His thoughts on internal tools and support are very insightful. It's why I am typically sad when a company outsources its support.
When a company does its own support with internal personnel, it has a vested interest in making the customers happy and also serving them as efficiently as possible.
When a company outsources its technical support, there is no real incentive for the outsource partner to let the company know how the processes and tools can be improved and automated. In fact, quite the opposite. If doubling the business means double the support costs, that works out great for the outsourcing partner.
Perhaps it's still possible to outsource the support work, but still care deeply about the details of how that work is done, and how the process can be improved/automated with systems. I haven't seen it work that way, however.
When a company does its own support with internal personnel, it has a vested interest in making the customers happy and also serving them as efficiently as possible.
When a company outsources its technical support, there is no real incentive for the outsource partner to let the company know how the processes and tools can be improved and automated. In fact, quite the opposite. If doubling the business means double the support costs, that works out great for the outsourcing partner.
Perhaps it's still possible to outsource the support work, but still care deeply about the details of how that work is done, and how the process can be improved/automated with systems. I haven't seen it work that way, however.