Guidance Where You Need It Most: How To Optimize Your Software Expert Sessions

Quarterly sit-downs with recognized IBM, HCL, and VMware experts come standard for all Origina customers. Here’s how to get the most value from an invaluable conversation.

Origina’s Meet the Experts (MTE) software expert sessions are so open-ended, it’s almost impossible to come up with a description that covers all their potential uses.

Want a standard virtual training session? We can do that.

Need a direct conversation with a preeminent product expert in the software your business uses? No problem.

Struggling with a specific issue you’re hoping our experts can walk you through? We’re happy to help, even if the software you’re asking about is outside our current service agreement, or even if we don’t support it at all.

Meet the Expert sessions exemplify our concierge service philosophy and offer our customers the unique opportunity for their teams to interact directly with our product experts. If you do business with us or you’re thinking of opening an account, here’s what you need to know to make the most of a truly customer-first experience.

What Can I Do in My Origina Meet the Experts Session?

We intentionally place no limitations on how you use the time you’re entitled to, besides the parameter of four hours per quarter per IBM, VMware, or HCL support agreement you have with us.

Some customers use their software expert session to resolve practical how-to questions that don’t fall neatly within their scope of work (SOW). Others want to better understand their software’s or larger technology estate’s inner workings by talking one-on-one with an expert – sometimes the very same person who originally wrote the software’s code. Then there are those who want to help roles/divisions outside their own to understand a particular process or to master a specific workflow.

Who Are the Software Experts?

Who you will engage with depends on the nature of your request. Sometimes Origina’s Global Independent Experts (GIEs) tied to your account have the most relevant skill sets thanks to their intimate knowledge of your software environment.

In other circumstances, another GIE might be the best option for your software expert session. If needed, we can even ask our roster of GIEs to speak to their respective networks and find the best possible person to help address your questions. We’ll always work to find the most appropriate people for your specific inquiries.

The process of answering your questions starts when you make the request, not when the meeting begins. Even if you only talk to one expert during your MTE session, there is a good chance a team helped them do research, devise answers, and come up with solutions in the background. Realistically, you’ll benefit from the work of several experts regardless of how many you interact with during the session itself.

What if I Don’t Know Exactly What I Want?

It’s completely fine if you aren’t sure what your session should look like from the onset. Many customers, especially those taking advantage of the offering for the first time, have that exact challenge. Here are a few ways to work around it.

• Don’t restrict yourself. We’ll work our hardest to fulfill any reasonable request, so don’t dismiss ideas out of hand because you think we won’t be able to mitigate your particular issue. If you want to talk about JavaScript, we’ll talk about JavaScript with you.
• Ask your Customer Success Manager (CSM). Your CSM can review your account for trends and patterns and make suggestions for topics based on what they find.
• Think outside the support box. We’re happy to collaborate on specific technical challenges during your MTE time, but that’s far from all we can help with. If you have a general software-related goal you’d like to accomplish, bring it to your CSM and we’ll see what we can do.
• Ask around your organization. Talk to app managers, end users, and other relevant parties within your company to see what challenges they face and what questions they might have.

We typically need a minimum of one week’s notice before your MTE, which gives us time to investigate possible answers and (if needed) structure the meeting itself. This ensures your four hours of actual meeting time are as productive as possible and provides some cushion in the extremely rare case some aspect of your request turns out to be out of scope, such as asking for something that violates your agreement with the vendor.

What Else Do I Need to Know About Meet the Expert Sessions?

We talked with members of our Customer Success (CS) and Customer Operations (CO) teams about what makes a great Origina Meet the Experts session. Here are a few of the points they shared:

• Involve your team. You’re welcome to invite as many people from your company to the MTE session as you’d like. With your permission, we can even create a recording of the session you can refer to and share with colleagues.
• Make good use of your time. Your allotment is per product we support or maintain. For instance, three supported products would equate to three quarterly meetings’ worth of MTE time (12 hours). Don’t let it go to waste.
• Think about what a successful MTE session would look like for your business. Our CS and CO teams say the best sessions usually occur when customers have a concrete goal in mind. Make sure to ask yourself what you’d like to accomplish with your time and keep that final goal in mind as you work with the team to devise your session.
• Provide detailed answers to preparatory questions. A member of the Origina team will likely reach out after you request an MTE to gather more information. If so, try to provide detailed answers to ensure we can make optimal use of your time in the meeting.

Whether you want to solve a specific problem, come away with more information on a topic, or request help to shore up your software estate, Meet the Experts sessions offer a unique opportunity for your team to interact directly with our experts and gain valuable insights about specific IBM, HCL, and VMware products, their applications, and best practices, all tailored to your individual business needs.

Talk to IBM, HCL, and VMware experts who care about your company’s success as much as you do. Reach out to Origina now.