Increasing the Scalability of the Technical Support Team at a Software Company

Scalability is a major goal of most Technical Support teams. In our current economy and with ever-increasing pressure to improve profit margins, the Technical Support team at the Active Network is striving to improve its ability to service an increasing customer base without increasing expenses at the same rate. The Active Network, which produces software to enable and encourage participation, has grown rapidly over the last few years and its processes and systems have not been optimized to facilitate efficient growth. Active’s competitive strategy is mainly differentiation, but within some of its product lines price is also important. Active attempts to differentiate itself with high product quality and strong customer relationships built through excellent service. However, they have not committed to this strategy, resulting in challenges for the Support team that stem from underinvestment. Over 200 employees at the Active Network were surveyed to better understand the opportunities to increase efficiencies within the Support Department. Employee feedback, combined with extensive industry research resulted in several key opportunities being identified that will help the team contribute to profitable growth.