As a Google Premier Partner, our job is to provide solutions for our customers. We support their cloud and location-based service needs, help them maximize their investment across the major Google platforms, and empower them to overcome challenges like growth, scaling, improving efficiencies and keeping costs under control. To ensure we are optimally serving our customers, we solicit feedback through frequent customer surveys. We use this feedback to create proactive business practices that directly support their evolving needs.

Throughout 2020, there were many challenges to address and businesses had to be flexible to provide services, remain viable and support clients. By engaging with clients throughout the COVID-19 crisis, we have been able to help them navigate travel restrictions, quarantine orders and other operational hurdles. By listening to their concerns, we continually learn how best to support them.

One issue we were able to proactively address last year was the need for rapid incident response and self-service, which we know are vital for our customers to maintain uptime and to keep their own customers’ satisfaction high. To get ahead of any request for technical support, we created tools that include our customer service portal. Through this portal, customers can submit tickets and review support articles when they run into problems with their Google services. The portal allows our expert technical team to take the frequently asked questions received from submitted tickets, answer them and share that information with the community. This proactive approach provides answers quickly and prevents the need for individuals throughout the organization to scour the internet for information or expend time contacting support directly.

Another issue that customers shared in 2020 was the inability to predict unexpected usage or cost trends. Many mentioned that they could use updated, definitive numbers regarding where they stood with product costs and daily usage. Based on this feedback, we built an internal tool so our team can track customers’ cost trends and day-to-day usage of Google Cloud and Google Maps Platform. This has helped them avoid being “caught by surprise.” The tool is programmed to provide alerts to our customer success team when key metrics are reached. It also has empowered us to more proactively support clients from a cost and usage management perspective, based on trends and alerts that the system logs.

Over the course of the year, finding solutions to new problems created by the virus’ spread required a willingness to adjust on the fly and to be open to innovation. As we continue to operate in a predominantly digital, contactless environment, it is increasingly important for us to help customers understand how to implement and manage mapping and location-based technology and services in the short and long term.

As we begin 2021, this open dialogue with our customers will continue to be a top priority. We have seen its benefits in client satisfaction and trust—as evidenced by our Customer Net Promoter Score more than doubling, now holding steady in the 70s—as well as in its ability to drive innovative, proven solutions. We will do everything we can, especially in this time of continuing uncertainty, to best support customer needs.