Iron County School District

Troy Lunt is the Technology Director and Data Privacy Manager for the Iron County School District (Cedar City, UT). Prior to K-12 Education, Lunt held numerous technical and executive positions with global Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Data Integration software companies. Lunt graduated from Weber State University and ROTC (Commissioned Officer - Utah National Guard)

There has been a new strategy deployed for vendors to survey customers and technology leaders of organizations using any one of many technology solutions. Interestingly, what was once an email asking for the customer to “take 15 minutes” and provide their valuable feedback has morphed into one single and simple question: “Please tell us how we’re doing (on a scale from 1 to 10).”

Does this look familiar? Is this really what we’ve been reduced to? After all, these surveys are coming from “our” solutions providers, who are seeking “our” input. We selected them, and now they are seeking our help. Why do we struggle to communicate with them? I have found myself discarding these emails by the dozens, but guilt would eventually take over. I would “click” a number knowing very well this will lead to another question (or two or three). No problem! From a user perspective, we have effectively trained our vendors—those who provide our most critical technology solutions—that we’ll give them a minute (or less) of our time.

We are conditioned to believe and feel that the customer is always most important. I believe the phrase we’ve been taught is “the customer is always right.” I hope to convey an approach where customers and vendors are no less or more important than the other. Both are extremely important to the process of building out a technology.

  ​As a technology vendor, the importance of the end user may even exceed many of the measurable market analysis and trends   

In an earlier (professional) life, I had the opportunity of working for several software development companies. We had great products, exceptional technicians, and incredibly skilled and well-seasoned sales professionals. I can honestly say that I had never experienced (before or since) the levels of teamwork and camaraderie as I did when working as a technology vendor. There is a rush that comes with a commitment to the team to achieve monthly, quarterly, and annual goals and to have a very exciting and successful user’s conference. We needed to operate as a machine—no role was more or less important than any another. However, even the very best technologies are easily compromised by weak training and support. Furthermore, even the most feature-rich solutions have merit only if the features align with and regularly exceed end-user expectation.

This is where I could make a real difference. I was allowed to oversee the professional services, technical support, and training departments. We were able to positively impact each customer in ways that were unique to their needs. This was our mission, yet the important outcome was elusive and difficult to obtain. Motivated customers being introduced to ways they could give back to the process and share their expertise was never undervalued.

It should come as no surprise that this was the biggest of all challenges we faced but the most satisfying to fulfill when it worked out as planned. Helping customers give back to the technology vendor is commonly overlooked and easily dismissed. I would struggle at times to build a successful customer culture. Having learned this critical role that customers play is why I place so much emphasis on this now.

As a technology vendor, the importance of the end user may even exceed many of the measurable market analysis and trends. We must learn to accept that technology vendors need to help develop their customers. In return, customers who are using their solutions will desire to be part of the development process. Customers are capable of becoming the most crucial advocates a vendor will possess. Potential customers will listen keenly to current customers. This can come in the form of case studies, streamed and recorded webinars, customer references, co-presentations at tech conferences, product user groups, and customer surveys. All of these represent ways for the customer to give back to the process.

Decades later and having worked as both a technology vendor and an end-user/customer, I know the pains of building this vendor-customer relationship. They both need each other’s help to make product improvements and to keep their development goals in line with the needs of the industry. Next time you have an opportunity to answer an online survey about one of your vendors, take a few minutes and help contribute to your success!