diff --git a/assets/u/image/diesbach_outside_small.jpg b/assets/u/image/diesbach_outside_small.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4bfef09 Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/u/image/diesbach_outside_small.jpg differ diff --git a/content/u/blog/an-alternative-to-annoying-phone-hotlines/contents.lr b/content/u/blog/an-alternative-to-annoying-phone-hotlines/contents.lr new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5fdb20 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/u/blog/an-alternative-to-annoying-phone-hotlines/contents.lr @@ -0,0 +1,154 @@ +title: An alternative to annoying phone hotlines +--- +pub_date: 2020-11-29 +--- +author: Nico Schottelius +--- +twitter_handle: NicoSchottelius +--- +_hidden: no +--- +_discoverable: yes +--- +abstract: +Making technologies improve our life +--- +body: + +## The phone hotline + +If you have a problem with your contract, if you want to have some +information about your product or you just want to change some +detail. By default, many companies nowadays offer something that we +call "hotline". Or in other words: a voice based communication that +allows to easily queue people. + +The motivation and how it works is rather clear: there are a finite +number of employees, each of which can only talk to one person at a +time. So if the number of requests is more than number of employees, +then you are stuck in the queue. However this post is not about the +annoyance of waiting in a queue and enduring little quality, down +sampled classic music pieces. + +No, in this post I want to address a different fundamental problem: +every time you call, you start a fresh conversation. You are likely to +talk to a different person with a different background and probably +not much knowledge of your situation. From a customer perspective you +usually don't have any trail of previous communication. Actually, the +company you are calling might record (and correctly announce it +before) the call. However as a customer, you cannot easily record as +well. Often it is also impossible to correspond with the company by +email, so all written communication has to be sent in letters. In +2020! + +Looking at it this way clearly shows how much power imbalance the +innovation of the phone hotline is causing. But it could easily be +different. + + +## The classic way + +You might or might not remember when companies used to be smaller and +you would request a service with the counterpart in person. Both of +you know each other and are fully aware of each other responsibilities +("I give you money, you give me a product or service") and also of the +support process (A: "It did not work" - B: "I'll fix it!). +Often the service provider was not far away, might even have been my +neighbour. And it's really not good for our relationship if my +neighbour does do what he promised to do. + +As you can easily imagine this does not scale nor work easily in big +companies where staff is rotated or fluctuating. The old value system +of being responsible on a personal basis cannot easily be +transferred. This also means that the classic way is much more +expensive in terms of time and resources, but the responsibilities are +enforced by social relationships. + +## Mixing the two? + +So we could say that they are two extremes: one very personal, high +quality, expensive and the other - well, you get the picture. Is it +possible to improve the current situation and how can we get the best +of the two worlds? Before answering this question, let me give you a +short background of where we, ungleich, are and how we work, to show +you how these approaches can naturally merge. + + +## ungleich @ Digital Glarus + +ungleich is based in [Digital Glarus](/u/projects/digital-glarus/), +a really old mountain valley in Switzerland. Majority of its buildings +are very old (I'd guess most are built prior to 1900, many even much +older), major businesses are industry, farming and also tourism. Many +people here get up before 6 and start working latest by 8. + +We from ungleich on the other hand are working in IPv6 only +networks connected by our own fiber or with long range wifi links. Our +working hours are very flexible, can be morning, day, night, week, +weekend - we are free to choose. Our topics are very technical by +nature. + +These two approaches can contradict, but they can also work together +very well. Like the two ways of communication. + +Interestingly our experience here is that they can easily be combined: +many people living in Digital Glarus have what we call an "old value +system". If you offer a service towards people in Digital Glarus, you +need to take responsibility and be trustworthy. Otherwise the word +will get out within a few days and social enforcement will result in +no more work for you. +While this might sound cruel, you could actually call this "social +quality assurance". Actually a bit similar to what we see in social +media, just lower scale. + +And how does this look like in reality? People here want and need to +be convinced that you are trustworthy. You are having in +person meetings (before corona), one person will make a protocol and then later send +it for verification back to the other party. If something is noted +incorrectly, the protocol will be amended and again verified. + +This ensures that trust is built and also that both parties, the +delivering company as well as the customer are playing on eye level. + +## Combining old values and new communication + +Let's come back to the original problem: we shifted from high quality, +individual services to mass produced in-transparent +communication. Technically and organisational, it is not necessary to +provide a worse product or service if it is mass produced. It just +happens to be the case due to technical limitations in the beginning. + +So let's go back to the hotline problem: we advocate a simple change +that costs little for companies to implement but restores trust and +quality in communication: + +**Every support hotline should be, by default, accompanied by a text based +ticketing system that sends users a protocol and let's them interact +with you on a text basis.