OpenBlue’s training and support doesn’t begin – or end – at go-live

Software adoption doesn’t stop at installation—without ongoing training and education, even the best solutions can fall short of their full capabilities. Johnson Controls invests in continuous customer support for OpenBlue, a digital platform to manage building operations, sustainability initiatives and more. Our suite of resources and training programs give users the knowledge and confidence to maximize the solution’s value long after go-live.

OpenBlue recently launched interactive training sessions for clients through its Knowledge Center website. To mark the occasion, we sat down with Brian Giguère, Senior Director of Customer Success at Johnson Controls, to talk about the importance of providing its clients with robust training and support.

“Things can really go sideways for organizations adopting new technology if they’re left to their own devices and they’re constantly having to chase the vendor for help,” said Giguère. “With OpenBlue, we stay very close to our customers through implementation and beyond.”

Here’s more of what Brian had to say about the holistic approach the OpenBlue team takes to make sure clients get the most out of our technology and their investment:

How do we work with clients to ensure a smooth implementation of OpenBlue technology?

As soon as the customer decides they want to move forward with us, we assign them a customer success manager (CSM) and a project manager (PM). The CSM and PM schedule a kickoff call with the client to understand why they bought the solution, what they’re looking to accomplish and what success looks like for them.

After that, the PM takes the lead through project implementation, conducting weekly calls with the client to keep them up to date on the progress of the project and gather any additional details that will help the deployment go smoothly.

The CSM will also join those calls to make sure the client has everything they need. That relationship carries on beyond “go-live,” so the client always has somebody within OpenBlue to represent their interests and advocate for them.

What kind of training does the OpenBlue team provide the intended users to help them “hit the ground running” with a solution once it’s implemented?

Prior to go-live, our PMs offer training sessions for each of the modules that the customer has purchased and intends to use. I make that distinction because some clients purchase solutions that do more than just address the client’s initial use case. We don’t train the users on features and functions they’re not going to use or need right away. We tailor our training to the customer, and all those sessions are recorded. That way, if an existing user needs to brush up on something or a new user needs to be trained on the solution, they have an ideal resource. That makes the training more effective, less frustrating and more efficient.

In addition, we have a robust online training site – the Knowledge Center – that contains more recorded training sessions. These range from lengthy and in-depth sessions to brief, bite-size how-to videos that cover a single function or specific topic. Recently, we've added interactive training options that augment the video with questions and quizzes that can help reinforce comprehension. All of this is available to the customer free of charge.

The big day comes. Installation of software, sensors and other hardware is complete and the system is about to “go live.” What does the OpenBlue team do to help ensure that process goes smoothly?

It’s not uncommon for users to have gone through training on a solution and draw a blank when they need to start using it. That’s why we provide what we call “hyper care” for several weeks after the go-live date.

With hyper care, the PM and the professional services team remain accessible to the client and users . For up to four weeks after go-live, users can send the PM notes and ask them questions. We'll jump on the phone with them and hold their hand until they get the hang of it.

What kind of ongoing training and support does OpenBlue provide our clients after implementation?

At the end of that hyper care period, we hand off responsibility for the client from the PM to the CSM. Support will also schedule a 45-minute call with the customer to walk them through how to submit a support request ticket and our procedures for handling those requests. We also show them where and how they can find information themselves through our Knowledge Center and Champions user site. Of course, the CSM is also available to help them with anything that they need.

We look at getting clients up to speed on an OpenBlue solution like teaching them how to ride a bike. We show the client and users how to ride the bike, start them off with training wheels in the form of the hyper care program, then take the training wheels off. But we don’t go anywhere. We’re still there in case something happens. We'll pick you up, dust you off and get you back on your way.