Ultimate Software (NASDAQ: ULTI) is a corporation that designs, markets, implements, and supports human resources (HR), payroll, and talent management software primarily in North America with the ability to track employees in more than 100 countries. In 2009, Ultimate had $196.6 million in revenues[1] and approximately 2,200 customers.[2] Its headquarters are in Weston, Florida and its primary product is UltiPro.
Ultimate Software is passionate about its Web-based payroll and workforce management solutions. The company employs more than 500 people, including 62 highly trained support professionals who focus on responding to customer support calls. The company fosters a culture that values employees and it shows: in 2005, Ultimate Software was listed among the Top 25 Best Medium-Sized Companies to Work for in America by the Great Place to Work Institute.
The Challenge: Choosing the Right Technology to Deliver Perfect Support
Because Ultimate Software’s payroll and HR solutions are critical applications for businesses, it is essential to resolve customer issues rapidly and accurately. The company’s customer service philosophy, called “Passion for Perfection,” aims to create an outstanding customer support experience. “Our customer support teams are motivated about raising the bar on performance to ensure the highest levels of customer satisfaction,” explained JC Gonzalez, vice president of customer support. “The company does everything it can to win customers’ loyalty.”
For years, customer support teams supplemented traditional phone support by using remote-support tools to take control of a customer’s computer to resolve an issue. However, the company used a remote support product that was difficult to connect and cumbersome to use. “Even though we solved our customer’s issues, the technology itself didn’t handle the process efficiently,” recalled Heath Propper, director of technical support. As a result, customer satisfaction with this remote support solution was lackluster and employees shied away from using it. “We required a solution that allowed us to focus on solving our customer’s issues, not on the support technology itself.”
Implementing Citrix GoToAssist
Citrix® GoToAssist™ is now part of Ultimate Software’s playbook for delivering exceptional support. Of the thousands of calls received monthly, up to 50 percent involve GoToAssist for resolving issues. When talking with a customer, the support representative easily starts a Web-based remote support session by providing a URL and a unique connection code. The representative can then securely connect to the customer’s system to share their desktop, upload patches, resolve the issue and provide product training. Built-in surveys are automatically delivered to customers at the end of each session to gauge the effectiveness of problem resolution. Survey results are then stored to provide important satisfaction metrics that tie in to the company’s employee reward and recognition program.
Key Business Benefit — Enhancing Customer Satisfaction
With GoToAssist, Ultimate Software support representatives now concentrate on providing excellent service rather than dealing with a cumbersome remote-support product. “Now our focus is 100 percent on helping our customers, and our overall customer retention rate stands at an enviable 97 percent. Customers are much more satisfied with the GoToAssist experience,” noted Gonzalez.
Ultimate Software has significantly improved several other metrics as well. Previously, the average call-handling time was longer than desired. Now, with GoToAssist’s small, on-demand download, representatives can get to the source of the issue faster. “Within 30 seconds we are typically engaged in troubleshooting the issue,” said Propper. Once in a session, issues can be resolved faster and more accurately through powerful features such as remote control, file transfer and remote diagnostics. “Since implementing GoToAssist, we have decreased our call-handling time by 50 percent,” enabling representatives to increase the quality of service during support calls.
Customers have responded enthusiastically to GoToAssist. “Customers often ask us to start a GoToAssist session as soon as the call begins,” said Propper. Because GoToAssist is a key technology that enables representatives to resolve issues accurately the first time, the company now resolves 95 percent of customer issues at the tier one support level. Furthermore, support representatives use a support situation as an opportunity to provide enhanced service and education. “We’re able to spend additional time with the customers coaching them so that they’re less dependent on support in the future,” he said. “We have changed their experience and the perception of what customer support can be.”
Supporting the “Big Play” with GoToAssist
After each GoToAssist session, customers provide feedback on their experience using an integrated survey. The feedback and metrics then channel into a unique program to recognize and reward employees. For example, customer comments that exemplify excellent service are read by senior management and can result in a “Big Play” award. “We provide rewards and bonuses for the top teams and top individuals based on the GoToAssist surveys,” said Propper.
