For high tech industries, the Web's ability to automate product support may turn out to have a bigger impact on profits than Web based sales.

Does this sound extreme? Consider that product support costs high tech companies about 20% of revenue and it is becoming a sales pre-requisite. By way of example: In the space of five minutes, Dell lost a sale of over $250,000 to Compaq. This year, Cisco expects to save $400 million in support costs.

Dell did not lose the order for 250 PCs because Dell was more expensive, offered a less extensive guarantee or had an inferior product. Dell and Compaq were neck-and-neck on all terms, until the customer compared Dell's Web site with Compaq's. Compaq provided 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week online product support, and Dell didn't.

These days, Dell, along with Cisco, Sun, AboveNet and most other leading companies, offers Web based customer support, and it is paying big dividends. The systems discussed in this article range from multi-million dollar corporate enterprise technologies to off-the-shelf solutions that cost less than $12,000.

But they all offer a similar set of benefits: Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty, reduced support costs, and increased sales - a powerful competitive advantage. When a customer uses self-service help on a Web site, telephone support costs are reduced, support staff are relieved from data entry tasks, and the customer is satisfied and served faster.

That customer is also more likely to visit the site again rather than picking up the phone the next time he has a problem. Getting customers to a Web site may be the first step toward selling them additional products or services. Just as important, if customers can get 24-hour service at a competitor's site but not at yours, you may be losing sales without knowing it.

Web based customer service should provide customers with the ability to efficiently search for product information, software updates, technical help and documentation. Much can be accomplished with a good search tool, but that is no longer enough. The customer must also be able to submit bug reports, product suggestions, or requests for information and track their progress. It is this level of interactivity that distinguishes an effective Web site from the passive catalogs that have dominated up to now.

Let's look at three examples of companies that have implemented Web-based customer service on different scales, depending on their resources and customer base.

AboveNet - under $12,000

The company went public last year and has seen explosive growth, forming global partnerships and opening new offices in London, Austria, Germany, and New York.

Hyper-growth means hyper-pressure on the MIS department, and AboveNet needed some industrial strength tools to support its customers.

It also needed a system that could be up and running immediately, and could grow as its needs evolved. Of course, the system had to be 100% Web based. By choosing an off-the-shelf support product called SupportWizard, AboveNet was able to install, customize and put the system into production use in less than three working days, for a cost of under $12,000.

Linda Li, the MIS program manager says that time, not cost was the determining factor. "The key factors were time to implement, software functionality/performance, and service. When it comes to our service, AboveNet customers expect that 'it just works', and in the MIS department, we needed to provide that same level of reliability for our employees."

AboveNet uses the SupportWizard system to collect, assign, track, and manage problem reports and enhancement requests. The system allows internal users to create and track their own problem reports, so demands on MIS are reduced. Graphical (Java based) charts help management keep abreast of the status of requests and response times.

The goal of the system was to empower users and senior management while allowing MIS to get a firm hold on problem tickets. Linda reports that the system has achieved just that.

"We gave our users the power to create and track their own tickets at any time of day or night. We gave top management a tool to see exactly what is happening with a couple of mouse clicks on their browser. We gave ourselves the power to manage a rapidly growing staff and the time to respond to requests. And, we did it all in three days, without disrupting existing systems."

Broderbund - under $200,000

Broderbund has opted for an artificial intelligence approach using a case-based reasoning search engine made by Inference Corp. and its own Gizmo Tapper graphical interface.

The support area of Broderbund's site is open to anyone with a browser. Once a customer selects a product to ask about, she is asked to describe the problem and is then given a series of questions that are intended to lead to the appropriate solution.

The value of an AI-based system is that it is simple for the end user and can mimic a typical telephone support conversation. However, each problem or issue typically requires its own decision tree and set of questions, and these can be quite time-consuming to construct. When the customer's answers do not match an existing issue, she is told that there is no match and is presented with the options of searching again, sending e-mail to technical support, or calling the support line.

The company has seen an increase in support traffic at its Web site since it has begun including hotlinks to the site in many of its software titles. With this feature, customers with Internet access who click on the software's help button are connected directly to technical support on the Web site.

According to Jim Wilmott, product support manager, Web support has so far reduced Broderbund's telephone support calls by about 500 per week. For a support center receiving an average of 1,500 calls a day, this is not a large percentage, but has still led to a substantial reduction of staff and cost savings. Company officials estimate that their Web support has increased customer satisfaction and saved them from hiring 11 phone support representatives, providing an annual savings of at least $495,000. The system soon paid for its $175,000 price tag.

Cisco Systems - over $1 million

By March 1996 there were over 28,000 registered customers accessing the site. Customers are able to track the status of orders, view full documentation for all Cisco products, get pricing information, search for technical help, download all Cisco software, participate in surveys and provide feedback.

Of course, establishing and maintaining such a site requires substantial resources. The site employs a proprietary blend of full text search, artificial intelligence and automated content driven by Cisco's enterprise document management system. Cisco regards this facility as one of its key competitive advantages and does not release the exact mix of technologies which went into its development.

Dozens of people are engaged full time in maintaining and enhancing the Web service, yet they have found it cost-effective to do so. Charles Baugh, who was instrumental in moving Cisco's technical documentation online, said that by 1995 Cisco was saving over $1 million per month in printing and paper costs alone. Cisco has estimated that it will save $400 million in support costs this year, while at the same time conducting $1 billion in sales through its Web site.

Conclusion

The Web offers the opportunity to change customer support from a cash drain to an active component of the development and sales process.

The ability to increase sales, establish closer contact with customers and make substantial cost reductions is driving businesses of all sizes to provide this service.

Web-based customer support provides a key competitive advantage. There may be no other area of Web technology where the productivity gains are so immediate and the rise in customer expectations so rapid.

SupportWizard is a trademark of Integral Solutions Corporation.