Even security folks serve customers. Perhaps they’re other people that work in the company or they’re the company’s clients. But there is a simple reality to serving customers that is often lost on people because they focus too much on their role within the organization. This chart, a bit exaggeration and a bit parody, is an attempt to show the weakness of that focus from different points of view in the organization. The purist view of customer service, found on the last row in this table, always works, and it does not preclude doing your job. So it does not always mean the customer will be satisfied (though we do our best), but it points out the one characteristic that is the same for all customer service events: the only thing you really control in a customer service interaction is what answer you provide. The customer is not always right and will not always be satisfied. But the customer will always ask for something and will always get an answer. And that answer is where the focus should be.
The customer |
and therefore will |
and as a result will |
|
Salespeople |
is always right | be right | be right (did you want fries with that?) |
Account reps |
needs something | get it if I can provide it | be happy |
Operations folks |
is always best when not heard from | probably call in the middle of the night | turn it off, turn it back on and try it now |
Security folks |
always wants to access the data | put the data at risk | require I protect the data |
Senior Management |
is always worth listening to | need to understand our firm | remain a customer, I hope |
Regulators |
is not really a customer | need to be regulated if that’s appropriate | need to provide me with the requested information |
Purist view of customer service |
is always asking for something | always get an answer | have an opinion |
{Cyber Security} 