Technology service: it's the little things that matter.

Today I had reason to contact the technical support service of a major Web service provider. Digital Rights Management (DRM) was my problem. I subscribe to the provider's site for downloadable content. But today, I couldn't download my historical material--stuff I'd already retrieved but lost (We'll, it *is* here on a server somewhere---just easiest to d/l again).

I decided to use the 'chat now' feature of their support site. I got a gentleman whose native language was not English---you could tell from his grammatical constructs. He promised to resolve my issue in 2-3 hours (I had to ask how long it would take), and that I'd receive an e-mail notifying me when I could download my stuff again.

Half a day later (i.e. well over 3 hours passed), I decided to engage a chat with their support again. This time, another non-native English speaker named 'Devanand' shone.

At exactly 16:02:00 PM, EST, he promised: ``Sure Dave, I will try to fix your issue as soon as possible.''

By 16:05:41 PM EST, 'Devanand' wrote back: ``...I have regenerated most of your downloads and now you would be able to access (them). ''

So here are my best compliments to 'Devanand,' wherever he might be. He took about 5 minutes to do what someone else promised in 3 hours (and never actually delivered).

The moral of my story is not just about excellent customer service. My point is that the ``time taken to resolve'' any technical problem is a critical metric in distinguishing a good IT practitioner from a less competent one. Shorter solution (or resolution) times are the hallmark of a technologist who knows her game.

The Web should have a standard way to track and reward service professionals like Devanand, whose performace deserves metion only because there exists another person---presumably his peer---who promised me that e-mail in 2-3 hours, never to be heard from again.

Twitter is for followers. Nevermind ``What are you doing?''. Frankly, I'm busy and I don't really care. Managers and business professionals need an information system that continuously answers to the question: Who accomplished what? A by-product of such an information system might be ``how long did it take her?''

I devised and built such an information management system. Waaay before twitter. Started work on it about 1993. I say Intranet for obvious reasons--one of which is security. Drop me a line if you're interested in obtaining my solution.

This begins the only use I can think of for a blog---a shameless plugging medium to help you, a business owner or manager, to decide to choose my services. Pick up the phone and call me at 352-505-7885. To be continued....