Rubrik delivers 24/7 world-class customer support and is a recognized leader of customer satisfaction. Giri Iyer, VP of Global Customer Support and Success, explains how he maintains high-quality service among a rapidly-growing customer base.
What makes Rubrik’s customer support different from other companies?
Rubrik places customer satisfaction at the forefront of support. One way this is achieved is through customer advocacy, meaning that we work with customers to better strategize our product and experience. This internal engagement allows us to understand the needs and pain points of our customers.
We have established multiple channels for our “Voice of the Customer” program. In addition to closed case surveys, customers can use embedded thermometers for every case update to provide real-time, one-click feedback. The VOC program also provides an “ideas forum” where they can submit new product ideas, view existing ideas from other customers, and up or down vote ideas. This platform allows customers to connect with Rubrik support, product management, and engineering. All feedback we receive is reviewed – no matter what – and then acted upon by the team. Constant monitoring of results is also a critical step of this process.
What is your philosophy on providing a world-class customer experience?
Engaging with support fundamentally needs to be painless, efficient, and seamless. While this may sound general, it is where many companies fall short.
At Rubrik, we embrace the “Know Your Customer” attitude by building a partnership with customers. This includes knowing their environment and deployed features and monitoring alerts. In addition to a more positive experience, this proactive awareness leads to faster resolution of customer issues.
What is the customer journey at Rubrik? And how does your team facilitate that?
The customer journey begins at the pre-sales process and continues in every stage of the life cycle. During trials and POCs, the support team actively provides solutions and answers to the organization’s questions. This allows our staff to begin developing a relationship with the customer from the very beginning.
Following this stage, the team is there to assist in any deployment issues. And, of course, we support any troubleshooting or feedback beyond that.
How do you maintain high-quality support as you scale your team?
With a 700% increase in customers in 2016, we’ve had to expand our team. To ensure world-class quality, we are rigorous in our hiring and onboarding. All support staff across the globe are certified in customer experience management. I also weigh technical skills and attitude equally. We hire lifelong learners and engineers who want to make a difference.
I think one of the most important parts of scaling high-quality support is to continually invest in employee education. All new hires are required to complete the Customer Experience Management Professional (CEMPRO) training. Run by the Omega Management Group Corp., this program hones the ability to manage customer satisfaction and build strong relationships.
How does your team engage with customers?
We engage early and often with our customers. With Jarvis, our in-house proactive product alerting system, we provide them with early updates and often can rectify a situation before their environment is affected. It’s also important to recognize that there is no “one size fits all” for support. We offer telephone, email, and web-based support and work to align with as many personas as possible.
As a whole, my team looks to build long-term relationships with our customers. We view every interaction as an opportunity for Rubrik to earn their trust and confidence.
Learn more about how Rubrik builds strong teams in our Leadership Lab series.