The changing face of WatchGuard Technologies
Several years ago, WatchGuard Technologies was recommended to me to manage our SMB perimeter security. I did some homework, and found that it had an attractive user interface, great reviews in business journals, and had a competitive pricing module. So I bought one for our firewall defense. I also began recommending and selling these to a few of my consulting clients - and everything went fairly well.
This was until I needed service. WatchGuard had just recently off-shored their support and I evidently didn’t buy gold support - which really slowed down my response time to issues. It was taking me days to get technical issues resolved and weeks to get contract issues resolved. The service was horrible.
I was just about fed up with their whole organization and lousy customer support. There were times when I felt like I was trying to throw money at them and they just kept putting up more walls. Something changed… About 18 months ago, it was like a light started going off.
I started getting calls back from the helpdesk within minutes instead of hours. I could not only get expert advice from sales engineers, but advice from multiple levels of individuals, and best of all - when something got goofed in my order they made it right and quick.
On Monday I had the most amazing experience, and I’m hooked. I had been going back and forth with technical support via their interactive ticketing system online, and got to a point where something had to be done. Out of the blue, almost as if the engineer had felt my frustration and concern through the web portal, he simply offered an RMA.
I was used to having to go through a battery of tests to PROVE it was their issue. I mean, the problem might have been a half dozen other things, but it almost seemed as if my experience had reached some predetermined, internal threshold at WatchGuard, and they quickly moved to intercept mounting frustration.
I felt a little guilty of not conducting my technical due dilligence, and the engineer did offer a utility to conduct some testing. However, after reading some of the documentation, it was going to require some travel to our branch office 2 hours away to run. I responded back that it would take me a couple of days to schedule the visit, and to my surprise, the engineer simply authorized the replacement right there. Wow!
I am scheduled to replace Tuesday, and even though it is a minor irritation to have to go through the swap out, it’s man-made and things like that do break. I wouldn’t have a job if not, right? (that’s rhetorical, by the way).
Let me tell you above all else, I am impressed with the dramatic turn around in WatchGuard’s focus on their customer. They got back to the basics that made them what they are, and I highly recommend their offerings for the SMB, but make sure you get their gold-level technical support. Overall though, I would give WatchGuard high marks for customer support and focus.
Update: April 29, 2008
I thought I would post this update. I drove out to our branch office today, and within 20 minutes had a fully operational system, and this even included an .1 upgrade to correct some security issues. … WatchGuard, you are making things too easy on me. Pretty soon, I may just end up like the Maytag repairman!
How does Microsoft stay relevant in this social revolution? Live Mesh might be how…
In some recent posts by Robert Scoble and Mary Jo Foley, they outline the launch of Microsoft’s Ray Ozzie’s make-or-break project. Expect some posts on this as I read through all of the material…
What’s your excuse?
Are you a glass half empty of half full kind of person? Do you seek answers or offer excuses? I can throw a stone and hit someone that is giving excuses instead of solving problems - and I used to be one of them, too.
A couple of days ago, I started talking with someone who seemed very bright, confident, and seemed to bring a lot of experience from past positions. This person commented the training program was far less than expected and in fact didn’t think one even existed.
I paused a moment, and asked a question, “With whom have you spoken about your concerns? What types of training do you feel you were ‘promised’ but have not received?
I listened intently for a period of time. I heard things about needing to know how to show features of systems X, Y and Z. I heard things about filling out leasing paperwork. I heard things about sales training.
And you know what I heard loud and clear? This person was feeling a little deflated and had allowed some obstacles to get in the way, I heard reasons “why not”, but not “how can I…?” questions. Basically, being brutally honest - I heard excuses.
As a manager, I do not wish to deflect any blame either. We are responsible for creating training programs for our teams. To be quite fair, I could lob out a whole slew of excuses as to why I’m not very good at this, but suffice it to say - I’m not. What I can say is that I look at life as a great proving ground. There are all sorts of lessons to be learned, and if I am asked I am always more than willing to stop and explain something - in particular why something works the way it does.
So you better be listening, and you should be expecting me to tell you why. I expect you to reason out the rest and ask me questions if you are unsure. You are an adult, as am I, and never want anyone to feel like a problem is bigger than they are. It’s all a perspective game… a game of how to eat an elephant.
If you want to succeed in life - not just exist - you must have a seeking heart and set your mind about reaching your goals. Don’t allow obstacles to turn into excuses of “why not” and the stand in your way.
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ChangeForge... a catalyst to affect the paradigm by Ken Stewart is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.changeforge.com. -
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