( ESNUG 297 Item 3 ) ---------------------------------------------- [7/30/98]
Subject: (ESNUG 295 #10) Boba Fett's View Of The Synopsys Hotline
> But in that same ESNUG 292, an anonymous Synopsys contractor (using the
> pseudonym "Boba Fett of the Evil Empire"), cyncically told the rest of the
> story with: "You guys can't imagine what a chore it is, fighting my way in
> to work at Synopsys every day through the ravening hoards of experienced
> design engineers who are vying for the very few prized openings in Synopsys
> Tech. Support, just desperate to get that choice job listening to whining,
> insulting and obnoxious engineers like the above calling them on the
> telephone all day, each caller taking the attitude that their project is
> the only one in the world that's late, that they are Synopsys' number one
> priority, and that Synopsys should send them a patch for their particular
> problem yesterday, even if it can't be reproduced. How many experienced
> design engineers do YOU know who would be willing to take on a helpline
> job, full-time? And how much would we have to pay you?"
From: Marty.Hood@smc.com (Marty Hood)
John,
I read Boba Fet's post with interest. I thought it was interesting that
only an anonymous employee of Synopsys was willing to state the painfully
obvious truth, Synopsys is unwilling to compensate Hotline employees at an
appropriate level.
I let the initial whining, then the "official" response, and finally the
"unofficial" response pass without comment because I've always felt that
"corporate America" doesn't give a rat's behind about customer service.
Most companies have decided their customers are not willing to pay for
top-notch customer service. Complaining publicly about customer service
from companies like Synopsys usually provokes lip-service like that from
Vito.
Now that I've laid bare my prejudices, here's my response. If Synopsys (or
Cadence or whoever) wants a reputation for fantastic customer service,
staff your front-line customer organization with experienced designers with
excellent communication skills. Then give them incentive to clear up
customer problems in a timely fashion (say 72 hours). This will cost big
bucks. But if a company wants the reputation they must be willing to pay
for it, i.e., there's no free lunch.
I chose to ignore the little exchange because I felt it would be a waste of
time to bash the poor Hotline folks or defend Synopsys pitiful excuse for
customer service. But since you effectively called us wimps for not
answering the challenge, consider me one designer who thinks Synopsys has a
long way to go on customer service.
I have called or emailed the Hotline about a half dozen times. They have
never solved my problems. A local FAE, colleague, or ESNUG post have
always been the source of a solution or work-around. I got tired of taking
the time to document my problem just to see it disappear in to the bit
bucket. I haven't bothered in a long time.
The best way to make EDA tools work in today's business climate is to join
forums like ESNUG and build up your network of colleagues. Then share
information, it will always return a dividend.
Keep up the good work,
- Marty Hood
Standard Microsystems Corp.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: Martin Harriman <martinh@sei.com>
John,
Personally, I've never called the (telephone) hotline. I've been using the
Exciting New World of Computer Networking to log calls electronically -- and
I've been quite pleased with the results.
Once upon a time I did telephone support for a company that produced
products even weirder and more cryptic than Synopsys (namely, Ramtek, a
long-gone and not much lamented builder of strange computer graphics
devices).
You haven't lived until you've tried to debug problems at a classified
installation over the phone:
me: "What's wrong?"
them: "It just sort of sits there."
me: "What were you trying to do?"
them: "I can't tell you that."
me: "Well, were you trying to draw a rectangle or a triangle?"
them: "I can't tell you that."
me: "But you were trying to draw something?"
them: "I can't tell you that."
Anyhow, at least through e-mail, the Synopsys Support Center is coherent and
helpful -- sometimes it takes a couple of tries to communicate the problem,
but that's not too surprising given the complexity of the software. It's
certainly frustrating that there are problems they can't solve "until
version 1998.some-large-number," but that's not exactly the fault of the
support center.
(Oh, and I quit before my security clearance came through, so I never did
learn whether they were trying to draw a rectangle -- or indeed whether
they were trying to draw anything at all.)
- Martin Harriman
Silicon Engineering, Inc.
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