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| Karl Graves, technical director at Livvy’s Group |
Under the spotlight this month is Karl Graves, technical director at Livvy’s Group. Livvy’s Group is an O2 Centre of Excellence partner and a Blackberry Elite Alliance Partner. The company supplies a complete communications solution, managing the entire lifecycle of a business’s telecoms solution. Livvy’s current customers include M&S, Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, The Premier League, Bank of China, Comet, Ferrero and ROK.
MB: Livvy's focuses on customer service as a core principle of what it offers. Why does Livvy's consider customer service to be key to running a successful business in the mobile sector? Do you feel that your rivals tend to forget the importance of customer service, or perhaps do not provide it to the standards that today's discerning customers demand? How has good customer service helped grow Livvy's?
KG: The experience Livvy's customers receive is the primary concern of every single employee, from our customer facing sales, care and technical staff through to the teams behind the scenes. We work tirelessly to ensure that our customers receive the service and support they require and have come to expect.
Great customer service is paramount to the mobile sector, and indeed any technical service industry, but for far too long the customer service experience provided within the mobile sector has lagged behind that of other industries. Service has not so much been forgotten as simply not yet been fully recognised as a valuable retained business asset. This is rapidly beginning to change, and I believe our competitors and partners are upping standards in these areas, something that we feel we've been doing from day one and have reaped the benefits from.
We are confident that we provide the highest level of customer service within the market and have set ourselves extremely high standards; this was confirmed by receiving the O2 Partner of the Year award in 2009, something we will be striving to achieve again in 2010.
We are continuingly consulting with our customers to ensure that the standards of service are what they require and we will work with customers to provide them with a service that is tailored to their needs.
Customer service has been the key factor in the growth that Livvy's has experienced over the past few years; we have done very little external promotion and instead relied on customer recommendations to fuel our growth. By providing this high level of service that customers haven't previously been accustomed to in the mobile sector, we have set ourselves aside from the competition; our reputation stems from our excellent customer relations.
MB: For Livvy's, is delivering customers a wrap around, bespoke packaged service the key to surviving tough economic conditions and strong competition in today's market please? What do business customers want from Livvy's, in terms of packages and services, and as a partner?
KG: With any product or service it's simply not a case of one size fits all. For far too long, the mobile industry has produced packages and services which are inflexible and can constrain customers with product limitations and expensive upgrades.
At Livvy's we look at each company individually and ensure the solution wrap that we recommend is unique to them, meeting their specific requirements. We are able to provide a range of products and services that complement each other and as all are provided and managed by us, there is only one point of contact. By simplifying the process, the customer receives a consistently high level of service and saves time by avoiding going from supplier to supplier.
Livvy's can provide an increased level of support and a price that often beats our competitors, due to having multiple revenue streams from one customer. This allows us to be competitive and provide more value to our customers, which is what we believe has seen us continue to thrive as a business despite the tough economy.
We are finding that our customers increasingly prefer to use a single source for their telecoms environment, and we are always looking to add products to our portfolio. Our offering is varied, providing our customers with a number of options all based around our core landline and mobile products. For example, we have recently added a technical support service that specialises in the backend systems to give smartphone users a smoother experience.
We provide all our customers with options to repair, recycle and insure their existing equipment so that they can stretch their budgets in a tight economic environment. With our commitment to cutting edge technology and customer service, we have been recognised as a key provider with industry recognised status with O2 and Research in Motion.