As You Wait, Your Customer Waits

摘要

Your second-largest customer just halted a key manufacturing line due to a problem with one of your products. This customer's contract calls for hefty financial penalties if operations cannot be restored within a few hours. Resolving the problem requires a coordinated effort from a maintenance team that combines engineers and logistics people from your firm, engineers from two of your partners, and the customer's engineering and machine operations staff. Your firm has crafted a response protocol that you know works. All team members have substantial computing resources at their disposal, including powerful personal computers, broadband networks, and functionally rich applications. They may even have wireless capabilities—in the form of pagers, cell phones, and PDAs—or they may have WiFi-enabled tablets or notebook PCs. As the executive ultimately responsible for directing the maintenance response, you know it's time to connect the team, execute the service protocol, and get the customer back online.