The ABS Way « Advanced Business Solutions

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In 1995, when our President Mark Lewis founded ABS, he realized that everyone hated their IT company and saw IT procurement as a necessary evil. His goal was to deliver IT services differently, with a focus on customer service, proactive solutions, and relationships. The ABS Way is the embodiment of these core values and serves as a guide and resource for every employee so they can deliver high-quality customer service and treat you the way you deserve to be treated.

The ABS Way emphasizes our mission to help people accomplish their goals with IT solutions that work for them. It is more than just words on a piece of paper – it’s been what we hire and fire by since the foundation of our company. All ABS employees are specifically selected because they enjoy helping people, not just because they’re a technical wizard. By empathizing with people first, and then fixing the technical problems they are facing, we have been able to develop lasting relationships with over two hundred businesses in the Louisville, Kentucky area.

ELEMENTS OF The ABS Way

When Mark Lewis founded ABS, he wanted to assemble a team of problem solvers that could do things differently than other computer people. He spent several weeks outlining the “ABS Way” which would help him select team members and cultivate a culture dedicated to outstanding service. We still stick to these principles decades later.

We Help People

That is the key component of what we do. If you don’t like helping people, you work for the wrong company. We are a service company first, and an IT company second. We focus on the client first, and focus on the computer second.

We Don’t Choose Our Clients; They Choose Us

IT is a competitive industry, and we face a lot of competition. We honor our customers’ faith in us at all times and offer the best service we can. We’re proud of our 98% satisfaction rate and are working hard to improve it. If we don’t take care of our clients every time, our clients will find someone else who will.

Set Expectations Every Time

If we don’t have a meeting of the minds regarding what clients are paying us for and what they expect from us, they will make assumptions about what they will receive that we then don’t fulfill. They will get something different from what they are expecting and be dissatisfied.

Do What You Say You Are Going To Do

We value accountability and follow-through. If we tell a client something is going to get done, it absolutely has to get done. Our culture emphasizes the importance of rising to the challenge and making things happen for our clients.

Be Part of the Solution, Not Part of the Problem

We are paid to remove things from our client’s “to do” list. If we add things to their “to do” list, we have failed.

Empathize

We tell our employees to put themselves in the client’s shoes, and ask how they would like to be treated. The client is getting an invoice for our efforts – how would we feel if we had to pay that invoice? Would we feel like we received good value?

Anticipate

We coach our engineers to not be afraid to think ahead and talk to the client about the future they see. Will a course of action lead to potential problems? Have we spotted potential problem areas during our work? We’ll let you know.

Be Proactive

One thing we never wanted to do was sit back and take support tickets. When you engage with us, we become trusted partners in the operations of your business, and you can trust us to be actively looking for opportunities, problems, and solutions for you.

If the Client Isn’t Happy, It’s Your Responsibility

If the client isn’t happy, that means that somebody messed up. Somebody didn’t anticipate, didn’t set expectations properly, wrote a bad project plan, didn’t communicate well, didn’t empathize, left something undone, didn’t follow up. We take personal responsibility for making sure the client is happy with every interaction that we have. If someone sees a problem, no matter who created it, they take care of it.

Make The Client Feel Good

Any day that involves a technology breakdown is a stressful one, and the person calling us is usually under immense pressure to solve the problem. We work hard to make our callers leave each engagement feeling positive, reassured, and confident, and make sure that each of our staff members possesses not only technical skills, but a commitment to customer service.

Finish The Job

If there’s a problem with your technology, we don’t stop working until it’s addressed. We don’t leave threads hanging or wires dangling. Every interaction ends with a confirmation that things are back to normal on your end, so we know that the job is finished.

The Client Is Your Boss

If there is a conflict between what the ABS supervisor wants an employee to do and what the client wants them to do, the client wins. We give our employees the authority to make situational decisions based on the needs of the client rather than making everyone adhere to a strict procedure, which gives our clients better service and our employees the freedom to do their jobs.

Solve The Problem, Just Get It Done.
Nothing Is Beneath You

Whereas most IT providers operate according to strict escalation protocols, which create bottlenecks for their service and frustration for clients, we operate more fluidly and respond to the situation with whatever it requires.

“Trust and Integrity” is the Foundation of Our Relationship

Our business is tough. There are a thousand ways to implement an IT solution. To make things even tougher, a thousand things can go wrong. When something goes wrong, our relationship with the client is what saves us from losing them as a client. Trust is the basis of this relationship. We build trust by making the best decision for the client every time.

The ABS Way!