What is DocuWare Support actually responsible for and how is it different from other departments? To get some answers, we asked Matthias Wieland, Head of DocuWare Support for the EMEA region.
Marion Kurtz: Matthias, what‘s the job of the Support team?
Simply put, to make our customers happy again. We like to call ourselves DocuWare's "solution factory" and we’re basically on hand when DocuWare doesn't work as intended, i.e. when there are problems or error messages. But we're also happy to help with questions about using DocuWare and work with our customers to find the best solution.
What kind of issues do customers come to you with?
Well, they are a really diverse bunch. I guess the most typical way a conversation starts out is "yesterday everything still worked, but then...". Often, documents in a process have not arrived where the user expects them to be because, for example, keywords are missing or a sub-process is not doing its job. But there might also be problems with a login, or issues with search or performance – these are requests we commonly respond to.
And what are you not responsible for?
For example, the installation of DocuWare products or updates - that's the job of our Professional Services team or the responsible Partner. In terms of support, we are also not set up to offer extensive configuration advice or training on the phone. Nor can we usually take on the maintenance or administration of connected "third-party" software products.
What does a typical working day in support actually look like?
We are divided into smaller, specialized teams and work at various locations. The day usually starts with a short team meeting. Especially now that many employees work from their home offices, this is very important so that everyone stays in touch with each other and is always up to date with the latest knowledge. Afterwards, the specialists take care of open or new customer inquiries. For business-critical cases, all colleagues receive push notifications via Microsoft Teams as well as via the status monitors found in the team offices (when we are back on site again).
|
Matthias Wieland is Senior Director Software Support EMEA and has been with the company for over 20 years. After completing a computer science education, he launched his career with an internship at DocuWare in Germering and then worked on the Support Team for a few years, advising customers on-site. After a stint at the DocuWare Training Center, he was drawn back to his roots. Currently, he works with a powerful team of 46 employees to ensure that support requests in the EMEA region are answered quickly and competently. |
Where exactly are your teams located?
Currently, the list of locations would be quite long, since we‘ve been working mostly from home for over a year due to corona. But in more normal times, our support offices are located in Germering (near Munich), Barcelona, Sofia and New Windsor (near New York City).
Which regions are you responsible for and which languages do you cover?
We’re here for everyone! In Support, we take care of DocuWare customers worldwide and speak English, German, Spanish and French. The support teams in the U.S. are responsible for our customers in North and South America, Asia and the Pacific Rim. Colleagues in Europe handle requests from the DACH and EMEA regions, as well as the rest of the world.
Are you available around the clock?
Since June 1, we began offering 24/5 support for business-critical inquiries. This means that we are now available to our customers around the clock from Monday to Friday, primarily in English. For "normal" requests, our offices in Europe are staffed from 9am-5pm (CET) on weekdays, while our colleagues in the US work from 8:30am to 3:30am (EST) at night due to time differences they serve.
How many employees work in support at DocuWare? How does that break down in terms of gender or average age?
There are 8 female and 52 male support specialists working for our customers and Partners worldwide. In addition, we have our EMEA team dog Queen, who keeps us in a good mood. The team is quite young, with an average age of around 30. This is due in particular to the fact that we place a great deal of emphasis on training junior IT staff in support. This naturally lowers the average age.
The team‘s star: Golden Retriever Queen
What qualifications do support staff require?
In general, our employees have completed several years of IT training as IT specialists or IT studies. However, there are also quite a few who made lateral career moves. Above all, it is important to have a good knowledge of Microsoft client and server operating systems, networks and SQL databases. Of course, we always look for strong communication skills and people who enjoy customer contact. We impart DocuWare-specific knowledge to new employees during a familiarization and training period of at least two months.
If a customer ever needs help, there are many sources to tap into. Which is best suited for what?
So, for general questions about using or configuring DocuWare, it’s best to start with the Knowledge Center. For specific questions about a configuration or connection with other software products, a question to the DocuWare Community in our User Forum makes the most sense. In case of error messages or problems, e.g. when filing emails with Connect to Outlook, a search in the Knowledge Base of the Support Portal is worthwhile to find known solutions or workarounds. If, on the other hand, you have specific questions about your own configuration, a call to the Partner who set up the workflow is the quickest way to success. For business-critical issues, it's best to submit a request directly to us on the Support Portal.
Can any DocuWare customer use your services?
It depends on where the customer purchased DocuWare. In most cases, a customer is entitled to direct support from us. This is true for all Cloud customers, for example. In some other cases, however, support is provided by our Partners. The maintenance and support contract spells this out.
And what does it cost if I contact support?
Support is always included for our Cloud solutions. For On-Premises customers, annual fees for a maintenance and support contract apply after the first year, depending on the system size. But this then covers everything – there are no costs for individual support requests for customers.
What is the average resolution time for a customer request?
The resolution time naturally varies greatly due to the variety of requests. Our goal is to resolve 75% of all requests within 24 hours. Statistics gathered over many years prove that our customers are very satisfied with our response and resolution time: when a support request is closed, every customer receives a link from us to a short evaluation. Last year, the satisfaction rating was 4.7 out of 5 stars. We are very proud of that.
What was the funniest support request you can remember?
It still makes me smile today! We were once investigating system issues for a smaller customer that kept occurring after hours. After a long search, it finally turned out that a person cleaning their office was responsible for the outages. She regularly interrupted the power supply in the server room because she needed the power for her vacuum cleaner. But the creative ways in which some customers create screenshots can also be amusing. For example, when a notebook is placed on a copier or scanner for this purpose, or a screen is photographed using a cell phone camera – some interesting things can appear.
What do you think distinguishes DocuWare's support?
In our Support department, we live DocuWare‘s chief company value - "customer-centric" - with heart and soul. This means that we always put a customer's solution and satisfaction first, without watching the clock or harping on contractual terms. In line with another company‘s motto "Just do it!," we go the extra mile for our customers, every day.
Always in action for our customers: the Support Team
What do you like most about your job?
The variety! My job is a great mix of projects to improve our support services and the daily support of my team leaders. Every day is different and often can't be planned. Not everyone is built for that, but for me it's just the right thing.
Can you tell us your favorite DocuWare insider tip?
I'd love to! If there are too many searches, lists or inboxes open in your Web Client: Just double-click on the "Open New Workspace" button and everything is neat and tidy again.
What DocuWare feature would you like to see in the future?
I would like to see an even better integration and connection to the Microsoft Office world, for example to MS Teams and SharePoint. Fortunately, this is already being worked on.
Matthias, thank you for sharing insight into your work!
This interview was conducted by Marion Kurtz, Product Marketing Manager at DocuWare.
Additional Links:
- DocuWare Support Portal
- DocuWare Knowledge Center
- DocuWare Community Forum
- DocuWare Training Center
- DocuWare Youtube Channel
Interviews with representatives from other DocuWare departments:
Training to suit everyone: The DocuWare Academy
Professional Services: Solutions targeting individual needs