Customer??
Jul 28th, 2009 by Mike Buel
Within the IT department just who is the Customer? And who is customer service?
First let’s get some definitions:
customer, Plural customers
English, Noun: patron; one who purchases or receives a product or service from a business or merchant, or plans to
Every person who passes by is a potential customer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
American Heritage Dictionary
–noun
1. a person who purchases goods or services from another; buyer; patron.
WordNet
cus·tom·er
n. One that buys goods or services.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law
customer
noun, someone who pays for goods or services
Ok so we know that customer is a Noun, that is a good start. So someone who purchases, buys or pays for goods or services. So in the IT world of Higher Education what part of the above statement fits? Someone can translate into anyone. Purchases can translate into acquire commodity or service can translate into computer access which then allows network access which then allows Internet access. The list is never ending when it comes to the IT world.
So back to the question Who is the customer? The customer is anyone who uses, acquires any or all of the services supported by the IT department. Which to me means that everyone is a customer. And everyone should be customer service. So the next time you’re on the phone with a customer service person remember it might be you in that roll the next time…
Just some food for thought.
Ok so next question, “The chicken or the egg”