Most of us have become more frugal during the past several years of economic uncertainty. These days, people are spending more money on experiences that build memories than on toys and gadgets. We are thinking longer and harder about what to buy. And service – good service – has never been more important.

Manufacturers and retailers are keenly aware of this shift in spending, and are therefore finding creative ways to connect with customers. Wal-Mart – an Everest customer – responded to the change in consumer spending by marketing experiences such as game boards and other items one would need for home entertainment or “staycations.”

Research shows that strong relationships bring more happiness than having, or even spending, money. What this means for business in the new economy is that we need to be connecting with our customers more than ever.

At Lynk Software, making our customers happy makes us happy. But we are really in the business of helping our customers make their customers happy. Everest is a means to that end. Having easy access to critical information, Everest users are able to show genuine concern by demonstrating that the company cares enough to track customer feedback and make changes as a result.

The changes in consumer spending are likely here to stay, and are positive and healthy for the most part. As mindful consumption continues to replace conspicuous consumption, the opportunity for business lies in building relationships that last.

Is Your Organization Keeping Valuable Customer Data in Spreadsheets or a Homegrown Access™ Database?

A Common Scenario
One of the most common reasons for buying Everest is to replace spreadsheets, old software or a paper-based process. Our expertise comes from over 40 years of software application development. We understand the trade-off decisions considering in-house software development vs. buying a commercial off-the-shelf solution such as Everest.

Resource Allocation
One of the key factors to consider is project resource allocation. Significant issues to consider include:

 The internal resources necessary to create the desired functionality
 The talent and resources needed to maintain and update the system
 The effort required to become a subject matter expert
 The responsibility and resources to keep the system tuned with the latest technical advancements

An internal development team may possess the programming skills and even the lengthy development time required, however the extensive ongoing refinement of Everest keeps it consistently ahead of the pack. With Everest, you get the latest technological advancements, feature enhancements and cross-industry best practices bundled into regular releases of the program. Our focus and software expertise are unmatched because of the simple fact that Everest is all we do at Lynk Software.

Reasons for Change
Is your organization still keeping valuable customer data in various Excel™ spreadsheets or a homegrown Access™
database? Everest is a smart choice for many reasons. Consider the following:

 Multiple spreadsheets make consolidated reporting difficult and very time consuming, while inconsistencies can cause numerous errors
 Internally developed databases require regular maintenance and are usually over-dependent on a particular individual for advanced procedures or troubleshooting
 Data analysis is a time consuming, labor intensive process
 Limited functionality and static system design
 No internal support or completely outdated technology
 Results are displayed or categorized wrong due to inconsistent entries into key data fields
 Does not scale well for an expanded scope across multiple departments or multiple locations
 Evolution of the business including sales growth, expansion, merger, acquisition or re-organization
 Regulatory compliance requirements or industry standards for improving quality

We all know how stressful customer service can be. Whether it’s a patient, a client or a consumer, providing excellent service can take a toll on your energy. While Everest makes it a lot easier to access customer data and respond with quick information, here are some more tips for staying resilient and positive:

• Breathe – Of course you’re breathing, but are you getting enough oxygen? Shallow breathing tells the body that you are stressed and can actually invoke the fight or flight response! The moment you feel stressed, take a deep breath and continue to breathe deeply throughout the day.

• Be Charitable when Making Assumptions – The thing about human nature is that when we don’t know the whole story we fill in the blanks – in other words, we make stuff up to help us feel secure. So instead of assuming that a difficult customer is just plain rude, fill in the blanks with a different story. Maybe the person doesn’t feel well, or perhaps she was just treated poorly by another company and is at her wits end.

• Drink Lots of Water - Dehydration can make you feel lethargic. You may not even be aware that you’re thirsty, but being parched tends to diminish coping skills, making you less able to think clearly and act with patience and understanding.  

If you think about it, when you have enough energy, life is easier – and so are the people we encounter each day. At Lynk Software, we are happy to offer workshops on providing sustainable customer service as part of our commitment to help our customers – and their customers – thrive.

BACKGROUND
The Motor Vehicles Division wanted a database driven solution to track public requests about automobile dealers. What they got was a software solution that far exceeded expectations. 

IMMEDIATE RESULTS
ITD selected the Everest software as a replacement for the existing in-house database because it offered the department an opportunity to achieve immediate results.

“The Everest system has already enhanced the efficiency of the department by improving the accuracy of dealership information, streamlining day-to-day processes and providing a central repository of all dealership information,” explained project manager Linda Ford.

