Upcoming changes to IBM Rational Support for U.S. and Canadian clients

Memo to IBM Rational U.S. and Canadian Clients about upcoming changes to our remote Technical Software 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 improve the service we provide, Rational is making a change to how you access a technical support engineer. Outlined below, you will find details about this upcoming change. We thank you for using IBM and look forward to continuing to provide you with the world-class technical support you have come to expect from our team.

Currently, when calling for technical support (see the IBM directory site for local IBM Support phone numbers) on a limited set of Rational products, U.S. and Canadian clients experience live call transfers to our technical support teams. For most Rational products, clients experience our call-back mode of support. Call-back mode is a method whereby a technical support engineer calls you back according to the guidelines outlined within the Software Support Handbook: http://www.ibm.com/support/handbook

The benefit of this method is it allows us to route the call to the appropriately skilled technical support engineer and eliminates the extended wait times.

Effective January 12, 2011, U.S. and Canadian clients will be provided all remote technical software support for all IBM Rational products exclusively in call-back mode. You can expect a more consistent support experience, improved skill-based routing, and will gain flexibility in managing your time when interacting with our support team.

You will still be able to open support requests electronically via our Web-based Service Request (SR) tool. This option allows you to provide very detailed information about your issue and environment with the same response times you will experience via the call-back model above.

Additionally, 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 is critical to effectively managing their software implementations. The award-winning IBM Support Portal allows you to streamline it to meet your specific product information needs and ensures the resources you require are always at your fingertips. If you haven’t visited the Support area of our website recently, we invite you to take a fresh look at: http://www.ibm.com/support/

All of us in the Rational Client 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.

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FAQs

Question:
As a client in the U.S. or Canada, how will my support experience change when I need assistance with a Telelogic issue?

Answer:
Currently, when Passport Advantage customers phone Rational support in the U.S. and Canada, (see the IBM directory site for IBM support contact numbers), their call is answered by a representative at one of the IBM Call Center teams. This representative:

• Greets the customer and asks for their IBM Customer Number (ICN)
• Checks the customer has a valid contract entitling them to support
• Notes a brief description of the problem and opens a PMR (Problem Management Record)

The Call Center representative then either transfers the phone call directly to the appropriate technical team's 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 (currently some product lines support live call while others function solely via the call-back model)

On January 12, 2011, the following will change for U.S. and Canadian clients only. After a customer’s PMR is created for the legacy Telelogic product lines, the Call Center representative will let the customer know that a technical support engineer will call them back within two business hours based on the customer’s local time zone. There will be no live call transfers for these products for PA customers.

Question:
Is there any change to the electronic support provided by Rational Client Support?

Answer:
The SR (Service Request) tool and process our customers use when they wish to submit problems over the support web site remains unchanged. Our clients can expect the same response times as those experienced via our call-back model.

Thank you for choosing IBM.

Regards,
Chris
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Christopher L. Flynn
Director
Rational Client Support
IBM Software