** + +So how does this work? The agent in the call center will make notes of +the phone call - they are already done nowadays, but unavailable for +you. Some of these notes might be internal ("The customer does not +know the difference between the power button and the reset button - +always advise to push the button on the right") and are not for +sharing. However, **the key points of the conversation must be sent to +the customer**. This way, as a customer I can easily react and correct +statements that have been incorrectly recorded. With a trail. + +Furthermore in a later stage, as a customer, I also have a trail and +the ability to respond to the previous conversation by text, giving me +the opportunity to add to the trail. And to built trust on the way. + +Obviously, our suggestion here is not rocket science. In fact, it is a +very easy, natural and cost effective measure to be more transparent +and to built mutual trust. + +Some companies might try to argue that it is too complex or too +expensive to implement such a system. To prevent that argument from +being true, we have added a [Hosted Support +System](/u/products/hosted-support-system/) to our product +list. Nobody needs to get it from us, but anybody can. And thus there +is no excuse, not to have it implemented. It is a very similar +[approach to not have an excuse for not having +IPv6](/u/products/ipv6-vpn/), but that is a story for +another day... diff --git a/content/u/products/hosted-support-system/contents.lr b/content/u/products/hosted-support-system/contents.lr new file mode 100644 index 0000000..54a1924 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/u/products/hosted-support-system/contents.lr @@ -0,0 +1,82 @@ +_discoverable: yes +--- +_hidden: no +--- +title: Hosted Support System +--- +subtitle: Easy and transparent support +--- +headline1: Easy to use +--- +headline2: Great support +--- +headline3: Reducing workload +--- +header_background_color: #1393B4 +--- +header_text_color: text-light +--- +nav_classes: navbar-dark +--- +feature1_title: Good customer support +--- +feature1_text: With our hosted support system you can manage support +requests easily. Customer requests are not lost and can easily be +assigned to an employee to work on. +--- +feature2_title: Easy to use +--- +feature2_text: Support needs to be transparent, efficient and of worth +for your users. Our hosted support system works smoothly to make most +of your time and provide best support to your users. +--- +feature3_title: Managed Support System +--- +feature3_text: With the hosted support system you can focus on your +core business. Upgrading the system and maintaining it is taking care +of by us. +--- +content1_text: + + +## A Support System + +Our hosted support system enables you to organise support requests and +organise them easily. You can + +* Receive emails from your customers +* Organise tickets in different groups +* Reply to your customers directly +* Have an auto responder ("Thanks for reaching out") + +## How to use it + +With our hosted support system you get a url like +https://support.ungleich.ch. Your employees can login to the system and +work on requests. Your customers / users can either correspond with +you via email or login to the support system themselves to manage +their tickets. + +## Fully Open Source and IPv6 enabled + +As with all our offers the support system is completely based on Open +Source Software components. From the operating system to the software +stack, nothing is closed. We are using + +* [Alpine Linux](https://alpinelinux.org/) +* [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org/) +* [cdist](https://cdi.st) +* [RT](https://bestpractical.com/request-tracker) from Best Practical + +as the technology stack. + +## Zero Carbon + +As always, the hosted support system is running in our Zero Carbon +Data Center. + +## How to order + +As the support system can be setup for very different use cases, we +recommend to contact us at **support -at- ungleich.ch** to discuss how +you would like to have your system setup. diff --git a/content/u/products/ipv6-vpn/contents.lr b/content/u/products/ipv6-vpn/contents.lr index ab96098..908cb76 100644 --- a/content/u/products/ipv6-vpn/contents.lr +++ b/content/u/products/ipv6-vpn/contents.lr @@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ on [IPv6VPN.ch](https://ipv6vpn.ch). IPv6 only websites to be reachable from the IPv4 world. * [IPv4 as a service](/u/products/ipv4-as-a-service/) - enable you to get your static IPv4 address anywhere +* [The VIIRB](/u/products/viirb-ipv6-box/) - get IPv6 hassle free --- diff --git a/content/u/projects/digital-glarus/contents.lr b/content/u/projects/digital-glarus/contents.lr index 032b59f..5f59805 100644 --- a/content/u/projects/digital-glarus/contents.lr +++ b/content/u/projects/digital-glarus/contents.lr @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ image: /u/image/cards/digitalglarus.png --- subtitle: Using digitalisation for the good --- -description1: +content1_text: ## Introduction @@ -47,3 +47,5 @@ phone (+41 55 505 62 66). It is possible to visit us for a day or two, or like many have, to stay longer and even stay with us permanently. +--- +content1_image: /u/image/diesbach_outside_small.jpg diff --git a/templates/layout-2020.html b/templates/layout-2020.html index f7ff708..d87afef 100644 --- a/templates/layout-2020.html +++ b/templates/layout-2020.html @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ - ungleich.ch - {% block title %}Welcome!{% endblock %} + {% block title %}Welcome!{% endblock %} - ungleich.ch