{"id":16637,"date":"2016-03-01T12:19:37","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T17:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=16637"},"modified":"2016-03-03T23:37:33","modified_gmt":"2016-03-04T04:37:33","slug":"da-com-digital-office-solutions-is-the-bomb-when-it-comes-to-service-excellence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2016\/03\/da-com-digital-office-solutions-is-the-bomb-when-it-comes-to-service-excellence\/","title":{"rendered":"Da-Com Digital Office Solutions is the Bomb When it Comes to Service Excellence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Da

The da-com team<\/p><\/div>\n

Meet Da-Com Digital Office Solutions, an office technology dealership with a 65-year history of providing technology and outstanding support to businesses in and around St. Louis, MO and Southwestern, IL.<\/p>\n

Da-Com began in 1948 selling typewriters and cash registers\u2014leading edge technology at the time. The dealership would eventually grow to become one of the nation\u2019s largest 3M dealers, selling Thermofax machines, copiers, and overhead projectors. Throughout the years Da-Com continued to roll with the technology flow, bringing leading-edge products from world-class providers to its markets.<\/p>\n

In 2002, Da-Com moved into its new state-of-the-art corporate headquarters in Shrewsbury, MO. That was a start in its efforts to bring more value to the markets it serves along with its customers. The construction and expansion of its Service Center in 2005 and the enhancement of its state-of-the-art Customer Support Center in 2012 further underscore Da-Com\u2019s commitment to strengthening its resources to better serve customers. This commitment to exceptional customer service and customer satisfaction is what drives the entire organization and nowhere do customers experience that more every day than through interactions with Da-Com\u2019s service department.<\/p>\n

Proof of how well Da-Com cares for its customers is illustrated by its recent acknowledgement as a BEI Services\/ENX Magazine Service Excellence award winner in the Platinum category. The dealership ranks 13th<\/sup> overall of the 176 dealers in the BEI program.<\/p>\n

Its service-related numbers are impressive. For example, Da-Com\u2019s current First Call Effectiveness (FCE) rate is 57 percent and its Hold for Part rate is 11 percent. The dealership\u2019s 20 service techs (Da-Com has four additional techs who handle its IT customers) are responsible for 6,000 devices, which produce approximately 38,000,000 pages per month. Among the brands Da-Com\u2019s techs service are Lanier\/Ricoh, Toshiba, and in certain markets, Kyocera. Techs also service a sizable Risograph population. While techs service all brands, Da-Com specialists tend to focus on the Lanier\/Ricoh production devices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the largest Ricoh national account MIF of any dealer in the country,\u201d says Scott Shanafelt, senior VP and general manager. \u201cSome days that\u2019s a curse and some days a little bit of a blessing. That makes us unique because we provide service and support to Fortune 1000s in St. Louis. Because we were a Lanier dealer forever and had a huge national account base we had an exclusive in this market. That\u2019s kind of where our high-end, high-volume [business] comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of Da-Com\u2019s customers can be found throughout 77 counties in Illinois and Missouri. They are \u00a0primarily SMBs, particularly in the rural markets. The dealership\u2019s bread and butter is still the $8,000-$10,000 machine sales in towns of 2,000 people where one will find 100-150 businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere they have a need for a copier we may have a 50 percent market share,\u201d states Shanafelt. \u201cThat\u2019s not uncommon in our rural markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Covering such a wide swath of territory in two states is a challenge, but Da-Com has been meeting the challenge for as long as they\u2019ve been taking care of business in these territories. The challenges from a service perspective revolve around parts distribution, response time, and mileage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a territory is two hours away from the office there\u2019s a lot of guys a long way from home,\u201d acknowledges Shanafelt. \u201cBEI Services has made a difference in allowing us to manage it better.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something that impresses BEI\u2019s Performance Analyst Steve Sharkey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at their data and numbers and when you consider the many different product lines they\u2019re servicing and that the vast majority of their technicians work on those product lines and they\u2019re able to maintain that hold for part rate, that speaks phenomenally as to how well these guys are staying on top of managing parts inventory and their car stock. That\u2019s a tough monster to collar when you have that many product lines and everybody servicing them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Da-Com has been a BEI Services client going on 10 years. When the program was first implemented, Bob Thompson, service manager at the St. Louis operation was a service tech and Shanafelt was VP of sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur ownership bought into the tech compensation idea, \u2018How do we pay these techs to do better and how do we challenge them to do better?\u2019\u201d recalls Shanafelt.<\/p>\n

