Systems Engineering Lunch and Learn: Differentiating Your Business Through Service Excellence
At Systems Engineering, we are constantly striving to improve our business. Each year, we seek to develop better technology solutions, managed services and network security systems - but we also strive to improve our service delivery to customers. Systems Engineering is first and foremost a service business.
This past year, in an effort to achieve best-in-class service delivery, we contacted Neil Cambridge at Comparison North America. His PROBE benchmarking methodology provided us with the cost-effective, quantitative assessment tools that Systems Engineering used to benchmark our business against our peers and map out a strategy to achieve the next level of service delivery excellence.
We were so impressed with PROBE's assessment methodology that as we planned the last Lunch and Learn of 2011, we decided to deviate from our traditional technology track, and share our experience with PROBE. On November 30th, 2011 System Engineering hosted a very special Lunch and Learn with guest speaker Neil Cambridge to discuss the components, implications and assessment of service delivery excellence.
Neil Cambridge is the president of Comparison North America. With offices in the United States and Australia, Comparison's benchmarking tools are used globally in industries across the board. Its PROBE methodology for benchmarking supports business development and growth by improving performance through the transfer of "Best Practices." PROBE tools are utilized by governments, industry specific organizations, research collaborations, individual firms and global institutions. Over the last 5 years the company has grown to become one of the leading suppliers of "Best Practice" benchmarking in the world.
During the Lunch and Learn, Neil explored what service excellence looks like, how it relates to world class competitiveness, why it matters for business and operational performance and how you can use PROBE to evaluate or look at your organization's service delivery objectively.
For information about how to build a better business for 2012 and gain competitive advantage through service delivery excellence - contact Neil Cambridge at Comparison North America, or a Systems Engineering representative.
- “Financially, you could never train or certify everyone on every single product we have here. If we did, my training budget would be 5-6 times larger than it is. That’s where Systems Engineering comes in.” - Mark Weatherby, Director of IT, Goodwill Industries www.ginne.org
- “Our services depend on accurate information, delivered efficiently and consistently all across Maine. The people of Software Solutions have always worked hard to get an in-depth understanding of our needs, and to develop systems that make a real difference to our operations …and the well-being of our consumers.” - Agnes Winship, Attendant Services Payroll Manager, Alpha One www.alpha-one.org
- “We rely on technology 24/7 to be competitive in our marketplace. Years ago, I could give somebody a 13-column pad and a pencil and a calculator, and they were up and running. Those days are long gone. The importance of technology to my business on a 1-to-10 scale is a 10.” - Ralph Hendrix, COO of Macdonald Page & Co. www.Macpage.com
- “I sleep better at night knowing we have a local technology partner with the resources of Cisco behind them. That makes me feel pretty good.” - Keith Gosselin, IT Officer of Biddeford Savings Bank biddefordsavings.com
- “Systems Engineering CIO outsourcing has helped us align ourselves more closely with our different business units. That’s been a very important transition for us.” - Mark Weatherby, Director of IT, Goodwill Industries www.ginne.org
- "Systems Engineering works with me on my goals. They don’t try and sell me things I don’t need. They don’t push technologies that don’t fit. They listen to me and give me suggestions and recommendations. If they think I’m missing something, they are going to tell me. It’s a partnership that works to achieve the firm’s goals. For us, it’s about building long-term relationships and working together to solve problems" - Darryl Hendricks, Director of Information Technology, Preti Flaherty
- "They are dealing with other banks and financial institutions so they see things I don’t necessarily see. They understand the needs of financial institutions and they take our needs seriously." - Keith Gosselin, IT Officer of Biddeford Savings Bank biddefordsavings.com
- "They have been trustworthy partner and they have helped keep us on task. The relationship allows me more time to do strategic planning and researching." - Keith Gosselin, IT Officer of Biddeford Savings Bank biddefordsavings.com
- “I’ve dealt with a lot of engineers from different organizations, and these guys at Systems Engineering are just the best. I know whenever they come over to fix anything, it’s going to get fixed. I never had that reassuring feeling with other vendors.” - Mark Weatherby, Director of IT, Goodwill Industries www.ginne.org
- “We had a thunderstorm hit us on a Friday night. It blew out all our outlets and took out our entire network. Systems Engineering came in that night and worked through the weekend. They had everything back up and running before everyone came in on Monday morning. That’s why I say Systems Engineering gives you peace of mind.” - Ralph Hendrix, COO of Macdonald Page & Co. www.Macpage.com
- “These are people who truly care about their customers. That’s a breath of fresh air in this world.” - Mark Weatherby, Director of IT, Goodwill Industries www.ginne.org
- “If you want it done the right way the first time, these are the guys to use.” - Mark Weatherby, Director of IT, Goodwill Industries www.ginne.org
- “You guys really came through for us this weekend. You not only came in on Saturday and helped me with a problem, but then we had a more catastrophic failure. (catastrophic would not be one of your terms). Our system was down: busy week-end, credit cards, file server, you name it. You came back in Sunday, Pronto, which I really needed and got us straightened out. It was terrific! Kudos to Systems" Engineering for doing such a great job.” - Casco Bay Lines www.cascobaylines.com
- "I have a lot of trust in these guys. They’re a key partner because they play a very important part in what we do. Strategically, they’re a resource. Technically, they’re a resource. I look to them to play a key role, not just to be a simple cost center that we’re paying every month to do this or that." - Keith Gosselin, IT Officer of Biddeford Savings Bank biddefordsavings.com
- “Like other nonprofit organizations with a limited staff and budget, it’s always a challenge; there’s less money for equipment, software, and manpower. Systems helped us by supplementing our staff and providing critical care support." - Mark Weatherby, Director of IT, Goodwill Industries www.ginne.org
- “With Systems Engineering it’s about the relationship. We’ve been burned by other vendors; to them it was more about shoehorning in their products and services into our environment. Systems tries to help supplement whatever you might been lacking; whether that’s manpower or some certain expertise, but they never try to force you into things.” - Mark Weatherby, Director of IT, Goodwill Industries www.ginne.org
- “We’ve been very happy with their level of support and the knowledge of their engineers is phenomenal.” - Mark Weatherby, Director of IT, Goodwill Industries www.ginne.org
- "We hired Systems Engineering because we knew that they were an organization that could keep us ahead of the curve. They brought over some very bright, hardworking trustworthy people to help us solve some highly critical IT issues. When it comes to client relationships, Systems Engineering conducts their business in a very similar way to the way we conduct ours. In other words, I feel as if I gained a partner. - Teresa M. Esposito COO/CFO of H.M. Payson & Co.
- "I don’t know of any other supplier that has the depth and breadth that Systems Engineering has; from programmers, to Cisco engineers, VMware engineers, Microsoft engineers – no one else has that kind of expertise on tap." - Darryl Hendricks, Director of Information Technology, Preti Flaherty
-
“We’ve got a solid network with minimal issues. They do quality work and are a great, dedicated group of people.”
-
Keith Gosselin, IT Officer of Biddeford Savings Bank
www.biddefordsavings.com
