Alright, customer support is not really a phase but on ongoing exercise after products and services are deployed. Because of this opened ended condition, management must be very careful to monitor costs, provide automated solutions, offer upgrades, and levy fees for certain features, depending on the nature of the product or service and acceptance by the buyers in the marketplace.

To reduce costs, some firms outsource to foreign countries, which may be fine, assuming it is done in moderation and with the other goals of this phase able to be achieved.

When someone makes an inquiry, a customer support staff should follow up and able to discuss the appropriateness of the product's features, whether they will or will be useful for the inquirer's particular application. Being fair at this stage will reduce customer dissatisfaction and product returns and build a loyal customer base which will more readily pay for future enhancements.

After purchase, new customers may need help with installation or operation. Installation support should be fast. The support web site should include a FAQs section containing frequently asked questions, and it will reduce the number of direct customer inquires. The web site and particularly the FAQs section should be periodically updated to include new developments.

Every customer support department should track requests for new features which will provide useful feedback to management and the design team. Serious bugs should be quickly fixed through carefully orchestrated software patches and updates. New features should be elements of a new release that is backed by an appropriate marketing campaign and offers rewards to the preexisting customer base.

To the extent that the product has features of integration and expansion, appropriate third party support can leverage interest in the product and reduce engineering and marketing expenses. The exact nature of this type of support differs case-by-case, but application notes directed specifically towards third parties constitute an excellent beginning.

Articles and white papers can help to educate other parties and the general public about the product's value. Articles can appear in related trade publications, and white papers can be delivered at seminars and conventions. These presentations can be provided on the support web site for even greater exposure. All publicly available web site sections should be properly registered with major search engines and industry-specific portals so that people will quickly become aware of the product or service.

As a product or service nears the end of its useful life, it may have to be retired, gracefully if possible. A carefully devised sunset plan will keep old customers happy, perhaps assisting them to transision to new offerings or appropriate substitutes.

This completes our discussion on the different phases of a product's development timeline. We hope that you have found the information useful. We invite you to explore what companies need and some of the technologies and products DataPlex has helped to recently develop. Please feel free to contact us.