Satisfied Customers by Any Measure

Ensuring satisfied customers is a near-universal goal for companies, but achieving world-class levels of customer satisfaction is increasingly elusive. Today, social media spreads the word about corporate reputation in a flash. Consumers are more discerning than ever, and business customers expect the same great customer service they receive as consumers.

ShoreTel has a long-standing commitment to delivering unmatched customer service and satisfaction to our customers across the globe. We view world-class service as achieving 90+ on a scale of 1 to 100, and survey our customers extensively to see how we score. Customer satisfaction is our singular goal, and our way of doing business from product development to sales to support.

An Obsession with Satisfaction

We strive to constantly improve our customer satisfaction ratings, and have achieved world-class ratings for the past 18 quarters in a row. We understand that when our customers successfully improve communications, we are successful too.

Our commitment to satisfied customers is consistently recognized in the industry. Last month, ShoreTel won seven 2009 MarketTools CustomerSat Achievement in Customer Excellence (ACE) Awards. The MarketTools CustomerSat ACE Award certifies, acknowledges and celebrates outstanding achievement in customer satisfaction. Other ACE Award winners included 21st Century Insurance, Allstate and Merck & Co. This is the third year in a row that ShoreTel has received at least two ACE Awards.

ShoreTel earned ACE Awards based on its customer feedback at world-class levels within seven areas: Overall Satisfaction of ShoreTel; Overall Satisfaction with the ShoreTel UC System; Overall Satisfaction with Training; Overall Satisfaction with Technical Ability from both a new customer and ongoing customer perspective; Overall Satisfaction with Technical Support; and Overall Satisfaction with Implementation.

ShoreTel was also named the best IP telephony provider six years in a row in Nemertes Research's PilotHouse Awards. The PilotHouse Awards are based exclusively on the experiences of IP telephony decision-makers, making these awards truly the voice of the customer. In the study, IT practitioners rated 39 different IP telephony providers for value, technology, customer service, ease of implementation and troubleshooting, and management tools. ShoreTel earned the highest score in every category. ShoreTel outranked competitors large and small, including Cisco, Microsoft and Avaya.

Whether you're purchasing a state-of-the-art communication system for your company or a new pair of shoes, customer satisfaction is built on the trust that doing business with the company has created real value over time. Customer satisfaction ratings are a measure of the customer experience and an indicator that no post-purchase regrets linger. In turn, satisfied customers are willing to put their own reputations on the line to friends and colleagues with their own recommendations.

"When considering the purchase of a unified communications (UC) system for your organization, it's critical to look at all the factors that go into the decision — how well the UC system meets your business and technology requirements, the business health of the company, the breadth of the partner ecosystem, the quality of post-sale service, and of course customer satisfaction," explained Walt Weisner, Vice President of Global Services at ShoreTel. "Before you buy a UC solution, it's critical to delve deep into customer satisfaction to understand the long-term relationship that ensues. It seems that every glossy corporate brochure makes claims around delivering exceptional customer satisfaction, but you need to understand whether the vendor does the hard work of keeping customers happy — truly happy."

There are several things an organization can do to understand how the vendor values customer satisfaction, according to Weisner. Research the company to determine its customer satisfaction ratings. Talk to similar organizations that have the product installed to gauge their degree of satisfaction. Did the UC system deliver on its productivity and cost savings promises? Does it adapt to their changing needs? Would they buy the UC system again? Would they recommend it to their colleagues? In short, organizations must do their homework because even in an economic recovery, you can't afford to choose a UC solution that won't adapt to your organization's needs for years to come.