When we decided to create our new Focus customer portal, the first question we asked was what do our customers want from it? What tasks would you like to be able to perform? Who should have access? Can we generate any efficiency gains for our customers? Can we generate further value to our customers?
Keeping On Top Of The Admin
Customers being able to manage their day to day administration is a given. Being able to put new users onto the service, reallocate devices as staff change, update escalation contact details and order of escalation, etc need to be actioned quickly and simply. For larger organisations, keeping on top of this data can be a challenge. Is this the responsibility of staff centrally or maybe at a departmental level? Depending on the organisation, it could be either. Our Focus portal needed to be able to facilitate central management and/or departmental or team based. Device and App users also get a Focus account to allow them to access eLearning courses around the device and service and also to enable them to update specific information.
Could we provide any additional features here? One request from a customer resonated with us – could we have the ability to check if a device is working ok? So, within Focus, administrators can take a device out of service, specify the time period before it goes back into service, conduct tests with the device, and see in real time the events and signals coming into our systems.
Data
We have always recognised the value in providing detailed usage information. Over 3,000 automated reports go out monthly to our customers detailing trends and data to help them understand how their devices are being used, and to help maximise the value they get from our services. We took the opportunity with Focus to take a big leap forwards in this area. Reports, graphs, charts and tables can be generated in real time covering an extensive range of metrics. Find particular reports useful? Set a schedule up for them to be created at a frequency of your choice and specify who you would like to have access to them. Do you want to drop that chart into your report or slides? No problem, they can be exported in a range of formats at the click of a button.
Managing Information Security
Information security is a hugely important area and one that we put a great deal of thought into. Some of the simpler, non-technical examples include:
- Administrators having restricted access to device user information.
- Security steps to create and authenticate device user and administrator accounts.
- Robust password management processes.
- De-sensitised tables, charts, graphs, etc that can be exported.
- Scheduled reports are not emailed out but held in a secure digital locker, only accessible by authorised users who get notified the reports are now availabe, with access time limits set.
- All data held within our ISO27001 Information Security Management accredited infrastructure.
The Personal Touch
With a diverse range of customers, there are a diverse range of needs from Focus. Going back to our original question – what would our customers like from Focus? For some customers, they would prefer to deal with our Service Desk staff. That’s absolutely fine. That’s not an ‘upsell’ opportunity for us, our Service Desk has been at the heart of our service delivery since day 1 and will always remain so.
Put our Focus portal and Service Desk team to the test! Contact Reliance Protect on Tel: 01977 696649 and Email: protectsales@reliancehightech.co.uk
