Nearly any company that's looking at entering an electronics market thinks long and hard about which contracted manufacturer to use in their design and construction. Oddly, however, many companies often neglect to think ahead of time about post-sale support and, specifically, who's going to be handling their tech issues.
More and more, this requires sub-contracting another company, separate from the manufacturer, to train and staff a call center. While this is a popular option -especially with the rise in virtualized support services- it can ultimately create a very poor customer experience while simultaneously driving up your support costs.
Now, however, there is an alternative. American electronics firms looking to compete with cut-rate overseas factories have been expanding their range of services beyond mere PCB and electronics assembly. One of the most valuable of these new services are direct PCB repair services.
Three Ways The Best PCB Repair Services Come From The Manufacturer
1 - Expertise
When a company hires a third-party tech support center, this creates an immediate knowledge problem. That tech support group will be training staff from scratch, almost solely based on documentation, with little access to the rest of the company.
This creates a serious burden on their ability to help customers at all, much less in a timely fashion.
On the other hand, a call center maintained by the manufacturers themselves will be the next-best-thing to having actual engineers handing support. They have far better materials at their disposal, and much more direct support when tricky problems arise.
The result is better customer service and faster call resolution.
2 - Direct Component Repair
Another reason most outsourced tech support and warranty fulfillment can become a big money sink is that most of those centers lack any actual repair abilities. If a customer's device is malfunctioning, they simply get sent a new one.
It's not hard to imagine just how much waste this leads to, especially when most product failures are due to a single component on
the motherboard.
When your manufacturer handles warranty claims directly, they have access to the actual parts and the actual machinery used in constructing the device. That means actual repairs can be conducted within a timely manner, saving you large amounts on stock that would be otherwise wasted on warranty claims.
Plus, customers often prefer getting back "their very own" device rather than simply getting a new one in the mail - especially if they're in any way customizable. This is another way PCB repair services boost customer satisfaction.
3 - Full Data Tracking Throughout
Another big benefit to all-in-one PCB assem
bly and repair services is that both the engineers and tech support are always "in the loop." During design and manufacturing, the engineers will generate highly-accurate estimates of component failures and likely technical problems, meaning tech support is fore-warned and fore-armed.
Likewise, if any unexpected problems begin to show up weeks or months after release, tech support will be in close communication with the engineers for implementing fixes. Or, if there's a true product defect, this close collaboration could cut weeks off the time needed to recognize it and correct the design.
Third-party call centers never have that kind of direct access
to the design\manufacturing team.
Ready For Better Customer Service?
Don't get trapped in a maze of third-party offshore contractors. With ONE domestic manufacturing partner, you can get the best of American engineering and the best possible tier of post-sale support.
To learn more, contact ZenTech today!
