Unsung Heroes: Why Our Support Services Team is Our Secret Weapon

Technology is great… until it isn’t. Few things are more frustrating to restaurant operators than investing in technology only to have it fail exactly when you need it to be firing on all cylinders. Tech failures are also costly–a recent analysis by software testing company Tricentis of 606 software failures at 314 companies found that software failures accounted for a total of $1.7 trillion in financial losses.

While technology will never be completely foolproof, QSR Automations is committed to providing its customers with live support right when they need it. Our highly trained specialists are available at a moment’s notice–literally. In fact, during the nearly 9,000 calls our support team fielded in 2021, the average wait time was less than 15 seconds. Currently, the team is tracking a 99% year-to-date survey score in 2022.

“Just having someone pick up the phone quickly reduces the stress of the caller exponentially,” said Brian Wayne, Vice President of Customer Success. “Our primary goal is to be a resource to our customers so they can get back up and running quickly and efficiently.”

Read on for more insights from Kathi Klein, Senior Director, Support Services about what makes QSR Automations’ support services team the best in the business.

Live customer service is a foundational part of QSR Automations and its business model. Why is that?

You can have the best product on the planet–and when it comes to kitchen technology, we believe we do–but that’s all useless if it doesn’t work smoothly and consistently. We spend months customizing our ConnectSmart platform to each customer, and during that time come to understand their business well. That relationship doesn’t end once the technology has been onboarded. We’re invested in our customers’ success and genuinely want to help them meet their business goals. That’s why we invest so many resources in building a robust team of professionals who can immediately assess a caller’s problem, find a solution, and get the technology back up and running quickly.

What is it that makes your support team so efficient and effective?

The secret to our team’s success is that we hire based on personality just as much as we do skill set. Primarily, we’re looking for people with a true heart for service. Unfortunately, if someone calls us, that means they’re having a problem, and are probably already stressed out and frustrated. Our support team are trained to meet the caller where they are–whether they are an IT professional asking high-level questions about our API capabilities, or a restaurant worker with very little tech experience who is facing a crisis amid a busy dinner rush. Live support is crucial here because it means the caller doesn’t have to fill out a help ticket and wait for a response that may not address their question. Instead, our support team trouble-shoot in real time, getting to the root of the issue quickly. And because all our team members are trained on all platforms, callers won’t be transferred from one department to another for various concerns. One service member will stay on the line with them until the problem is resolved.

What are common ways you help restaurants?

So much of our duty to our customers in times of crisis is to help them feel heard and supported. For many callers, there are two ways to approach the problem–first, we find the short-term fix that keeps the restaurant operational, and the second is the long-term fix that resolves the issue at hand. Let’s say, for instance, that you’re a restaurant approaching the busy evening rush, but the Salad Display station is down leaving your prep staff blind to customer orders. Obviously, we want to figure out why that’s the case and mitigate the main issue, but first we need to make sure your kitchen staff is supported during the busy evening rush. So we’ll look at solutions such as routing the Salad orders to the Grill station so the kitchen can keep running efficiently and your guests don’t suffer due to a technology problem that can be easily mitigated…with the right support!

Many support services team members have been with QSR Automations for five years or more. Why do you think that is?

It’s a universal truth that helping people in a time of crisis is an incredibly rewarding experience, and our team members get to do this every day. Technology can be a very intimidating thing for a lot of people, and our team really enjoys taking the mystery and guesswork out of these issues. Customer support is included in every contract, so no matter how many phone calls we receive, there’s never an additional charge. Since many of our clients have been with us for a decade or longer, we really get to know them on a personal level.

“Knowledgeable support staff…QSR Technical Support has consistently demonstrated they are on their game.”

It’s not uncommon for customers to call us about technology issues unrelated to ConnectSmart, because they feel confident we can help, and we’re happy to do so. Solving problems, reducing stress, contributing to a restaurant’s success, and building relationships while doing it–it doesn’t get better than that.

“QSR support has always been outstanding. I’ve worked with this tech before and know that he is an expert with their products. I wish our other vendors could provide the same level of support that QSR does. Thank you!”

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