As a customer of ESR you are automatically enrolled in ESR's support centre and our high quality support services. Comprised of a multifaceted infrastructure, ESR's support centre ensures that our customer care is delivered to your satisfaction.

The technical experts in ESR's support centre have a comprehensive set of tools and support infrastructure to get your problems solved quickly and effectively. ESR's technical experts become your technical experts - on call to help you quickly resolve any problems that occur.

The following describes the facets of ESR's support centre in detail and shows you how to become part of the support centre and a recipient of all of its benefits.

A commercial Lotus Notes based software package is utilized to track and manage all problems. This comprehensive system incorporates many facets to enhance ESR's ability to support you and ensure your satisfaction.

The software handles all aspects of customer care including contract information, trouble tickets, knowledge base, discussion forums, Internet enablement, and other related elements. The following describes some of the key components in more detail.

The details of each problem are captured along with the caller details. Subsequently, all activity and the final solution are captured as part of the trouble ticket. The call originator has the ability to view the current status of their trouble tickets at any time via a web browser.

Escalations

The priority of each trouble ticket is established in conjunction with the caller when it is opened. Each priority has a maximum problem resolution time associated with it. Trouble tickets not resolved within this time frame are automatically escalated in priority. Both the technician and management are notified when this occurs. Escalation times accelerate if problems are not resolved.

Knowledge Database

A comprehensive database of problems and their respective solutions is maintained. The system automatically matches the problem with known solutions and presents suggestions to the technician handling the call. This speeds up problem resolution dramatically. Technicians may also directly search this database at any time.

Reporting

The customer care system incorporates a large suite of standard and custom reports. This allows analysis of trends, common problems, and so on. By using these reports, ESR can provide feedback to customers on how to eliminate ongoing sources of problems and also add to our knowledge base.

Discussion Forum

Organizations may optionally have a discussion forum set up for its employees. This facilitates relevant communication among employees regarding the technology products in use.

Network Status

Organizations may optionally have a web status page informing employees of any problems specific to their company that may affect them. Examples are network problems, server problems, planned downtime and so on.

Security

The security and privacy of customer information is very important. ESR has a number of measures in place to safeguard the information we receive. All access to databases is strictly on a need-to-know basis. In addition, the database containing customer-provided configuration information is kept encrypted. The decryption key is very strictly controlled electronically.

Document Gateway

A BorderWare Document Gateway server provides you 24/7 access to the latest versions of software and reference material from anywhere in the world. Optionally, E-mail notifications are delivered alerting you of new software being available and new product features. A standard web browser is all you need to take advantage of the system capabilities.

Reference Databases

A comprehensive set of databases containing reference information is maintained on-line. This database contains large amounts of information such as manuals, web resources, in-house written papers, software, and so on. This ensures that ESR technicians have all the tools and knowledge to solve your problems quickly and efficiently.

Software Tools

A comprehensive database of software tools is maintained on-line. These software tools allow the technician to diagnose a large suite of software and network problems quickly.

Expertise and Experience

ESR employees are extremely knowledgeable and experienced. At ESR there are technical staff with virtually every certification available in the Information Technology industry. With such skilled technical staff, ESR has the expertise to solve most problems no matter how difficult.

ESR staff are encouraged not only to have a depth of knowledge in a particular area, but also to have a breadth of skills which facilitates solving cross-platform and cross-application issues. This ensures that ESR can handle any type of environment or problem encountered.

Staff members also deliver ongoing consulting, design, and implementation services in a broad range of technology areas. This allows them to bring real world experience to their problem solving.

Authorizations

ESR is authorized for a large number of products and services. These authorizations mean we know the products you have.

Labs

There are times when problems need to be duplicated in a lab environment or solutions developed. Six labs are maintained for this purpose. The lab facilities include 20+ servers, 100+ workstations, routers, firewalls, and so on. Servers include AS/400s, RS6000, and various flavours of UNIX, NT, Novell, and so on. This rich lab environment easily allows the duplication of problems and solution development.

Reference Library

ESR maintains a traditional library of books. This library contains product manuals and technical reference books covering the whole range of Information Technology products and areas.

Telephone System

The call centre telephone system is equipped with all the state-of-the-art features such as call routing, paging, and voice mail. The system also permits a technician to be paged immediately for emergencies.

Operations

The goal of ESR's support centre is to provide a high degree of customer care by resolving problems quickly and efficiently. ESR shows our commitment to this in three different ways.

Make it easy to report troubles

Resolve troubles quickly

Provide a high level of reporting

The following describes each of these areas in more detail.

Make it Easy to Report Troubles

At ESR we make it easy to place trouble calls.

Telephone: This is the traditional way of reporting problems and ESR fully supports this with dedicated telephone equipment for the support centre. Often though, especially when handling troubles from roaming users, the telephone may not be the best way. To assist with this, ESR also has procedures in place for receiving calls by other methods.

E-mail: The easiest method of reporting a problem. When the trouble desk receives the E-mail, it is assigned to the appropriate technician.

Fax: ESR's computer fax server handles a fax received by the support centre automatically. It is E-mailed to a technician to handle the problem.

Resolve Troubles Quickly

Once you place a trouble call to ESR, we strive to solve it as soon as possible. To help us solve your problems quickly, ESR has assembled a team of highly qualified and certified technicians. To ensure that ESR help desk technicians remain current and keep their skills sharp, the people on the help desk are the same people who do our installations. This allows them to have real world experience constantly and ultimately results in more knowledgeable troubleshooting for you.

To assist our technicians in solving problems, ESR has testing labs worth over a half million dollars. In these labs, ESR technicians can use various servers, workstations, and communications equipment to assist them in bringing problems to a speedy conclusion.

To ensure that ESR continues to solve problems quickly, our ticket system automatically escalates problems based on the time required to fix them. When a problem is escalated, the priority of the problem is raised, and an E-mail is automatically sent to both the technician and ESR management.

Provide a High Level of Reporting

During troubleshooting and after, ESR provides you with a high level of reporting. Management summary reports are available based on whatever period the customer wants.