Keeping employees satisfied is a primary goal at Ultimate Software. “Employee retention is something we value very highly and we’re always looking at ways to improve the support representative experience,” explained Gonzalez. GoToAssist boosts employee satisfaction because it cultivates a successful and positive support experience for both customers and representatives. “Because representatives can resolve issues faster and more accurately for customers, our employee satisfaction is higher.”
Security and Integration are Essential
In the payroll and HR industry, data privacy is paramount. “We are dealing with personal employee information as well as payroll information,” said Propper. GoToAssist provides state-of-the-art security features to bolster customers’ confidence that the data remains private. “GoToAssist provides 128-bit encryption and other security measures that put customers at ease knowing that their data is secure.”
Ultimate Software has seamlessly integrated the GoToAssist solution and GoToAssist session data into its existing case management system and other technologies. “Having the data stored locally on our own servers allows us to use our in-house business intelligence tools to report and analyze it,” said Gonzalez.
Key employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of your business. Managers readily agree that retaining your best employees ensures customer satisfaction, product sales, satisfied coworkers and reporting staff, effective succession planning and deeply imbedded organizational knowledge and learning. If managers can cite these facts so well, why do they behave in ways that so frequently encourage great employees to quit their jobs?
Employee retention matters. Organizational issues such as training time and investment; lost knowledge; mourning, insecure coworkers and a costly candidate search aside, failing to retain a key employee is costly. Various estimates suggest that losing a middle manager costs an organization up to 100 percent of his salary. The loss of a senior executive is even more costly. I have seen estimates of double the annual salary and more.
Employee retention is critically important for a second societal reason, too. Over the next few years while Baby Boomers (age 40 to 58) retire, the upcoming Generation X population numbers 44 million people (ages 25-34), compared to 76 million Baby Boomers available for work. Simply stated: there are a lot fewer people available to work.
Employee retention is one of the primary measures of the health of your organization. If you are losing critical staff members, you can safely bet that other people in their departments are looking as well. Exit interviews with departing employees provide valuable information you can use to retain remaining staff. Heed their results. You’ll never have a more significant source of data about the health of your organization.
I’ve provided retention tips in earlier articles, but will add ten more retention tips to your arsenal with these top ten ways to retain a great employee.
Ultimate Software is passionate about its Web-based payroll and workforce management solutions. The company employs more than 500 people, including 62 highly trained support professionals who focus on responding to customer support calls. The company fosters a culture that values employees and it shows: in 2005, Ultimate Software was listed among the Top 25 Best Medium-Sized Companies to Work for in America by the Great Place to Work Institute.
The Challenge: Choosing the Right Technology to Deliver Perfect Support
Because Ultimate Software’s payroll and HR solutions are critical applications for businesses, it is essential to resolve customer issues rapidly and accurately. The company’s customer service philosophy, called “Passion for Perfection,” aims to create an outstanding customer support experience. “Our customer support teams are motivated about raising the bar on performance to ensure the highest levels of customer satisfaction,” explained JC Gonzalez, vice president of customer support. “The company does everything it can to win customers’ loyalty.”
For years, customer support teams supplemented traditional phone support by using remote-support tools to take control of a customer’s computer to resolve an issue. However, the company used a remote support product that was difficult to connect and cumbersome to use. “Even though we solved our customer’s issues, the technology itself didn’t handle the process efficiently,” recalled Heath Propper, director of technical support. As a result, customer satisfaction with this remote support solution was lackluster and employees shied away from using it. “We required a solution that allowed us to focus on solving our customer’s issues, not on the support technology itself.”
Implementing Citrix GoToAssist
Citrix® GoToAssist™ is now part of Ultimate Software’s playbook for delivering exceptional support. Of the thousands of calls received monthly, up to 50 percent involve GoToAssist for resolving issues. When talking with a customer, the support representative easily starts a Web-based remote support session by providing a URL and a unique connection code. The representative can then securely connect to the customer’s system to share their desktop, upload patches, resolve the issue and provide product training. Built-in surveys are automatically delivered to customers at the end of each session to gauge the effectiveness of problem resolution. Survey results are then stored to provide important satisfaction metrics that tie in to the company’s employee reward and recognition program.
