Microsoft to Better Support Partner Questions in Customer Support Organization

Published: February 8, 2006

by Alex Woodie

Microsoft is revamping its customer service organization to provide more tailored support for different types of customers, including consumers and partners, the company announced yesterday. In a Q&A posted to its Web site, Todd Parsons, general manager of Microsoft's customer service organization, explained why the company made the changes.

"Just a few years ago, about 90 percent of the calls to Microsoft's contact centers were from customers seeking technical support or asking questions about a product," Parsons says. "Today, about half of the calls are service related and come from Microsoft industry partners, as well as customers."

As part of the change, Microsoft is shifting from providing product-focused support, to shaping its support offerings by the type of customer that calls with a question. To this end it has incorporated Product Support Services group and the Microsoft Customer Service group into the reformed Customer Service and Support organization, Parsons says.

Microsoft is also developing a more consistent approach to serving partners, and providing them with a single phone number to call in each region for customer service, pre-sales information, licensing questions, and technical support, Parsons says. Many of these callers will likely be pointed to the Microsoft Product Licensing Advisor (MPLA), a tool designed to guide users through the process of understanding product choices, agreement options, Software Assurance (SA) benefits, and estimated retail pricing.

Microsoft is also in the middle of deploying a new contact-center tracking application that covers all 43 languages supported at Microsoft support call centers around the world. A new "knowledge management software framework" is also in the works to give customer support reps quick and consistent access to info about all Microsoft products and services.