We do have a problem - resources. This is two pronged - trying to make
optimum use of the resources we do have without burning people out, and
increasing the resource level.
People have been interviewing here all the time, and we are looking to hire
qualified people who can handle the problems and reduce the response time.
(I'm proof of that, they recruited me just over a month ago from another
firm.)
The problem is finding people who: know what they are doing, can work with
customers effectively, and can work with the existing team.
If they don't have all three, they're not a good hire - any one of them
will defeat the purpose of bringing on more people.
We could eaisly hire people so that you get a tech on the first ring - but
good luck getting the problem solved. Or you can wait and get a tech who
is likely to fix it for you.
Livingston is growing very quickly, this is one of the growing pains. Some
departments are easier to quickly expand than others because of the personnel
resources in the market.
And the comment that was made in this thread about the front line people is
completely uncalled for. They are very good, they're just not engineering
level - yet. They are always learning and the way things work here, if they
decide they want to learn the ropes and they do, they can move up. But, as
with any tech support, a *large* number of the calls we get are time-wasting.
"Where do I find..."
"Do you have..."
"Can you tell me about the product line..."
The kind of thing that really doesn't require an engineer. And they do
support to - if you need a password override, or a remote upgrade, etc - they
are the ones who do it most of the time.
They are a *very* important part of the organization - they take a large load
off of the engineers, leaving us more time to work on the tougher problems or
the customers who maybe need more help than others.
If they weren't there, support response time would be MUCH worse.
So don't slam them for doing their job.
-MZ
-- Livingston Enterprises Technical Support Phone: 800-458-9966 FAX: 510-426-8951 support@livingston.com <http://www.livingston.com/> 6920 Koll Center Parkway #220, Pleasanton, CA 94566