin board user before she landed 
the job as "The XYQUEST Information Line" system designer.  "We determined 
the need for a system," she said, "and I guess I was the one who waved my 
hand the hardest."

The System Definition Language (SDL) compiler was the key that allowed 
Madsen to succeed in designing the system she envisioned.  "SDL gave me 
added flexibility right from the start," she said.  "It really makes it so 
easy to go in and change things around in a way that I feel I have full 
control.  Part of the reason I like it so much is the fact that I can use 
SDL right within XyWrite, my company's product, since SDL can be used with 
virtually any word processing program.  So, I'm creating menus using a 
product I already know inside-out.  I can even do some formatting of the SDL 
files within XyWrite by using comment lines, so my SDL file is easier to 
read."

Madsen now calls BBSs routinely, to check out what's going on, compare what 
they offer to XYQUEST's offerings, and get new ideas.  tbbs gives her 
confidence that she can implement the new techniques she learns about and 
continue to provide her customers with even better support.  Madsen said she 
spends only 30 minutes per day on routine system maintenance, and a large 
portion of that time is spent just entering new users. Entering new users 
into the system is now faster and easier, too, thanks to  SYSOM, the tbbs 
expansion module that allows multi-user system operators to edit the userlog 
and perform routine DOS file tasks while users are still connected to the 
system.

"We find SYSOM very useful," Madsen said.  "Before I had it, I had menus on 
the system that allowed me to upload or download files from the floppy 
drive.  But that was pretty slow going and wasn't really effective for 
making substantial changes in the file structure.  I have somebody who helps 
me by adding new users and that sort of thing, and she's now able to go over 
them whenever the whim strikes her during the day, without having to worry 
about how many lines are busy.  It's also made it possible for me to do file 
maintenance during the day, rather than coming in late at night, when the 
system isn't busy, to do it."

During her year of building and operating a successful online customer 
support system, Christine Madsen has encountered and solved a number of 
problems.  When asked if she has any advice for others faced with setting up 
similar systems, she replied, "Be sure to offer a section on your board 
letting your users know what's been updated on your system.  And don't be 
content to just follow examples in the manual.  Don't be afraid to try 
taking it a bit farther."

"The XYQUEST Information Line"  has made it much easier for the company to 
offer continuing post-sales support to its customers.  tbbs has not only 
made Madsen's job easier, but has also given her more choices in her task.  
The system has dramatically reduced XYQUEST's costs when mailing out printer 
drivers, and reduced the time spent answering technical questions.  In 
short, it allows XYQUEST to provide better customer support for less.  And 
better support means happier customers which results in more sales.

- END -
PS0590-3
Rev. 5/90

Copyright (C) 1994 eSoft, Inc., All Rights Reserved.  Permission granted
to distribute this file in its entirety, without modification, to any
interested party.  Any other use requires the written permission of
eSoft, Inc.

IMPORTANT:  The information herein is subject to change without notice.
Please call or write to confirm factual information of importance to you
or your organization.

