0
ECC TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
EDUCATIONAL, CORPORATE AND COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGIES
EDUCATIONAL, CORPORATE AND COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGIES
400 Andrews St. Harro East s-309
Rochester, NY 14604
Camille Sorenson November 19, 1998
Director, Edutech
Wayne Fingerlakes Genesee Valley BOCES
Camille,
The following represents the completed results of the survey information gathered.
The survey was conducted to get a better understanding of the customers perceptions of the services currently provided as well as their expectations and needs concerning future services and support that should be provided.
For the most part, we found that your customers are satisfied with and find value in the services being provided. They feel there is room for improvement, particularly with project management and technical support services. The key issues here are, improved response time, better communications with the district, better communications between Edutech departments, and a better trained and skilled staff.
The installation time for SAA's should be shortened to 2 months, with Server, Instructional and Administrative computers being repaired in 1- 2 days respectively. Help Desk, Shared and Dedicated On-site Staff, Remote Network Management, and Developing New technologies, all rated very high in terms of importance and future support.
The number one priority for Edutech, as described by your customers, is to be more responsive to the services you provide. Primarily this geared at project management and technical support services.
An overwhelming number of customers have commented on the need for additional training services. These comments range from having on-site training, to offering new and different types of training services.
As a result of this survey much was learned about the current customer perceptions relative to the services provided by Edutech. In addition, the customers have clearly identified 4 key points.
* Edutech services are very important to the customer.
* Edutech must respond to the needs of the customer in a timely manor.
* Edutech must work with the customers to better define and expand the training services offered.
* Edutech must invest in itself by virtue of additional training, staff members, supporting technologies etc.
Please review the survey results and feel free to respond with any questions or comments you may have.
Sincerely,
Joe Starks,
ECC Technologies.
Back to top
FRAME WORK FOR THIS SUMMARY
44 districts and BOCES organizations were sent survey forms, approximately 1100 forms were mailed. 32 districts and BOCES Organizations responded with approximately 300 surveys. 27% of all surveys distributed were returned, 73 % of the districts responded
Respondents were broken down into main 4 categories
1) Instructional ( Teacher, Counselor, Psychologist, Aide, Tech Coordinator, Librarian)
2) Administrative ( Superintendent, Asst. Superintendent, Business manager,
Principal, Vice Principal)
3) Support Staff ( Secretary, Receptionist, Nurse, Transportation, Maintenance)
4) Other (BOCES Staff, Coordinators, not identified, etc.)
The breakdown of respondents are as follows ( rounded)
Instructional 50%
Administrative 16%
Support staff 22%
Other 12%
The percentages of respondents based on their positions were consistent with our expectations at the beginning of the project.
Back to top
SERVICES PROVIDED
( Services which clearly showed customer satisfaction and had minimal comments are represented by the charts and graphs only. Other services which showed negative or need for improvement type comments or were consistently commented on, are detailed in this section.)
Services include; Lakenet, Financial Services, Student Services, Test Scoring Services, Part 200, Medicaid Services, School Library Services, Guidance Services, Integrated Learning Systems Services, Training Services, Common Set Of Learning Outcomes, Customer Assistance Center, Project Coordination Services, and Tech Support Services.
Each of these services were evaluated for three perceptions.
1) Quality How well is this service delivered?
Summary A large majority of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of the services provided.
2) Responsiveness How quickly are the services delivered?
Summary The majority of respondents were satisfied with the timeliness of the services provided. Exceptions are identified.
3) Value How important are the services to you?
Summary A large majority of respondents felt that the services provided were important or very important to them.
Back to top
Guidance
Customers found that these services were important but that improvements could be made in the quality of the services provided as well as the responsiveness of these services. Upon reviewing the written comments we find that the majority of issues dealing with this service and the room for improvement, appears to be in the training arena. Customers are asking for additional training and support.
Back to top
Project coordination
88% of the respondents indicated the importance of project coordination services. The survey also indicates that almost 50% of the respondents identified that improvements need to be made in the quality of project coordination services as well as the timeliness of these services. Upon review of the written comments, we have found that very little is actually documented relative to what the specific concerns of the customers are. What we did find is, the majority of customers who indicated the need for improvement in this area, also identified the need to improve training, technical support services and/or equipment installation times as well. In addition many customers have indicated that the communications between the customers and Edutech, as well as within Edutech, seem to be lacking. At this point it appears as though the customers perceptions are, the project coordinators are directly or in-directly contributing to the dissatisfaction of these other services.
Back to top
Tech Support Services
This service encompasses hardware and software installations, diagnostics, repair, as well as research and development. The customer responses indicate that the Technical Support Services rate among the highest of all services provided in terms of value / importance to the customer. The responses also indicate that this is one area that can be improved.