Key Business Benefit — Enhancing Customer Satisfaction
With GoToAssist, Ultimate Software support representatives now concentrate on providing excellent service rather than dealing with a cumbersome remote-support product. “Now our focus is 100 percent on helping our customers, and our overall customer retention rate stands at an enviable 97 percent. Customers are much more satisfied with the GoToAssist experience,” noted Gonzalez.
Ultimate Software has significantly improved several other metrics as well. Previously, the average call-handling time was longer than desired. Now, with GoToAssist’s small, on-demand download, representatives can get to the source of the issue faster. “Within 30 seconds we are typically engaged in troubleshooting the issue,” said Propper. Once in a session, issues can be resolved faster and more accurately through powerful features such as remote control, file transfer and remote diagnostics. “Since implementing GoToAssist, we have decreased our call-handling time by 50 percent,” enabling representatives to increase the quality of service during support calls.
Customers have responded enthusiastically to GoToAssist. “Customers often ask us to start a GoToAssist session as soon as the call begins,” said Propper. Because GoToAssist is a key technology that enables representatives to resolve issues accurately the first time, the company now resolves 95 percent of customer issues at the tier one support level. Furthermore, support representatives use a support situation as an opportunity to provide enhanced service and education. “We’re able to spend additional time with the customers coaching them so that they’re less dependent on support in the future,” he said. “We have changed their experience and the perception of what customer support can be.”
Supporting the “Big Play” with GoToAssist
After each GoToAssist session, customers provide feedback on their experience using an integrated survey. The feedback and metrics then channel into a unique program to recognize and reward employees. For example, customer comments that exemplify excellent service are read by senior management and can result in a “Big Play” award. “We provide rewards and bonuses for the top teams and top individuals based on the GoToAssist surveys,” said Propper.
Keeping employees satisfied is a primary goal at Ultimate Software. “Employee retention is something we value very highly and we’re always looking at ways to improve the support representative experience,” explained Gonzalez. GoToAssist boosts employee satisfaction because it cultivates a successful and positive support experience for both customers and representatives. “Because representatives can resolve issues faster and more accurately for customers, our employee satisfaction is higher.”
Security and Integration are Essential
In the payroll and HR industry, data privacy is paramount. “We are dealing with personal employee information as well as payroll information,” said Propper. GoToAssist provides state-of-the-art security features to bolster customers’ confidence that the data remains private. “GoToAssist provides 128-bit encryption and other security measures that put customers at ease knowing that their data is secure.”
Ultimate Software has seamlessly integrated the GoToAssist solution and GoToAssist session data into its existing case management system and other technologies. “Having the data stored locally on our own servers allows us to use our in-house business intelligence tools to report and analyze it,” said Gonzalez.
Key employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of your business. Managers readily agree that retaining your best employees ensures customer satisfaction, product sales, satisfied coworkers and reporting staff, effective succession planning and deeply imbedded organizational knowledge and learning. If managers can cite these facts so well, why do they behave in ways that so frequently encourage great employees to quit their jobs?
Employee retention matters. Organizational issues such as training time and investment; lost knowledge; mourning, insecure coworkers and a costly candidate search aside, failing to retain a key employee is costly. Various estimates suggest that losing a middle manager costs an organization up to 100 percent of his salary. The loss of a senior executive is even more costly. I have seen estimates of double the annual salary and more.
Employee retention is critically important for a second societal reason, too. Over the next few years while Baby Boomers (age 40 to 58) retire, the upcoming Generation X population numbers 44 million people (ages 25-34), compared to 76 million Baby Boomers available for work. Simply stated: there are a lot fewer people available to work.
Employee retention is one of the primary measures of the health of your organization. If you are losing critical staff members, you can safely bet that other people in their departments are looking as well. Exit interviews with departing employees provide valuable information you can use to retain remaining staff. Heed their results. You’ll never have a more significant source of data about the health of your organization.
I’ve provided retention tips in earlier articles, but will add ten more retention tips to your arsenal with these top ten ways to retain a great employee.
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