Lotus support

We are pleased you chose IBM to provide high-quality solutions for your business and information systems needs. As part of IBM's ongoing efforts to serve our clients better, Lotus is taking a transformational approach to update its delivery of support. I'm pleased to announce a few of those improvements.

Based on the feedback we received from IBM customers and after looking at optional support delivery models both inside and outside IBM, we will be changing the model by which we handle the initial receipt of support calls. Currently, when calling for technical support on a large majority of Lotus products, U.S. and Canadian Passport Advantage (PA) customers experience live call transfers to our technical support teams. With the remaining products, PA customers experience our call back mode of support. Those live call transfers often result in wait times. We understand that your time is valuable and every minute of wait time is time away from your business. To address this issue, effective Monday February 16, 2009, all Passport Advantage remote technical software support for Lotus products (with the exception of Lotus Foundations and LotusLive) will be provided exclusively in call back mode. You can expect the same response times you experience today, but the time formerly spent on hold will be given back to you.

You will still be able to open support requests electronically as well via the Web-based Electronic Support Request (ESR/SR) tool. IBM is simplifying the electronic service request process with IBM Service Request (SR), our new Web-based tool that will be extended to handle ALL software related electronic service requests over the next two years. ESR users will be migrated seamlessly to the new SR tool in April 2009 and will see the key features of ESR, along with improved system performance and 7x24 availability.

Our customers tell us that increased access to information and the ability to be self-sufficient in finding the solutions they need when they need them provides the optimum capability to manage their IT infrastructure. Lotus has an array of tools that make it easy for you. If you're unfamiliar with these tools, we invite you to learn more at: www.ibm.com/software/lotus/support/clickaway. We are committed to meeting the evolving requirements of our customers and continue to focus on enhancing the tools and support we provide.

We're excited about the outlook for 2009! All of us in the Lotus Technical Support organization look forward to assisting with your software support needs. We are here to help you achieve maximum benefit from your investment in IBM software and support services.

FAQ

Question
As a Passport Advantage Customer in the U.S. or Canada, how will my support experience change?

Answer
Let's start by first explaining what happens today:
When PA customers phone Lotus support in the U.S. and Canada, their call is answered by one of the IBM Call Center teams. The person answering the call -

1. greets the customer and asks for their IBM Customer Number (ICN)
2. checks the customer has a valid contract entitling them to support
3. takes a brief description of the problem and opens a PMR (Problem Management Record)

The person in the Call Center then either transfers the phone call directly to the appropriate technical teams phone line or tells the customer to expect a call back from a technical support engineer. The live transfer or call back is determined by the product requiring support (ie: Notes Domino support is live call, however, Lotus Connections and Portal Server are supported by call back teams).

On February 16, 2009, the following will change:
With the exception of Lotus Foundations and LotusLive support, after a PA customer PMR is created, the person in the Call Center will let the customer know that a technical support engineer will call them back within a maximum of 2 hours. There will be no live call transfers for PA customers.

Question
Is there any change to the electronic support provided by Lotus Technical Support?

Answer
The ESR/SR (Electronic Service Request) tool and process our customers use when they wish to submit problems over the support web site remains unchanged.

Thank you for choosing IBM.

Robert McDonald
Vice President, WW Technical Support
IBM Corporation, Lotus Software