When national ICT managed service provider Integr8 first launched its Nerve Centre operation several years ago, it made this high-tech hybrid of technology, people and processes the foundation of the business. Today, as the ICT services game has evolved and become ultra-competitive, the leading service provider has developed the Nerve Centre to suit any client, any requirement at any time.

The Nerve Centre is the epicentre of the company’s service offering to clients. Executive management understands that because the market has reached a level of maturity and clients expect issues with their infrastructure to be handled instantly and effectively, there has been a need to adapt the Nerve Centre to easily accommodate requests.

“At times our clients want to be greeted by competent and professional staff that give them the personal and warm experience as the first point of contact, and at other times clients want to simply speak to a skilled technical engineer that can resolve the incident as fast and efficiently as possible. We need to cater for both; depending on the client and their needs,” explains Lance Fanaroff, joint CEO of Integr8.

“As a result we have developed complex processes and technologies that enable the Nerve Centre to cater for each respective client, and the first point of call personnel will use these processes & technologies to ensure the client receives the best service possible according to their specific requirements,” Fanaroff adds.

The ICT services market is driven by pace, quality and by follow-through. Competitors in this market are differentiated primarily by their ability to mobilise resources to assist clients and gain immediate control of any issue in order to avoid any disruption to business processes.

As Fanaroff attests speed of service has to go hand-in-hand with professionalism, and successful CRM requires the combined effort of skilled Nerve Centre personnel, service delivery managers and account executives.

“In some cases a specific incident cannot be resolved in a matter of minutes, and then the customer service becomes even more important than technical skills, as we require our resources to keep clients informed and up to date on exactly what is happening and what the time frames are involved,” Fanaroff adds.

Spreading value

One of the reasons behind the success of the Integr8 Nerve Centre is the fact that the company has streamlined its service delivery model; it has been engineered to ensure that all service areas are taken care of.

“As such we continue to streamline and re-engineer the Nerve Centre in order to meet the demand from our clients efficiently and effectively. Proper management structures and focused areas are key to delivering this. Instead of one team that needs to be able to support all areas, we have segmented our service areas into specific focus areas which allow the teams to be experts in their specific fields of specialisation, but to also adopt a new technology in a very condensed timeframe and without affecting other areas from continued support,” says Fanaroff.

This is a forward-thinking environment looking at new innovative technologies, including legislation & governance, and how it affects clients.

Resource intensive

Another strength behind the effective evolution of the Nerve Centre is the careful, strategic and structured application of skilled personnel. The Nerve Centre team consists of best of breed and proven expert resources.

“As in most technical companies, a lot of training happens on the job, so we have mentorship programmes in place where the senior technical resources continuously upskill the lower level technical resources. The Nerve Centre allows Integr8’s growing IP to be retained and used internally in order for us to better service our clients,” Fanaroff concludes.