Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, Chatter you name it, I’m on it.
You could call me a social media guru, ninja, or maven, but I just consider myself to be a regular guy who finds immense value in using these different online social platforms to communicate with customers in near real time. There’s one social source, however, that goes beyond updates, hashtags, likes and connections to foster an environment of collaboration where users can find answers to their product-specific questions.
That source is CA Communities the Clarity Community in particular. Every day I spend time within this community. Logging on and helping our customers maximize their CA Technologies solutions has become a daily ritual that is as natural to me as grabbing my morning cup of Joe. If I’m not in the community, discovering what’s top of mind for my customers, how can I possibly give them the product information they expect? That would be impossible.
You see, as a Technical Information Architect, it is my mission to give customers the content they want, when they want it, and in the form they want it. So, I’ve established a large presence within the community where I:
- Share initiatives, such as our Flipboard Cookbooks and the upcoming Wiki
- Ask for feedback on what customers want to see in product documentation (where they are struggling with the documents, where there are gaps, and where they need improvement)
- Make announcements when product documents are available for general consumption
- Promote product features and new information
- Participate in monthly Office Hours (or one-hour roundtables)
- Republish expert product information gleaned from Tuesday Tips
And this communication with our customers is working. In Clarity 13.3, our customers told us they wanted a complete list of all out-of-the-box and PMO portlets. We had a conversation with the customers on the community to understand the requirement, and we worked to deliver the Portlet Reference Guide, which was greatly appreciated by our customers and a big win. I think of CA Communities as a gateway to our customers. It’s how we find out what’s most important to them. It’s how we prove that we’re listening, we care, and we’re using their feedback to make improvements in both documentation and customer service. It’s how we bridge the divide between technical teams and end users, and socialize IT.
John George is a Technical Information Architect with over 25 years of experience working with enterprise, mainframe, commercial, payroll, HR, security and telecommunications software. He has a successful track record in writing, leadership, project management, execution and delivery while meeting challenging deadlines. John has previously worked at many industry leaders, including AT&T, Datalogix, Hyperion Solutions, Hewlett-Packard, Automatic Data Processing and CommVault.