Gary Smith, EFI
Here’s an all-too-common scenario: A business buys a production print system with a digital front-end (DFE), but it receives inadequate training or loses the people who do have that training. Because they don’t know how to properly configure the system, The business becomes unhappy with the quality of the output because they don’t know how to properly configure the system, This reflects badly on the reseller who sold them the system. The reseller might even lose that business, probably to a company like KOMAX Business Systems.
KOMAX, an office equipment and document management company, was shocked to discover how many of its production print prospects had never been trained on the equipment they purchased. Account representative and production print specialist Shaun Shamblin cites the example of a local university: “They had used production equipment from another company with an [EFI] Fiery server for five years but were never shown how to calibrate it. They couldn’t figure out why the orange color on their football programs never turned out the same.”
Color Specialist John Aiello adds, “They didn’t even know what Fiery Command WorkStation was. Nobody had ever shown them how to use it.”
John Aiello (left) and Shaun Shamblin (right) of KOMAX
Experiences like this spurred EFI to develop its Fiery Advantage Solutions and Training (FAST) program. As a supplement to the Fiery eLearning content available on EFI.com, FAST provides Fiery customers with direct phone and email access to the EFI Fiery support team. The program also offers priority response on the Fiery Forums, a customer portal to the Fiery knowledgebase, a Fiery Technical Bulletin subscription, and a discount on any EFI store purchases.
The benefit for EFI channel partners is that they can resell the FAST program and, in effect, extend their training and support capabilities. FAST pricing starts at only $30 per month, but the real value to dealers is reducing their teams’ workload and increasing customer satisfaction and retention. “The more our customers know about how to use the powerful features in Fiery, the better it is for the channel, for the end customers, and for EFI,” said Gary Smith, senior director of Services and Support. “No one is more capable of supporting Fiery than the experts here at EFI.”
For KOMAX, FAST has made a real difference. KOMAX provides training sessions and even created a user guide that cover the basics. Despite these efforts, KOMAX still got a lot of follow-up calls. The training covered so much ground that the operators couldn’t remember everything, especially on features they didn’t often use. That created stress on its small support team.
KOMAX needed a way for customers to train on their own time, on just the things they wanted to learn or refresh. The company also wanted its customers to be able to obtain support without having to rely solely on KOMAX’s small staff, so it turned to FAST. “When we walk in with this solution,” said Shamblin, “we are able to talk about color profiles, spot colors, and color management—and we’ll also provide you with training so that, even if you can’t get in touch with us, you’ll have direct access to EFI. That’s worth its weight in gold.”
The benefits are evident enough that KOMAX simply adds the cost of the first year of FAST to all its production bids. “I just quote it as part of the production digital front- end, and then make a big deal about it,” says Shamblin. “It’s standard for the first year.” Most Komax production customers renew with FAST each year.
“FAST gives our customers the best experience with the equipment we sell them. We’re offering the knowledge they need to get the output they want, the color that they anticipate and need. So we’ve never lost a customer to a competitor,” said co-owner Becky Offutt.
“When dealers sell a solution to a customer, they are also starting a new relationship with that customer, and support is an extremely important part of that relationship,” said Smith. “If customers have questions on Fiery, it’s critical those questions are answered quickly. We offer the ability for customers to contact us directly for support issues, and that’s the FAST program.”
“EFI gave us a resource that really differentiates us,” said Shamblin. “What makes KOMAX different is the support we provide our customers. The FAST program is critical to the support we provide to our production print customers.”
FAST does not replace the need for dealers to provide their own support and training capabilities. “The first thing a customer wants to be able to do once it purchases a digital press and Fiery is to start producing billable jobs as quickly as possible,” said Smith. For that reason, an initial on-site training is needed as part of the installation. After that initial training, FAST becomes an asset to help the customer’s staff keep its skills sharp as well as bring new employees up to speed quickly.
A big focus for EFI is thinking differently about how support is typically delivered, by making as much information available to its customers as possible. “One thing at the core of Fiery support is this concept of ‘Smart Support,’” said Smith. “Each time the Fiery team addresses a question, there’s a process in place to publish the resolution to EFI.com. Doing so means any customer with a similar question benefits by having access to the information they need quickly. The whole idea behind Smart Support, is providing effortless customer support experiences. We are offering new channels and tools that not only increase our customers’ knowledge of Fiery, but also minimize their need to contact support for common or known issues.”
