Know-It-Alls

As a result, agents now create technical solutions forcustomers in the most efficient – and logical –way possible instead of simply offering a "quick and dirty"solution. Think of the difference between simply being toldwhat keys to strike on your PC and being taught how yoursoftware works and the logic behind executing a certainsequence of keystrokes. Once you actually understand how theproduct works, you can use the software more effectively andresolve more problems yourself.

Agents also had to change the way they present the solutionsto customers. "We wanted to provide a collaboration tool foremployees and a library source for our customers," saysDemiral. "Engineers wanted to provide a lot of detailedinformation yet we needed a degree of simplicity forcustomers. Most of the time, the immediate focus is on whata great collaboration tool this is and how it overcomesgeographical distance among agents. Then I have to remind[agents] that this is a tool that we want customers to useand that they'll have to organize, write and present thecontent with customers in mind."

Making It Work

Demiral spent a lot of time working with the Level 3 agentsto make their solutions less complex and streamline thereview process. "We had to go through two iterations of howto organize and present the content," Demiralsays. "Customers tend to think in terms of the product andthen the problem. But engineers often think about theproblem first and then the product."

The result: Customers often wouldn't fully understand thesolution. At the same time, Marconi had to work at easingLevel 3 agents' concerns that making them responsible forreviewing solution content would suddenly turn them intotechnical writers.