This post was written by Doug Maiden, Beck Technology Customer Success Specialist
In fifth grade, I joined band to 'learn the trombone'… i.e., get out of class for one hour. What I came to learn was that I was not getting out of studying. The first few years were challenging because we were supposed to practice scales and learn sheet music, but I had better things to do than practice trombone at home. Every spring we played a concert in the high school gymnasium for family and friends. All the concert music was sheet music. We simply had to practice scales and the three selections of sheet music, which progressively became more complex over the years. This became a satisfying experience once playing the trombone clicked with me in junior high.
In high school marching band, we were required to memorize three songs each year and 60+ formations for a 15-minute set in competition. Learning to read, memorize, and play sheet music at high school marching band level is like the experience our clients go through in implementation and piloting. Our clients know their previous toolset and know how to estimate but they must begin to translate their knowledge into our workflows.
In my junior and senior year of high school, my band director encouraged me to participate in jazz band. Jazz band is quite a different experience than what I was used to and comfortable with. The sheet music for most instrumental jazz songs has some structure based on your instrument to establish the tune, but in most cases each instrument has various sections where only cords are presented. It is up to the musicians to improvise, blend, and complement each other’s contributions. Listening to each other and experimenting with what sounded and felt congruent was the key to success.
I consider Customer Success to be the same experience as collaborating with fellow musicians in jazz band. Our clients know what they know, they are professionals. DESTINI Estimator, DESTINI Data Manager, and DESTINI Bid Day have fundamental workflows, like the structure of a jazz song. There is also flexibility to adapt the toolsets to compliment every client’s mission. The value of Customer Success to our clients is Beck Tech professionals listen to their needs and collaborate on solutions using existing functionality. If the functionality does not exist, the opportunity to relay the feature enhancements is documented and directed to Innovation Labs and Development.
Most of our clients have a full-time day job being estimators. In December 2018, at an Implementation kick-off meeting with Gilbane Building Company, I noted a key to a successful implementation and adoption is having a champion who actively contributes during the implementation and becomes the first line of defense when rolling out company wide.
Joseph McCoy, Vice President, Chief Estimator at Gilbane Building Company, commented to me, “you mean an oiler.” I scratched my head and replied, “a what?” Joe kindly explained the oiler is the person who shows up on the job site before most workers and walks the site with an oil can lubing all construction equipment, for example bulldozer tracks, crawler crane tracks, etc. The oiler keeps the machines in service so there is little to no down time impacting the schedule.
When Joe explained the term to me, I replied, “exactly!” Beck Technology’s offering is an integrated “machine” that requires an oiler to keep it tuned and maintained. Customer Success provides the valuable information an oiler seeks whether it is their full-time job, or the “hobbyist” estimator that is passionate about what they do and is dedicated to their company’s success.
Customer Success is valuable to Beck Tech in many ways. We are the oilers for our clients. Our Customer Success team is made of experienced construction industry professionals, that provide dedicated resources and knowledge to numerous independent workflows our clients may never have considered.
Our clients are in partnership with us. Customer Success is the promise to maintain the partnership through the term of the contract. A goal in Customer Success is to continue the partnership at renewal. Providing best-in-class tools, service, and value increases success for our clients and our company.
