Fast growth, multiple acquisitions and a changing business model were prompting customer care concerns at Ariba, a spend management services provider for Fortune 500 customers. To better hear the Voices of their Customers, they:

Senior Director of Customer Advocacy Roger Blumberg reveals how, in less than a year, Ariba achieved significant gains in satisfaction scores, saved millions in at-risk revenues, and were recognized for their customer feedback program.

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Article:
Derived Importance vs. Stated Importance
by Monica David

Your survey results are in. The customers have spoken. But which follow-up actions should you pursue first? Which are most important to your customers? Which will yield the biggest bang for your buck?

Monica David, Vice President of Professional Services for CustomerSat, explains the two primary ways to uncover what attributes are most important to your customers.

You can simply ask (stated importance) or calculate it (derived importance). Learn the value of both techniques and how they can be compared and contrasted when you read the full article.

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Article
The Transformation of Customer Support

by Greg Oxton

Tiered customer support and escalation paths are becoming relics of the past. For many high-tech companies, today's customer support experiences are shifting from a direct model – person-to-person interaction – to one that's primarily indirect.

Customers are "doing it themselves," finding answers in online user forums, knowledge bases, Web-based self-help and the like. These online user communities are largely self-managing, self-organizing entities. How can support organizations deal with them, and the whole indirect model?

Greg Oxton, Executive Director of the Consortium for Service Innovation, offers expert insights into this transformation of support. He believes indirect support channels offer another opportunity to build and maintain customer loyalty.

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The CustomerSat ACE Awards certify, acknowledge, and celebrate outstanding achievement in customer satisfaction maintained throughout the year. To learn more about applying for the 2006 ACE Awards, click here.

AFSM International S-Business Education Summit and Expo: September 17 - 20, Orlando, FL. This summit provides an opportunity for corporate leaders and experts in the field services and customer services management arena to explore collaborative business potential--learning through sharing. Learn More

Salesforce.com User and Developer Conference: October 8 - 11, San Francisco, CA. Are you ready for an action-packed week of on-demand innovation? Then you're ready for Dreamforce '06, salesforce.com's 4th annual all-you-can-learn user and developer conference! Learn More

Emetrics Summit: The Big Picture, OPTIMIZING ONLINE MARKETING VALUE: October 16 - 18, Washington DC. How do you measure the success of your website? This event brings technology and technique together to illustrate how to optimize your total online marketing value. Learn More

2006 Las Vegas Services Industry Summit : October 17 - 19, Las Vegas, NV. This industry event is your perfect opportunity to share best practices and learn how world-class organizations are improving their service operations. Learn More