CSS Leads New Customer Relations Effort

An ambitious customer service effort is reshaping Microsoft’s Customer Services and Support (CSS) division, which handles both technical and nontechnical queries from the company’s customers. The new Customer Services strategy, in development since 2004, is an effort to apply service standards developed for the company’s technical support to nontechnical interactions with customers. Among other things, the company believes that new processes and standards for customer service can improve Microsoft’s image and generate new revenue for the company’s other businesses. However, the multiyear project is likely to require significant cultural and organizational changes at the company.

Changing Ideas

The most visible sign of change at the unit formerly known as Product Support Services (PSS) was the fall 2004 decision to combine it with a Customer Service unit and rename the combination Customer Service and Support (CSS), a change that gives customers more prominence than products.

Several factors, including the following, influenced the decision to change the name and strategy: