Posts Tagged ‘training’
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
There’s a saying that goes ‘The only thing constant in life is change’. Very true. And, in some cases, very hard to accept. When people are used to doing things a certain way, it can be difficult to change their course of action. People get caught up in what they have to give up and what has made them comfortable, versus what they may gain in the long run. You may find that some are eagerly willing to make the change, while some people dig in with their heels and fight you every step of the way.
Technology is often a trigger for significant change and therefore, a potential trigger for resistance. Whether you’re implementing software to take the place of manual processes or replacing one system with another, it’s important to remember that the reaction to that change will vary across your organization. To ease the pain, consider choosing a provider that will take the time to provide adequate training to your staff, as well as remain accessible throughout the implementation process, so concerns can be addressed and minds can be set at ease. Take a moment to zero in on employees who are eagerly embracing the change and have them assist you in training others. Let their enthusiasm become contagious.
Our new customers are often surprised at how easy our software is to implement, train on and use. It is technology after all. But our users, regardless of any resistance, or enthusiasm for that matter, are typically up and running, using the software to book actual events or dining reservations within a few hours of training. We work closely with them and provide all of the tools they need to ease any discomfort they may have with making the change.
Paul Pace from Treasure Island Hotel & Casino is a great example of an individual embracing change. When his company’s legacy dining reservation software system was phased out and ReServe Anywhere® was implemented, he said, “I came on board after implementation, and because the system is so user friendly and easy to use, I logged in and taught myself how to use it. I was able to take single and group reservations, make changes to floor plans and update menus within a couple of days.”
Change is inevitable, yes. But resistance to it doesn’t have to be.
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
Today, I’d like to introduce you to another member of our training team. Leslie Phillips. Leslie joined us in August of 2006 on a part-time basis and became full-time in January of 2010. Throughout her tenure with us, Leslie has been responsible for implementing new accounts, conducting beginning and advanced training classes, writing training materials, and handling customer support calls. She has also traveled to customer locations to host on-site training sessions.
Originally from Washington, Leslie moved to California in 1988 after graduating from Eastern Washington University. Today, she is an extremely busy single mom raising two teenagers. She’s an active volunteer at the high school and enjoys playing, as well as watching sports with her kids. Leslie also loves to travel and read, and brings the passion and enthusiasm she displays in her personal life into her professional life with ReServe.
“Leslie Phillips was the most welcoming, unintimidating, software support person that I have spoken to in a while. Very knowledgeable and has a wonderful bed side manner.” Kristen Childs, Reynolds Plantation.
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
Lynn McGlynn joined us on a part-time basis in 1999 managing customer implementations and property profile customizations. In 2000, on-site training was added to her list of responsibilities. She successfully balanced her time with ReServe and raising four daughters over the next four years. When our new West Coast offices opened, Lynn moved with us and helped with most aspects of the business, including taking product and technical support calls. As our business grew, she made the move into technical support and learned how to install ReServe Desktop to Microsoft Networks.
Just prior to the introduction of ReServe Anywhere®, we added additional staff and Lynn was able to transition back to product and customer support. And finally, in the fall of 2008, Lynn made the move back into product implementation, training and support. Today, she is one of our longest tenured employees and an important part of the team.
Outside of work, Lynn is a busy mom juggling meals, homework, extra-curricular activities, sports and housework. She also serves as a personal assistant, senior secretary if you will, to her husband who is a culinary instructor at a local junior college. In her free time, Lynn likes to play hard as an avid hiker and beachcomber. She comes from a very close family and travels to Southern Oregon to be with them as often as she can.
“Lynn surpasses my expectations every time I need her assistance. She goes above and beyond with every request.” Elizabeth McGlinn, One Atlantic
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
We challenge ourselves continually to improve our internal processes so that we can enhance our customer service and support offering. One of our processes includes tracking our response time for support cases that are submitted to our Product and Technical Support Services Team. In January and February of this year, we opened approximately 1,000 support cases and more than 99 percent of those calls were for product configuration and implementation questions, new feature requests, and training and product upgrade queries. From the time the case was submitted, whether by voicemail, e-mail or via the web, the customer was contacted within 3 hours and most cases were resolved or closed within an hour. In addition, we’ve received 1,184 direct calls to our live Call Center. We think it’s important that our customers be able to talk with an actual person, rather than an automated system. Our 2010 statistics show those Call Center calls were answered, on average, in just under a minute, with 83 percent answered within 30 seconds.
We follow up on each closed support case with a survey sent directly to the customer, asking each customer to rank us on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being Excellent. Since the beginning of the year, 97 percent of our customers have given us a rating of 5 in regards to our response time. Ninety-seven percent of respondents gave our support technicians a ranking of 5 when it comes to technical knowledge and helpfulness.
In addition to ranking our service, many of our customers leave us messages or supporting comments that help us in evaluating our processes. Some of our customers just like to share how they feel about us. Holly Young, Event Sales Manager at Butte Creek Country Club, said, “Thank you! It’s especially nice to call the help desk and get a live person without having to wait or press a bunch of buttons on the phone!”
Thank you, Holly! It’s a pleasure serving you and all of our customers.
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
One of the most satisfying parts of my job is training new ReServe users. There’s something about getting down in the trenches with our customers and showing them how our software works to immediately make an impact on their processes. Watching things click and experiencing that ‘ah ha’ moment is so much fun.
A long time ago, we agreed that our software was only going to be a worthwhile investment for our customers if they saw results right away. In order to do that, we needed to provide things like hands-on, customized training. As a result, sometimes we’ll travel to a customer’s facility; sometimes we’ll do web-based conferences; and sometimes we’ll do one-on-one training with individual employees. Whatever the training requirements, our goal is to make implementation as seamless as possible, as well as make using the product second nature to our customers.
This past summer, we completed the installation of ReServe Anywhere® at the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. I was part of a team of ReServe personnel that traveled to Las Vegas to train the staff. Once there, everything just seemed to gel. Our team was on task, the Treasure Island users were excited and focused. Everything went smoothly and soon everyone was up and running.
There’s always electricity in the air during these on-site trainings. As a team, we’re ready to dive in and do whatever we can to get users up-to-speed. We know their time is valuable and, in many cases, their work continues to pile up while they’re attending training. We hope that once the training is complete, the time they’ve taken away from their daily tasks was worth it and the competencies they’ve gained with ReServe can be put to use immediately to get them back on track and make them more productive.
After the installation at Treasure Island was complete, Monica Dorsey, the Vice President of Food & Beverage, sent us a note that said, “Through customizing the software to installation and training the Reserve team was on property supporting the process from start to finish. This has been one of the most efficient business implementations I have experienced.”
The Treasure Island implementation was a fantastic experience for us. We’ve had similar experiences training customers from all segments of the hospitality industry. And, while training is but a portion of what we do, it’s a very satisfying, energizing part of our offering.
