For many products, an integral part of the final productization process is the provision of some form of product support.  For products of this nature, the first thing that a retail customer will ask is "who can I call when something goes wrong?"

Jade Connections can provide private labeled product support, utilizing any combination of website tools, email, instant messaging, internet chat (via the vendor website), and telephone.  Support activity is logged via a Jade Connections CRM system, available to either the OEM and/or ODM.

For more information on Jade Connections support options, please see the sections below on Media Options (web, email, instant messaging, telephone, etc), Reporting and Monitoring, and Scalability.
 

Media Options

Different products require different types of support.  An expensive piece of equipment that is critical to the operations of a large group will usually require many levels of support, including email, instant messaging, and telephone.  Any down time for organizations such as this can result in a considerable loss of revenue.  An inexpensive item, sold to either the promotional or retail markets, such as a small memory chip or USB hub may only require web based tools, and no real time support.

Jade Connections provides private support services for most type of products, from the simplest devices only requiring a web page and a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) listing, to any combination of real time (telephone, chat) and email based options.  Jade Connections staff use modern call tracking and customer resource management (CRM) tools to track customer requests, problems, and resolutions.  The various media options are detailed below, from the least interactive (non-real time), to the most (instant access to people).

Web Tools

Many technologies exist for providing information over the world wide web (web, or www).  The simplest are static pages providing product and FAQ information.  Jade Connections can also provide community tools such as community forums, wiki's, mailing lists, and others, depending upon the customer requirements.  These tools can be hosted either on customer equipment, or Jade Connections can provide hosting on their own servers.

Instant Messaging

Jade Connections supports most popular Instant Messaging products, including MSN, Yahoo, AIM, Jabber, and others.  Jade Connections will monitor one or more customer IM addresses, providing support services per the client specifications.  Upon request, Jade Connections can also provide IM logging and statistics data.

Electronic Mail

Jade Connections can monitor and reply to email correspondence from customers.  Email is usually sent to a special customer support address, such as widget-support@oem-customer.com.  With proper access setup, Jade Connections can access and send email directly from the customer servers.   Alternatively, email sent to the customer support address can be redirected by the customer mail servers to the Jade Connections servers, with replies to the customer sent out the same way.

Web Chat

Web chat is very similar to Instant Messaging described above, however, instead of using software dedicated to the instant messaging protocol (MSN or Yahoo Messengers for instance), interaction is carried out over the web.  A chat function is included in the customer support web pages (maintained by either the customer or Jade Connections), which will connect customers to Jade Connections support staff.

Telephone

Jade Connections can provide incoming telephone service in most developed countries around the world, that connect back to a call center.  Telephone based support can be provided 24x7, or just within customer specified time periods.  We can provide incoming only service, or bi-directional service, in the case where customers need to be called back.
 

Reporting / Monitoring

Regardless of the mix of support options chosen, it is important for the customer to be able to monitor the number and types of incidents per product.  At the same time it is important to be able to monitor support staff usage, to determine if responses are appropriate as well as potential abuse of the system.

As with the media options, Jade Connections provides several options to aid in Reporting and Monitoring of product support activities.

Customer Resource Management (CRM)

Jade Connections can provide customers CRM solutions, accessible via the web.  All customer interactions, regardless of type, are recorded and available to the customer on demand.  Records are tagged by status, so open issues can easily be identified and tracked.

Instant Messaging / Web Chat

Messages for most instant messaging protocols as well as web chat can be logged upon request.

Web Tools

Web access logs and log analysis reports can be provided.  Depending up the type of web tools employed, additional tools such as message alerts may be provided.

Electronic Mail

Logging of all email traffic, both from the customer as well as to the customer is available upon request.

Telephone

Live random monitoring of supports can be provided.  In addition, call record logging and reporting per operator will be provided.
 

Scalability

As your customer base and sales grow, it is essential that your support capabilities match that growth. 

Jade Connections systems and support capabilities are designed to grow as your business expands.  Backend systems always have excess capabilities to be able to deal with surges in activity.  By working and planning together, Jade Connections can ensure that support staffing is available when needed.