Effectiveness of an ERP Vendor's Customer Support E-System

• Main Author: Zuberi, Sofia
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sektionen för management 2010
• Subjects: ERP; ERP Software; Enterprise Resourse Planning; Software Support; Customer Support Systems
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-1156

In today’s business climate many organizations are implementing ERP systems to connect all their processes into one system thereby hoping to benefit off the resulting efficiencies. ERP Vendors are trying to best cater to the needs of their customers, and this extends into the post-implementation period where customers rely on the Vendor to resolve software and technical errors that inevitably occur. This study looks into a factor with-in this area from the ERP Vendor perspective. Customers have to communicate with their ERP Vendor in the post-implementation period to resolve problems, and this study focuses on how this could best happen. This study uses a single case study approach that is centered on an ERP Vendor’s Customer support team. This Vendor has identified a requirement of getting a new and improved customer support e-system. This study will investigate for them, and other ERP Vendors in similar situations, what factors should influence this decision. To find the influential factors for the ERP Vendor’s requirement, the study looks into the available literature concerning ERP and IT support, and then survey’s the customer support team for further data. Part of the survey is based on a pre-existing study regarding the measurement of customer system effectiveness. And then qualitative responses from the support team are also analyzed. This study has brought to light many influential factors for ERP Vendors to take into consideration to have an effective customer support e-system. While all the factors can be taken into consideration in varying degrees, this study concludes that the most important center on and around providing Self Service Support (SSS). And then with-in the e-system, the Vendor must ensure an alignment to their and customer processes, while maintaining clear and logical access to quality information.