Hardware software Installations and diagnosis
Hardware software Installations and diagnosis
This is a service that the customers view as very important and for the most part are satisfied with the quality of installations being performed, but see room for improvement. The customers are not necessarily satisfied with the timeliness. Upon reviewing the responses and written comments, we have found that the customers concerns are in the areas of, communications between the groups, jobs being left uncompleted, Jobs taking too long to complete, technicians not qualified or need additional training, Edutech being under staffed, in-adequate phone support and personality conflicts. Many of the customers who indicated satisfaction of these services, also indicated their concerns through one or more of the previous comments. Many positive comments were received which relate to the value and quality of the technical services provided .
Repair equipment
Repair equipment
Overall the customers appear to be satisfied with this service citing the response time as the main issue. Customer comments identify that shorter lead times for getting equipment repaired is important.
New R&D products and services
New R&D products and services
This services rated the lowest in terms of value to the customer of all of the tech support services. 86% of respondents find this service important vs.90+ % on each of the others. In addition this service also rated among the lowest in terms of customer satisfaction. The customers identify that the quality and timeliness of these services need improvement. Upon reviewing the comments submitted, the customers cite that Edutech is too slow responding to new technologies and services.
FUTURE SERVICES
( That respondents would like to see)
This question was submitted in an open format allowing the customers to write in services that were important to them. 6 main categories were defined for future services.
Of these 6 categories, 2 were consistently documented.
1) Training, The respondents identified additional training services most commonly. Comments indicate that the customers are very satisfied with the current training program but would like to see more offered.
2) A large number customers indicated that having on-site training would be very beneficial. Offering new and different courses such as networking, desktop applications and expanded scheduling for some of the currently offered classes were consistently noted.
3) Technical Support, For the most part, these comments echo what was said in the Tech Support Services matrix as well as the general comments section. Customers would like improvements in the current services offered before considering new services. The majority of these comments dealt with skill levels and timeliness.
Back to top
REASONABLE TIME FRAME FOR INSTALLATIONS
The large majority of respondents that completed this question indicated that 2 months is a reasonable time frame for normal installations. The Hardware/ Software Installation chart supports this based on the large number of customers who indicated the need for improved response times.
63 or approximately 21% of all respondents commented on the willingness to share addition costs as a result of improved response times. Of these 63, 37 respondents would consider the additional costs. 26 said no, 19 respondents all of whom were administrative or technology coordinators indicated yes to sharing any additional costs.
Back to top
CUSTOMERS PERCEPTIONS ON SUPPORT HOURS
The majority of respondents that completed this question indicated that current hours of operation were fine. Some indicated that extensions to 7:PM would be beneficial. The respondents are satisfied with the hours of operation and are not willing to share additional costs to change them.
Back to top
CUSTOMERS PERCEPTIONS ON PRIORITIZING IMPROVEMENTS
Participants were asked to rank in order of importance, the improvements that they would like to see in Edutech. (Listed in order of importance).
1) A very large majority of customers would like to see Edutech be more responsive to the existing services provided.
2) The second priority by a narrow margin over the third, is to reduce service costs and fee's.
3) The third priority is to offer additional/ new services.
Back to top
TECHNICAL SUPPORT/ EQUIPMENT REPAIRS
The participants were asked to identify their expectations for equipment repair as it relates to File Servers, Instructional computer equipment, and Administrative computer equipment. The results were;
File Servers 1 day
Instructional 2 days
Administrative 2 days
Back to top
TECHNICAL SUPPORT/ SERVICES
The participants were asked to rate the following existing or proposed services as to their importance based on the future expectations of technology support needed in the district.
SERVICE RESPONSE
SERVICE RESPONSE
Help Desk and Telephone Support Very Important
Network Management tools and Important
remote diagnostics
Dedicated or shared on-site Important
support staff
Evaluate and develop new Very Important
technologies for the districts
Individually each of the services rated 90% or greater in terms of importance to the customer. As compared against each other the respondents indicated that the order of importance is as follows, Help Desk, Shared Staff, Network Management Tools, and Research and Development. This is consistent with what we expected to find. Many of the comments identified better phone support and greater access to staff members as key issues. The help desk, shared staff and Network management tools would all enhance the responsiveness issues raised by the customers.
Back to top
OVERALL PICTURE
Overall Customer Satisfaction with all services combined
Overall Customer Satisfaction with all services combined
* 45% of responses are very satisfied
* 36% of responses are satisfied
* 19% of responses feel that improvement is needed
Overall quality of services provided
Overall quality of services provided
* 35% very satisfied
* 42% satisfied
* 23% needs improvement
Overall responsiveness of services provided
Overall responsiveness of services provided
* 31% very satisfied
* 43% satisfied
* 26% needs improvement
Overall value of services provided
Overall value of services provided
* 69% very important
* 23% important
* 8% not important
Medicaid services had the highest number of "very satisfied" responses
Project coordination had the highest number of " needs improvement" responses
Back to top
0