The support you want from cloud services isn't just customer support! The essence of HULFT Square 's "Customer Success" that inspires
HULFT Square, a Japanese iPaaS service that provides an innovative platform service for free and secure data utilization, is different from the customer support that has traditionally been provided as product support, and is focused on customer success to maximize LTV, or customer lifetime value.We spoke to Hiroshi Kogure of the CS Engineering Division, Customer Success Department, Customer Success Management Division, newly established Customer Success Headquarters, about why traditional customer support is not enough and why customer success is so important, and the differences and importance of this approach.
▼Profile
SAISON INFORMATION SYSTEMS CO., LTD. (currently Saison Technology)
Customer Success Division, Customer Success Department
Hiroshi Kogure
*Titles and affiliations are those at the time of interview.
Why Customer Success is Needed
Please tell us about your career so far and your current position.
Previously, he worked for many years in technical support for DataSpider Servista at Appresso Inc., which was merged with Saison Information Systems (now Saison Technology) in 2019. He continued to work in technical support after transferring to Saison Information Systems (now Saison Technology), and was later responsible for setting up a technical support department and developing training programs in preparation for the launch of HULFT Square. He has now established a new customer success department and is engaged in customer success activities while interacting with customers.
This is the first time you have tackled customer success since the launch of HULFT Square.
Originally, activities similar to customer success were carried out within technical support or as part of various departments, but this is the first time we have provided it to customers as a single, unified organization. The reason behind this is that the sales method of HULFT Square is different from the solutions we have provided so far.
Please tell us again about the background to the establishment of the Customer Success department.
Even with our previous customer support, we were able to achieve some success by providing quick and accurate responses to customer inquiries and working hard to resolve them. However, there was a certain gap between when a contract was signed and when an inquiry was received. HULFT Square defines data integration using icons. Moreover, because there are a wide variety of connection destinations, there are a large number of icons available, and to be honest, there were cases where users were confused by the large number of icons lined up when they first saw the screen.
Even so, the truth is that if it's a package, you "have no choice but to use it," but as many people know, cloud services available through subscriptions have the advantage of being easy to start and easy to quit. That's why it's important to create an environment where users can smoothly launch and use the service, and we thought that the traditional approach wasn't optimal.
Customer success is necessary precisely because HULFT Square 's delivery model as an iPaaS differs from the traditional one-time purchase model.
It's true that we've been offering iPaaS solutions like DataSpider Cloud for a while, even before HULFT Square. However, in terms of concept, they were an extension of the package, and support was provided within the scope of customer support, where we responded to inquiries from customers. However, in order to ensure continuous use of cloud-native services like HULFT Square, waiting for inquiries from customers would mean it would take a long time to get the service up and running. This could ultimately lead to a drop in expectations.
So customer support isn't enough to maintain expectations.
The moment when a customer's expectations are highest is when they decide to purchase. The reality is that customers are most motivated at the beginning, due to the salesperson's ambitious proposal. It's best to keep them in that state and get them to start using the product as soon as possible, and our goal here at the Customer Success Division is to maintain or even raise those high expectations. With packages, it's difficult to contact customers unless they inquire, making it difficult to understand what problems they're actually having. With cloud services, we can track when they log in and which services they're using and in what state, so we can reach out to them when we think they're having trouble. We believe that being able to quickly address the customer's concerns is one of the keys to customer success.
It's about being proactive rather than reactive, and striking while the iron is hot.
We believe this is especially important for cloud services. As a company that provides data integration solutions, even when we sell packages, we often provide them with system integration included, and even if the ultimate goal is to create a self-sustaining environment, many customers find it difficult to break away from the mindset that they can just rely on the vendor if anything happens. By gaining experience of success and integrating their own internal systems, customers should be able to promote in-house development and maximize the value of their services.
The essence of customer success is to inspire
What exactly does Saison Information Systems (now Saison Technology) think about customer success?
One of the ultimate activities of customer success is to make customers feel the value of the service and be impressed. While receiving a quick response to an inquiry is one way of being impressed, it takes time for customers to feel that value after purchasing. What we aim for is to take an approach that allows customers to get started and feel the value of what the service can achieve at least immediately after signing the contract, and at the latest within one month. We want to make sure that customers are impressed.
Generally speaking, customer success is often said to be an activity that maximizes LTV, or customer lifetime value. There seem to be other important points besides initial activities.
You're right. In terms of customer success, it can be broadly categorized into the following stages: "onboarding," "adoption," "expansion," and "renewal." Then there's "product feedback," which reflects customer feedback in the service. However, what's most important is not to lower initial expectations during the initial onboarding process, but to maintain and raise them. After that, as customers begin to operate independently, they will encounter problems, so we need to continue to monitor their usage and propose new ways of using the service at the appropriate times. This will help maximize LTV.