Of course the data was helpful to the VP of service and that information continues to make Thompson\u2019s job of managing his techs so much easier, especially when it comes to industry wide service data for specific machines and how Da-Com stacks up against its industry peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe things I\u2019ve seen and utilized with BEI is not only we need to pick up this machine and put it under service, but I can look at the numbers to see what the series is doing for us in given parameters,\u201d adds Thompson. \u201cIt shows how good we are vs. everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson also likes the personal knowledge he derives from the program, which validates whether or not he\u2019s on the right track based on what the numbers are saying. And when it comes to all the data that is now available at Thompson\u2019s fingertips, there\u2019s a lot to comprehend.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of information to digest and that\u2019s something else that can be a blessing and a curse with Shanafelt explaining that the program can make a big difference when one takes the time to go through it and use it to one\u2019s advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much information I can\u2019t utilize all of it, but I can\u2019t imagine not having that data to talk with a tech and see what their mindset is and why they did what they did,\u201d emphasizes Thompson. \u201cIt makes it so much easier to break it down and have the tough sessions with the techs to make them better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBob uses tech grading effectively, whether or not it\u2019s perfect, it at least gives him a launching point for a conversation,\u201d says Shanafelt. \u201cIt gives us a great baseline to know if we\u2019re making money or not on certain gear, or do we need to do something different, or change out the tech. Originally tech comp was a big factor and there was too much that wasn\u2019t tracked or known. We had very few statistics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs my understanding has grown it\u2019s been trying to get the techs to understand as well,\u201d adds Thompson. \u201cThey get more reports out of it than I ever did. They can see what machines they get called back on and what parts they\u2019ve been put on hold for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Da-Com is also using one of the newer components of the system, a territory mapping tool.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been helping our call load,\u201d notes Thompson. \u201cIt\u2019s just another piece we weren\u2019t utilizing, but now that we are, I just can\u2019t imagine not using it. There\u2019s so much information and it\u2019s easy to use, but overall what I get out of it and what I can give to the techs to have better conversations about what they\u2019re doing and for coaching them; now that I understand it more, I can coach them in how to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tech compensation element of the program has been a key motivational tool as it is in most dealerships. Thompson says that techs have a keen interest in how they\u2019re doing each month and it\u2019s not unusual for them to come in the first or second day of the month to find out how they did the previous month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey appreciate the transparency,\u201d says Shanafelt. \u201cAnd they appreciate the feedback. If that wasn\u2019t there they\u2019d feel more like robots, but now that there\u2019s a talking point and here\u2019s your numbers, you\u2019re doing a good job or you have to work on this. It\u2019s just a quick way without [our service managers] having to go through a bunch of calculations and getting documents ready to review and discuss with them. Plus it\u2019s an independent source vs. your manager putting [something] together and saying here\u2019s what you\u2019re<\/em> doing; they tend to argue with that more. Now it is what it is; the numbers don\u2019t lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Would Thompson recommend this program to other dealers?<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly wouldn\u2019t know what to do without it now that I understand it,\u201d he says. \u201cI like it and it helps me better identify issues with the techs. It\u2019s a great tool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Da-Com Digital Office Solutions<\/strong><\/p>\n

St. Louis & Columbia, MO<\/p>\n

President & CEO: <\/strong>John Tipton<\/p>\n

Sr. VP & General Manager:<\/strong> Scott Shanafelt<\/p>\n

Service Manager:<\/strong> Bob Thompson<\/p>\n

Number of Techs:<\/strong> 20 (+4 IT techs)<\/p>\n

Number of Devices Serviced: <\/strong>6,000<\/p>\n

Why they\u2019re a Platinum Award Winner<\/strong><\/p>\n