 CASE STUDY

IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY
The new Everest system does far more  than addressing public inquiries and concerns about Idaho auto dealers, Ford explained. It tracks enforcement actions against dealers, automates dealer correspondence, streamlines processes and generates reports for management; all with greater efficiency and improved workflow.

Information that previously resided in three or four locations, now will be consolidated into one, easy to access repository.

Source: ITD Transporter News Article by Mel Coulter, published March 12, 2010
http://www.itd.idaho.gov

The Balanced Scorecard approach to management is now being utilized across industries: Manufacturing, banking, healthcare and others are all using this approach as a practical way to align with strategic organizational objectives.

Everest: Customer Focused Quality – a software solution that captures customer communication and concerns while managing work flow – helps organizations utilize the Balanced Scorecard approach by streamlining internal business processes and creating a customer focused culture.

The four Balanced Scorecard perspectives include: Learning and Growth; Business Process; Customer; and Financial.

The Learning and Growth Perspective Everest promotes a learning and growth culture. Fully utilized, it drives daily activities and reveals opportunities for employee training.
 

The Business Process Perspective

The seamless communication between employees and departments that Everest facilitates optimizes organizational efficiency. This is accomplished by increasing the speed that employees receive information necessary to solve internal and customer problems.

Everest falls into the Baldrige Criteria of a High Performance Work System, which is a technological tool that facilitates productivity in fast paced, high volume environments.

Internal business processes are easily evaluated in Everest by tracking the various categories of internal complaints. This reveals how efficient the organization is running and how well their products and services align to customer requirements.

The Customer Perspective

The core capability of Everest lies within its ability to capture essential customer information, put it into meaningful categories, and visibly display this information to management at any given time.

Email reminders and follow-up prompts provide workflow assistance to employees on both proactive and follow-up communication with customers.
Trending capabilities highlight opportunities for continuous improvement, ensuring that the voice of the customer is being heard and acted upon.

The Financial Perspective

In addition to improving the bottom-line through increased efficiency, enhanced quality and higher customer retention. Everest increases visibility of situations that may require involvement from risk management in order to prevent potential loss.

The newest version of Everest is web based. Web based software is where we are all headed due to the simplicity and ease of use.

Designated versus Concurrent Users

With Everest web, any user can log on and report a customer complaint, concern or compliment from any computer. This is a big leap from the days when the software needed to be installed on each computer and assigned to designated users.

Ease of Installation

IT departments appreciate that the days of installing and updating individual computers are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Some organizations take this a step further and choose to have us provide the hosting.

Customers with current support agreements are eligible to upgrade any time. Those with expired support agreements are encouraged to renew and upgrade as well.

As the developers of Everest customer complaint software solution, we are pleased to announce on-site services to optimize employee engagement. New content includes a Personal Energy Optimization workshop to help staff achieve better work life balance, focused energy, stress prevention and improved performance.

Communication strategies geared toward cultivating a positive work environment are also emphasised. According to research by The Best Place To Work Institute, “trust between managers and employees is the primary defining characteristic of the very best workplaces.”

Creating a trusting and energized work environment translates directly to the customer. Happy employees make happy customers, and we feel that’s a goal worth pursuing.

Hospitals and medical groups that utilize Everest to track and resolve complaints within patient relations have begun to collaborate with risk management in an effort to reduce potential litigation. How? They are quickly communicating with patients after receiving notification of a complaint. “Prior to implementing Everest,” shares one patient relations manager, “we had stacks of complaints waiting to be processed and not enough staff to enter them”. By automating patient feedback, patient relations is able to receive immediate notification directly from front-line employees through an Everest portal located at each nursing station.

Sorry Works!
In 2005, The Sorry Works! Coalition was founded in an effort to encourage hospitals to communicate with patients and their families about mistakes that are made as soon as the error is discovered. The cause of the error is investigated and procedure changes are intitiated. In some cases, the patient is offered a settlement. The core of this approach lies in the power of an apology. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon – or perhaps it does – to know that apologizing for a mistake you’ve made is the right thing to do.

The University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago experienced this first hand upon implementing a formal apology program in 2006. Since then, the number of claims has declined by 40%. This isn’t just risk management, it’s human decency.

The Everest Healthcare Solution enables a consistent, paperless process for patient complaints and patient grievances. With Everest, the essential relationships between patients and providers are scalable across a large healthcare institution which often includes multiple locations and a network of affiliated group practices.

