( ESNUG 434 Item 8 ) -------------------------------------------- [11/18/04]
Subject: ( ICU 04 ) Cadence Addresses Support Issues From ICU Trip Report
> Overall, how do you rank Cadence vs. the other EDA companies you've
> dealt with? (Choose one) Far better, far worst, about average?
>
>
> Far better: ########### 21%
>
> About average: ############################ 56%
>
> Far worst: ############ 23%
>
> - from http://www.deepchip.com/items/icu04-16.html
From: Dan Rourke <drourke=user domain=cadence spot calm>
Hi, John,
Thanks for the chance to respond to your survey.
The great thing about customer feedback is that it simply is what it is.
You can't argue that the customers you get it from didn't really mean
what they said or that parts just aren't true. The Cadence Customer
Support team loves direct customer feedback. It's the most powerful way
for us to know how fix specific issues with the support we provide. We
send out a transaction satisfaction survey when we close each Service
Request asking how we did (unless the customer asks not to be surveyed,
of course). I personally read all comments -- positive and negative;
and all surveys we receive that give us a "poor" rating are also
reviewed by the managers for the team involved. We also get customer
feedback from customer visits, our field AE team, Cadence user groups
worldwide, email comments, etc. Likewise for SourceLink -- we have
several feedback mechanisms built in there.
> What do you think of Cadence's local support in your area?
> Are they around after you've bought their tool (Y or N)?
>
> Yes: ############################ 56%
> No: ###################### 44%
>
> Are they helpful?
>
> Yes: ############################ 55%
> No: ###################### 45%
>
> - from http://www.deepchip.com/items/icu04-05.html
Cadence handles roughly 5,500 service requests each month worldwide and
we are grateful to get a very good survey return rate from our
customers, around 750 responses a month. We are encouraged that over the
last 12 months the satisfaction level these customers report has
averaged between 6.1 to 6.2 on a scale of 1 - 7 (with 7 being extremely
satisfied), but we strive to do better. Typically over 95% of the
surveyed customers fall in the satisfied to extremely satisfied range.
Part of the feedback the customers give us is on the performance of our
support engineers. While here again, we can improve, 25% of the
respondents in August nominated their AE for an "Exceptional Service
Award". We also get write-in comments: 15 - 25 positive comments per
week, and 5 - 10 suggestions to improve service. We use this feedback to
drive specific actions: training programs (including accent reduction
training), Sourcelink improvements, and numerous process changes. We
also receive numerous product comments and suggestions which my team
sends to R&D for analysis and corrective action.
> What do you think about Cadence's self-help SourceLink web support?
>
> Useful: ############# 25%
> mixed: ##################### 41%
> waste-of-time: ################# 17%
>
> What's SourceLink's usual quality like?
>
> Generally good: ############## 28%
> somewhat mixed: ######################## 48%
> waste of time: ############ 25%
>
> - from http://www.deepchip.com/items/icu04-06.html
The percentage rate of feedback on Sourcelink is much smaller, partially
because there are so many diverse uses -- 8,000 users log in each month
with 12,000 views of Solutions, and 2,700 uses of the FAQs. In addition,
we have 15,000 users receiving proactive email notifications of critical
issues, new solutions, and product updates. But here, too, we get large
amounts of feedback, around 400 pieces of feedback on our solutions each
month. 80% respond that the solution helped, 25% that it solved their
issue. But I don't consider this to be an acceptable success rate, so we
have major improvement projects underway in solution content and search
capability. The customer feedback from the ICU will help us with that.
> The biggest complaint the "peasant" users had with the Cadence hotline
> is it being outsourced to India. They really hate it. At the ICU talk
> where I first shared these results, two users walked up to me and thanked
> me for sharing this fact. They stressed it's not a racist thing or
> anything like that -- they just felt they were getting really poor
> support from the engineers staffing the Cadence hotline in India.
>
> - from http://www.deepchip.com/items/icu04-03.html
There was some confusion in what was discussed at the ICU around who
provides support to our customers. Cadence has not outsourced our
support to a third party in India. In 2001, we added some application
engineers in India to help support customers in NA and Europe and we
have recently expanded the size of that group based on the successes we
have seen over the last three years. Expansion of a support center
anywhere is difficult as you have new application engineers, new
processes to learn, etc. That does sometimes impact the customer's
support experience. But we have a talented and committed team of Cadence
employees there that are completely focused on solving customers'
issues. Currently the level of satisfaction for those service requests
handled in India is on par with those handled by our North America AE
team.
An interesting statistic on Hotline use is that Cadence's biggest 50
customers account for 46% of the Hotline requests. In addition, we
partner very closely with the local support AEs on customer support
issues -- to the extent that local support AEs calling the Hotline on
behalf of their customers are, as a group, among the top 5 Hotline users
each month (along with Cadence's biggest worldwide customers).
> Most of the time when you call the Cadence hotline, do you feel that
> you get access to (choose one) knowlegable experts, or people with
> average skills, or the truly inept?
>
> knowlegable experts: ############ 24%
>
> people with
> average skills: ################ 32%
>
> the truly inept: ###################### 44%
>
>
> Do you get good follow-through (Y or N)?
>
> Yes: ############################ 56%
> No: ###################### 44%
>
> - from http://www.deepchip.com/items/icu04-03.html
Your survey elicited more negative feedback on customer support than the
feedback we generally receive. In particular, some customers' opinions
that the Hotline does not (or in the past did not) meet their needs came
out in your survey loud and clear. But irrespective of whether it is the
Hotline, local AEs, or some other capability, Cadence does truly want to
meet every customer's support needs. I invite and encourage any of
your survey respondents to please contact me directly with their issues
and concerns, as I am fully committed to making sure the Customer Support
team succeeds in providing support that exceeds their expectations.
- Dan Rourke
Cadence Customer Support Austin, TX
Editor's Note: Normally I don't comment on what EDA vendors say in an
ESNUG letter, but I'd like to commend Dan for publically and proactively
addressing the support issues brought up by users in the ICU Trip
Report. A lessor man at a lessor company would just ignore any such
user complaints in hopes they'd just go away. My kudos, on actually
taking the "support the customer" ideal beyond lip service, Dan. - John
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