Softlayer employs the “best practice” approach to take the perspective of the customer in all that we do. Since our customers come in through our website, the Softlayer team is continually working to improve the online ordering experience with the customer usability in mind at all times. One of my first tasks here at Softlayer was to “act” like a customer and order a server. I then had to do a write up on the experience. I have to be honest; it required some thought as to what could be improved because this process has been fine tuned as it’s been done over and over again. I thought the website and ordering process was very well put together, intuitive and easy to use.

Another way a customer will experience Softlayer is through our portal. Now, working from the inside, the portal is quite overwhelming at first. As you spend more time on it you realize just how powerful it actually is. We have quite a few developers working on it daily and this is to ensure that the customer has every tool, option, and task at their fingertips so they can get the most from their servers. Being in the internet business we understand that a competitor is only one click away.

Also during my first week here, I spent several days working in the NOC. Aside from being thoroughly awed with our facilities and how neat and organized everything was, I was impressed as I listened to the techs on their calls with the customers. The calls are handled with customer satisfaction as the first priority. Yes, I even heard the challenging calls that were very difficult to handle. The techs remained calm and focused to solve the problem at hand. The quality of work depends on the quality of people in place so if you have any technical problems these are the folks you want to speak with.

According to Wikipedia, “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation.”[i] Here at Softlayer we exceed the customer expectations and will continue to implement and improve best practice processes and initiatives to improve our customer’s experience.