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Customer Support Rises to SAS®9 Challenge

We now have 15 months of data from the SAS Customer Support Survey, based on ongoing interviews with a random sample of users. In particular, we speak with customers who have used Customer Support recently, asking if they are satisfied with how their call was handled and with the overall service. The results continue to be highly encouraging, and mirror last year's key findings, with the exception that we are now seeing an increase in customers using email.

  • 94% of customers were happy with the service provided, with 87% rating follow up calls as either 'good' or 'outstanding'
  • 80% of customers said we are better than other vendors in Customer Support
  • E-mail as the primary means of contact is up from 17% to 25%
  • 88% of customers using phone and 90% of customers using e-mail were happy with the call logging process and speed/quality of response

SAS®9
2004 saw the launch of SAS®9, the most significant release in our history. As you'd expect we received an increased volume of calls from users with queries relating to the new and enhanced features of SAS®9. However, survey results clearly show that Customer Support was able to absorb this increased volume with no detectable reduction in service levels, response times or quality of response.

Electronic support
The increase in customers using e-mail places the UK and Ireland more in line with the experiences of Customer Support in other European countries. This growth can be attributed to two factors. First, customers are able to attach related documents and logs to e-mails that help explain and clarify their need, and then receive written responses from Customer Support. And second, customers have increasing confidence in the speed and quality of responses provided electronically.

List servers
As with last year, the survey also revealed that the majority of customers do not use list servers as a support resource (indeed, usage decreased slightly compared to last year). This is surprising because list servers, particularly for a technical audience, offer a wealth of proactive problem-solving information including hot fixes. If you are not already signed up, you can join the TSNEWS-L Technical Support list server by clicking here.

Continuous improvement
As with any survey, no matter how encouraging the results, we are not content with maintaining the status quo. Customer Support is continuing to enhance its services and approaches to ensure you can consistently achieve the best returns from your investments in SAS.

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