Content Provided by Spillman Technologies
Any agency that has recently gone live with a new software system can attest that the software vendor’s involvement should not end with a successful implementation; to maximize the benefits customers receive from their software, vendors should have an extensive network of services, ranging from technical support to modern software training. Top-rate, post-implementation software services often come in five primary forms: technical support, customer success, documentation, online training software, and users’ conferences. An agency looking into a public safety software vendor should make sure it has a longstanding reputation for providing these services.
Technical Support
Technical support is one of the most basic, yet vital, services a public safety software vendor provides to its customers. No software is perfect, so customers experiencing issues with their software need reliable, timely support.
It may seem like a no-brainer for a software vendor of any kind to have technical support, and for the most part it is. What makes the difference in technical services is the knowledge and tenure of the support technicians and the quality of the service they provide. Technical support should be prompt, thorough, and able to provide long-term solutions, not just temporary “Band-Aid” fixes. A customer should also be able to reach an experienced support technician, as opposed to an automated system, on every call.
Customer Success
Forward-thinking companies are redefining their customer relations teams into customer success organizations that engage in proactive, consistent communication with their customer contacts. A customer success team works with agencies to achieve their goals with their public safety software. Someone in a strictly technical support role should not be the only point of contact an agency has with its software vendor, because that’s not the only kind of service an agency needs.
Customer success professionals stay in constant contact with their agencies, attending regional user group meetings, site visits, and other events. They ensure that the customer’s experience is positive or that problems come to light sooner for a quicker resolution when the experience is not positive. In addition, customer success representatives are experts on software capabilities, so they can let their customer agencies know what tools they have at their disposal to reach goals and find true success.
Documentation
Documentation delivers clear, consistent, accurate, and accessible product manuals to software users and administrators. By providing this information, the department aims to help customers become self-sufficient and use the software to maximum capability. In order to do this effectively, quality documentation professionals meet frequently with experts within the company and boil complex ideas down into reader-friendly instructions.
A public safety software vendor with excellent documentation will create and disseminate consistent, effective materials. Having the best manuals and release documents in the world doesn’t help customers at all if they don’t know that the materials exist, or have easy access to them. Good documentation is designed and circulated so that it encourages users to learn to use the software on their own terms.
Online Training Software
In addition to traditional training and documentation delivered when implementing a new software system, learning materials should be delivered throughout the agency’s partnership with the vendor and in a convenient platform, such as web-based software training applications. Agencies often get the most out of a system like this by using it to train new hires, train current employees on new software features, and have personnel complete periodic refresher courses.
Online training software allows software users to take courses any time, any place, as long as they have a device with an Internet connection. Vendors should continuously add to their online course catalog, to help customers when software updates are released and new features are added. A vendor should also design classes for a variety of learning styles, with videos, assessments, and other features that help keep users engaged in the material. In an optimal online training program, members of different departments of law enforcement and public safety agencies will find training for their specific roles. The platform should also allow agency administrators to assign courses to their employees, set due dates for course completion, and easily pull reports to check on individuals’ course progress, making the software training process streamlined and simple.
Users’ Conferences
A users’ conference is essentially a networking and training opportunity for a vendor’s customers. Hundreds of people from agencies across the country can gather at a conference to learn from expert employees, partner presenters, and other customers. Vendors should offer a large number of beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes in different tracks that cover a wide range of topics, from technical system administration to the latest industry trends.
The primary benefit of holding a software users’ conference is that it brings customers and employees together in a way they could not do otherwise. Conferences provide invaluable face time, promote more effective communication, and overall help agencies maximize the investment they’ve made in their software systems. Sometimes taking a class in person or talking face-to-face with an employee or another agency in a similar situation helps to stimulate learning and growth in ways that virtual communication can’t reproduce. Users from each state or region should also be able to form user groups, where they discuss and share solutions to local problems and best practices.
Learn More
The public safety software system you select will have far-reaching impact, so it’s important to select the right vendor with the right solution for your agency. Remember that your software solution isn’t just the program that runs on your computers; it’s also the network of people, support, service behind it. Throughout our many years in the industry, Spillman has earned a reputation for top-rate customer service. Today, we continue to commit resources to ensure that remains a reality for years to come.
Spillman Technologies, a Motorola Solutions Company, serves more than 1,900 sheriff’s offices, police departments, communication centers, correctional facilities, and fire departments nationwide. Spillman specializes in integrated on-premises and cloud software solutions, including Computer-Aided Dispatch, Records Management Systems, Mobile Data & Field Reporting, Mapping & GIS, Jail Management Systems, Fire, Data Sharing, Personnel & Resources, and Analytics & Intelligence-Led Policing. For more information about Spillman, visit www.spillman.com.