Once the stacks of patient complaints on paper have been replaced by a paperless, automated complaint resolution system, representatives from patient relations are free to actually visit patients to discuss their concerns, along with more often than not, offering a sincere apology.

Unique Device Identification, also known as UDI, is coming in 2010. All manufacturers of medical devices will be required to comply with the new UDI methodology. The Everest software solution for customer complaints and corrective action tracking includes several features to help medical device manufacturers track a UDI as it relates to all types of medical device problems or defects including: 

• customer complaints
• return authorizations
• product defects
• adverse event – MDR

The FDA UDI Rule will establish a single device identification system that is consistent, unambiguous, standardized, and globally harmonized.

At the device level, marking procedures may include bar code, radio frequency identification (RFID) and direct part marking (DPM). At the organization level, the new UDI methodology offers opportunities for improvement in traceability, recalls, electronic records, materials management, defect analysis and problem resolution.

For FDA regulated medical device manufacturers, the Everest software solution is highly configurable for customer complaints, non-conforming product and corrective action tracking. Here are a few key Everest software features related to UDI…

Product Fields
“Based on a specific UDI, what are the product details related to the customer or patient concern?”

Shipped and Defective Quantities along with Serial Number, Lot Number and user defined fields for any other product details, including the UDI.

Product List
“Based on a specific UDI, how many other problems have been reported for the same type of device or related products?”

Everest includes a master product list based on; Product Id, Description, Product Group and Manufacturing Location. The product list can be imported from a spreadsheet template or updated systematically from a source database with the software’s automatic import program (sold separately).

Defect Codes
“Based on a specific UDI, what types of defects or reasons were attributed to the problem?”For each UDI entered, track results from root cause analysis with up to three levels of defect codes based on configurable terminology to define each; Source, Type, Reason. Everest defect codes enable point-and-click selection of multiple reason codes as needed to identify manufacturing, supplier quality, material non-conformances or other sources.

 Reports & Charts
“What type and volume of concerns are associated with the device and how does that compare with related products, different products and the reason codes?”

Standard reports and charts by Product Id or Product Group, plus a chart drill down feature to explore highest frequencies with drill down details for defect source, type and reason codes.

UDI provides an opportunity to improve patient care, increase efficiency and reduce costs. For manufacturers, a configurable database for tracking the UDI will provide the visibility that is essential to maintain high quality standards and superior customer service. The UDI enables early detection of defective devices to ultimately enhance patient safety and reduce medical errors.

For more information about UDI…

Global GS1 Contact and Website
Ulrike Kreysa, Director Healthcare, GS1 Global Office
ulrike.kreysa@gs1.org
GS1 Healthcare website:
http://www.gs1.org/healthcare

FDA
The FDA is taking the lead in the United States for UDI and will shortly begin developing draft regulations to implement requirements. For additional information about the regulations, visit the FDA website
http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/ocd/udi

UDI Conference – October 20-21, 2009 – Orlando, FL
Hilton Bonnet Creek, Orlando, FL
http://www.udiconference.com

We, at Lynk Software, value our independence. Virtual offices are a must for this spirited group. But in order to offer the quality customer service that defines us as an organization, we all have to be on the same page: organized, cohesive and on top of our game.

How do we accomplish this while spending much of our time in virtual offices? You guessed it – Everest.

Everest is used as a communication tool to ensure that we all know what’s happening with our customers and within the organization. Here are some specific ways the Lynk Software team puts Everest to work:

Tracking Customer Concerns
Designed for this purpose, Everest is perfect for tracking customer concerns and problems. Each concern is entered in Everest and then assigned to a staff member for resolution. An email is generated within Everest to notify the designated staff of his or her responsibility.

Once resolved, the outcome is entered in Everest and catalogued for future reference. This way trends are easily spotted and we have proven solutions at our finger tips. Quality is an ongoing commitment at Lynk, and this system has proven to be a highly effective way to manage product refinement.

Track Product Enhancement Requests
Whenever one of our beloved customers requests a specific product enhancement, it is logged in Everest. Every spring we come together as a team and review these requests. We then decide which of these requests will be implemented and which will be deferred.

Sales Activities
Every prospect is entered in Everest. Every interaction is entered in the system and relevant quotes and documents are easily attached within Everest.

Our commitment is to provide the highest service and quality to our customers. Everest allows us to deliver our best to you while maintaining a work environment that works for us.

Please drop us a line and let us know how you use Everest!