Dataram Case Study

We had demanding requirements and a very detailed return material authorization (RMA) workflow so that we could cost effectively execute RMAs. We wanted the first customer touch point to begin using our web site so that customers could complete an RMA form at their convenience 24x7. We also wanted to minimize the amount of time customers would need to spend calling us to generate the highest level of customer satisfaction. We know that when customers have problems they want to rapidly get their product replaced with very little effort and hassle.

We wanted to be assured that RAMDisk would be very successful and that we would be prepared to support this new product and group of customers. Providing exceptional technical support is a foundation of our company and we wanted to make sure that we could maintain this reputation with both the new memory and RAMDisk products. We also thought that using Web self-service for both of these products would make the initial trouble shooting an easy and intuitive experience for our customers.

We also wanted a customer service tool that could be used for our internal IT help desk as well. We did not want to maintain two different tools. The IT department is involved in supporting some aspects of both products so it made sense for us to find a product that could be used for our internal IT help desk and external customer service.

We have had a 70% increase in customer service productivity using Giva. The RMA web form is completed by the customer and then submitted from the Web. This form is highly detailed and requires that the customer complete specific information so the RMA can be efficiently processed without a customer service agent needing to have a phone call. Our research indicates that customers do not like to spend time speaking with agents on the phone for transactional activities, if they can be more quickly executed on the Web. Also, any agent involvement on the phone increases the cost of processing the RMA. After customers complete the form, a case is automatically created and routed to the correct people and the approval workflow process begins. If we have a follow-up question, we can quickly email the customer right from the case so all the details are in one place.

We have another separate web site where RAMDisk support is provided. We wanted to provide trouble shooting tips in a self-help portal for the new software product that we recently launched so customers could attempt to solve their problem. If they cannot solve their problem, another Giva web submission form is available for them to open a new case with Dataram.

The web forms for memory RMAs and RAMDisk support are on two different web sites and they populate two different service desks in Giva as different departments handle the respective products. This really helps us create additional efficiencies and handle the cases rapidly.

We have had a 60% increase in teamwork between customer service, level 2 and the development department. We can now better document, track, escalate and resolve any customer issue in a timely manner. We have established a better workflow process with Giva. If a level 1 agent cannot solve the issue, then it is promptly escalated to level 2 for further diagnosis and possible assignment back to level 1. The level 2 team determines if more customer information is needed or assigns the case to development for further trouble shooting.

Giva has helped make our RMA approval workflow process rigorous, yet easy for our teams to follow. There is now a great deal of accountability and visibility to outstanding customer issues including the character and status of the issues. Issues are much more effectively handled with Giva; no issues are overlooked or go unaddressed. We have been able to generate a much higher level of satisfaction with Giva. We have also been able to increase meeting our customer service level agreements (SLAs) by 50%.

We have had a 40% increase in the effectiveness and productivity of the development department. The level 3 technical support is our development team. This team is our most expensive resource so we want to utilize their time judiciously. Giva has allowed us to implement a new workflow process to better utilize development and keep them well focused on the right priorities thereby incurring lower technical support costs and higher customer satisfaction.

Giva is 70% more intuitive and easier to use than BMC TrackIT! For example, Giva is more intuitive in the navigation and the opening of cases. There is much less clicking and fewer screens and it is easier to use all the features in Giva with a minimum of customization. The Giva look and feel is simple, yet it has more power and capability than BMC TrackIT! Giva has a clean Apple® like interface with color and simplicity and thoughtful design. BMC's TrackIT and FootPrints look very technical, intimidating and are indeed much harder to use.

It was very easy to get up and running on Giva. We did not have to worry about building, configuring and deploying servers, etc. We have realized a decrease in annual total cost of ownership of approximately 70%.

We anticipate generating a 40% increase in productivity using the Giva knowledge base. For frequently recurring problems, we can quickly convert resolutions into knowledge articles with just one click. Eventually, we will expose a subset of these knowledge articles to our customers. We can have an unlimited number of article security levels so there is a lot of permission granularity for each article. There is full rich text formatting with the capability to drag and drop images into articles.

My productivity has increase 60% using Giva reports. I can very easily provide our senior leadership with exactly the metrics and KPIs that they want and also some additional metrics that we never measured in the past until using Giva. The reports provide an exceptional monitoring tool for us to know exactly the workload of each department. We can also measure department, service group and individual service level agreement respond and resolve performance. I spend only 5 hours month running reports and I can easily obtain outstanding and actionable information from Giva. The breath of reports allows me to understand both the internal IT help desk and customer service organizations. I can easily create my own versions of reports with just two clicks and instantly share them with my colleagues.

We have had 100% uptime using Giva. The application is extraordinarily fast and responsive all of the time. That is very important for a cloud application as we rely on it 24x7.

Giva launches a new release of code approximately every month. With this "agile" development cycle, Giva can rapidly meet our evolving needs for new innovative features and functions. We get a great deal of value with more than twelve new product releases a year.

In summary, Giva is a very cost effective solution and we do not have to worry about managing and maintaining servers and application software. Giva is an exceptional cloud service that works great for us. We are very happy with Giva.