Throughout time, mothers across the globe have approached their role in an ever-changing variety of styles and ideals. But one thing has remained steadfast: if they’re doing it right, their children will be nurtured and cared for in a way that sets them up for success.  

The same is true for a customer success team. This is a group that should be dedicated to your organization’s care. They are not only the lifeblood of a successful implementation, but they also work tirelessly to establish a foundation for your long-term return on investment. For this reason, it’s important to do your homework about the customer success team for any vendor you’re considering.  

Like motherhood and apple pie, the goals of a customer success team are timeless: work to keep your immediate needs met, strategize how to set you up for overall success, and firmly establish parameters while giving you the freedom and guidance to achieve your goals.  

If they’re doing it right, your vendor’s customer success team will have proven standing in these areas. Let’s look at some good old-fashioned motherly advice and how it can apply to the right customer success partner: 

1. They treat others how they want to be treated. Beyond being nice to the client, customer success teams bring value to the table by listening to their customer’s needs and supplying the appropriate technology. Whether that’s SD-WAN or MPLS, hybrid cloud or cloud native, they should be providing the flexibility and choice that enables you to meet the specific needs of your network, your way—putting themselves in your shoes to address the areas where you need the most support. 

2. They’re honest, no matter what happens. Without integrity, what do you have? I know; a little deep for a technology blog, but you’d be surprised how many tech partners will yes you to death until you sign on the dotted line. Your customer success team shouldn’t force a square peg into a round hole just to close a deal. If the product you’re interested in isn’t the right fit – even if it’s the more inexpensive one – they won’t push it on you. Instead they’ll be up front and transparent about what they offer and whether it addresses your requirements. 

3. They’re resilient. Sure, network resiliency is critical, but as a parent (or a trusted tech partner) it’s crucial to understand the value in bouncing back. If at first your vendor doesn’t succeed, they will try and try again. In SD-WAN terms that means they’ve readied your network for failover. From there the network should see you through whatever operational trials and tribulations you face. And if deployment problems persist, they’ll go back to the drawing board to make it right.  

4. They allow you to pursue your passion with passion. At Extreme, our passion is customer success. That passion melds into many forms: from frantic late night phone calls to countless hours of planning, whiteboarding, and deploying. The right customer success team will inspire trust – the ability to handle the network specifics (cloud migration, SD-WAN, network security, and predictability) for you so you can pursue your day job with passion and peace of mind. 

It’s easy to overlook customer success when you’re deep in a vendor and technology assessment. But, by doing a little more digging, you’ll find that the reputation of a vendor speaks for itself. Extreme Networks has been recognized for four consecutive years as a Customer Choice for Wired and Wireless Wired and Wireless LAN Access Infrastructure. This recognition demonstrates how through commitment and consistent service in delivering an effortless user experience a vendor can create a long-lasting and rewarding technology relationship. 

 And that’s something that could make your mother proud! 

 (Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in the Extreme network! We celebrate you and all the ways you go above and beyond to care for our future.)