In short, what do you think is the difference between customer support and customer success?
The main difference is that customer support provides support at each point by quickly returning the most appropriate answer to each inquiry, while customer success keeps in mind the goals that customers had when they signed the contract and accompanies them to achieve them, providing ongoing support over a long period of time.
In other words, the difference is whether you perceive it as a point or a line.
I often use the analogy of mountain climbing: Customer Success involves a customer having a mountain they want to climb, and accompanying them partway up the mountain, explaining what equipment they need and how to use it, and then supporting them until they can finally climb the mountain on their own. On the other hand, I think of customer support as providing tired climbers with fluids and food at mountain huts along the way, and resolving any questions they may have about how to continue on their climb.
Mr. Kogure is an engineer by trade, but do you think that people who are generally well-versed in technology tend to be involved in customer success?
It probably depends on the service, but with HULFT Square, we believe that having engineering experience will help you get started quickly. Similar to the functions of DataSpider Servista as data integration tool, HULFT Square connects with the systems to which data integration, and we believe that having a certain level of engineering knowledge and experience will enable you to make optimal proposals to customers. However, customer success involves interacting with customers, including online, to hear about their issues and make optimal proposals. In that sense, you need not only engineering experience but also communication skills, so we believe that a balance of both is required.
Is there anything in particular that you keep in mind when conducting customer success activities?
When proposing customer success, I always try to think from the customer's perspective, as if I were a member of the customer's organization. On top of that, I try to think of it as if I were proposing to my own company how to use HULFT Square to improve operations and develop the business.
Customer Success Functions
When it comes to data integration, I imagine that multiple systems will be connected. As a customer success team, do you prepare scenarios for data integration in advance?
During the onboarding phase, we prepare the bare minimum of scenarios and create an environment where customers can work on their own or with us, so that they can feel the value and be impressed with the service in a short period of time with the minimum amount of information. Also, because HULFT Square is a data integration service, the services and systems that customers want to integrate will vary depending on their objectives. For example, to easily meet the need to connect with Salesforce to visualize project information, we prepare scenarios in advance that incorporate integration with Salesforce, allowing customers to get hands-on experience.
How complete are the scenarios?
At the moment, we have one simple, minimal common scenario that involves connecting DB and CSV, and we also have several connection guides that are tailored to specific connection destinations. We will continue to add more scenarios in response to customer requirements. We are able to create scenarios in just a few days after hearing from customers about what they want to achieve, so the number of scenarios is increasing every day.
Currently, we have integration scenarios available with Salesforce, Google Workspace, which includes Google Drive and Spreadsheets, and AWS.
Is there a cost for customer success support?
Since customer success support is provided as part of a regular subscription contract, there is no additional cost. We will continue to monitor your usage and contact you, but if you do not require support, please let us know.
What kind of system do you have in place for customer success?
Engineers with expertise in each function running on HULFT Square, such as Data Integration and HULFT Transfer, as well as members with operational management expertise, will help create an environment that will achieve customer success. Of course, collaboration between sales and customer success is also important, so we have established a system to support customers, including sharing project information through regular internal meetings and attending the final stages of PoC. In addition to sales and pre-sales, we also have paths available for consultations from development and business perspectives. One of the roles of customer success is to gather the know-how and human resources within our company that will be useful to our customers.
Customer Success Results and Future Outlook
It has been several months since the launch of HULFT Square. Can you share some examples of customers you are helping to achieve customer success?
HULFT Square is used by many customers, from an airline that processes a huge number of transactions every few minutes, to an apparel company that collaborates with transportation companies. In fact, in addition to new customers, we also have many customers who share our vision and have replaced their previous DataSpider Servista or HULFT systems with HULFT Square Square.
Based on the track record of our customers for whom we provide customer success services, we have seen clients begin using HULFT Square themselves in about two weeks, and with support as they connect their data, in some cases they are running scripts that can be used in production operations about a month later.
Are there any challenges you face when providing customer success?
The reality is that customer success itself is not well known, not only among our customers but also within our company, making it difficult for people to imagine what the organization does. As a result, we often confuse it with traditional customer support and SI teams. One customer even asked us to handle operations monitoring. Through our activities, we must ensure that customer success takes root within our customers and our company.
Finally, do you have any words of advice for people who are considering using HULFT Square?
Because our customer base is so broad, it is difficult to make a general statement about our outlook, but we would like to continue working to make our customers want to continue using HULFT Square.
For customers who are concerned about implementing HULFT Square, especially those who want to move forward with in-house development, we at Customer Success will provide full support. Of course, even during pre-contract negotiations and the PoC stage, we at Customer Success would like to explain the support we offer and provide opportunities for you to try it out for yourself and see if it is something you can use. Please feel free to contact us.
