KeysightCare was released in late 2018; for those not familiar, can you tell us about this service?

KeysightCare is a new support model that includes three levels of elevated support. Each package—Assured, Enhanced, and Performance—is tailored to customers’ needs.  We believe these premium levels of support will improve our customers’ time to market, as well as reduce costly unplanned downtime and project delays.

We introduced KeysightCare to elevate the level of support available to our customers based on their needs. KeysightCare allows us to be more strategic and efficient in delivering premium levels of support. For example, if customers need to optimize a mission-critical test system to align performance with maximum uptime, we give them access to the support resources they need to keep the system running at peak performance level. More specifically, customers have access to experts with committed turn-around-times for technical support. This model ensures a streamlined and fast response for calibration, instrument repair, and inquiries related to testing methodology and operations. It represents a major improvement on the previous model which relied on our contact center to act as quickly as possible to find the right person with the best knowledge to help customers. The new model provides committed response times by using an innovative online portal and streamlined processes.

What levels of service are offered and what are the key features of each one?

At the Assured level, customers get fast support when they need it and access to an online portal where they can find answers to their questions, manage service requests, and interact with experts who understand their tools and challenges. They gain access to decades of R&D and test experience and connect with expert advice on their test and measurement challenges, all at their fingertips.

With Enhanced support, customers get even faster support with access to technical experts within a four-hour response time and a 10-day turn-around-time on repairs. In addition, customers can get their instruments calibrated within five days.

The Performance level is our top-tier support level. When customers have a very aggressive schedule or a mission-critical project, Keysight backs them up with proactive support, such as emergency response times and on-site services designed to keep them up and running from the design phase to manufacturing. Through our top-tier, we develop a close partnership focused on our customers’ success. This level of support allows our customers to focus on their core business, knowing there’s a dedicated support team behind them. This even includes on-site support when required. We focus on customers’ test infrastructure and help them innovate their test processes, so they can focus on the next challenge or innovation.

In addition to the one-year agreements we offered when we introduced KeysightCare back in December 2018, we have now added the option of extending to three and five-year support agreements.

Can you share some of the key findings in your survey of engineers about calibration and service of test equipment?

While extreme product quality issues often make headlines, 92% of survey respondents said that they suffer significant business impact from error-prone test equipment. In addition, respondents reported that quality issues frequently impact the bottom line. They cited increased costs to repair or dispose of defective products and lost business, potential lawsuits and regulatory penalties, as well as lost time-to-market or market advantages, damaged customer relationships and damage to brand reputation.

Looking closely at quality issues, survey respondents reported that out-of-calibration test equipment caused product rejection, recalls, losses, and product returns. Further, 49% of the companies surveyed said they lose $100,000 or more for every 1% loss of yield.

The survey findings reveal just how critical calibration is to designers and engineers. According to the findings, 64% of respondents confirmed that ensuring product quality is growing more difficult due to the increasing complexity of electronics and the corresponding complexity of the testing required to measure quality. Respondents reported that quality challenges stem from escalating customer demands and tighter measurement tolerances.

The insight we gained about the impact of calibration and support on our customers’ business results is a major reason we will continue to invest in delivering premium services in these areas.

How does KeysightCare enable engineers to deliver better, faster results, consistently?

There are a few ways that KeysightCare enables our customers to deliver better results. Faster response times mean a quicker resolution to technical issues that are too complex to solve without an expert. By having access to our experts and committed issue resolution times, we can help reduce the level of risk in project schedules.

Imagine if we could help you reduce the time from months to weeks to resolve a technical issue. This would decrease your team’s risk of delays that result in being late to market with a new product, technology, or service.

Do these services extend to software updates, calibration, leasing and rental of equipment?

KeysightCare includes calibration and software updates. However, leasing and other financial services are part of Keysight’s comprehensive portfolio of services.  A customer can leverage these services easily by creating a customized support agreement.

KeysightCare offered the industry’s first cloud-based customer experience with support through a single point of contact for instruments, software, and solutions; how has that been received and benefited customers?

A customer contacted Keysight recently to request support for an MXA spectrum analyzer that had developed a problem which impacted production. While registering the product in the KeysightCare portal, the Keysight team discovered that the unit serial number did not exist in Keysight’s systems.

Further investigation revealed that all five of the MXA Spectrum Analyzers the customer had purchased from the vendor were counterfeit. In addition, the three MXG Signal Generators purchased from the vendor contained unlicensed Keysight software.

If not for the KeysightCare cloud-based registration model, both the customer and the Keysight Care Center (KCC) would have spent several days trying to understand why the customer could not get the right results from the instruments. The good news is that we were able to connect with the right Keysight experts who partnered with the customer to buy the right replacement products. However, the counterfeit instruments could not be used in the test system as they would introduce measurement errors and we would not be able to support those products.

This service seems like a great fit for large enterprises, will it also benefit small and medium-sized companies?

KeysightCare is a great fit for large, small, and medium-sized companies. All companies have complex technical issues and mission-critical projects. This elevated support model allows any size company to get the right level of support to meet business needs, independent of the size of the organization.

Can you give us a couple of specific cases where this service impacted a customer’s development and on the time-to-market benefits?

I can’t share specific named customers, but I can share a specific example:

In one case, our customer was working on a mission-critical project that, at some point, would require special support from Keysight to ensure success. The budget was an issue as well, so the customer began shopping for used Keysight equipment to get the lowest price possible. After realizing the benefits of KeysightCare and the potential to purchase elevated levels of support, the customer decided to buy directly from Keysight and include KeysightCare in their purchase.  The access to specialized support services was the deciding factor for the customer, and the KeysightCare offerings helped them to navigate the business and financial justifications.

You have a very interesting marketing background; can you tell about how some of your previous positions prepared you for this director’s position?

From 2006 to 2013, I led the Agilent (now Keysight) test and measurement marketing team in Beijing, China. During that time, our team was responsible for launching new products, executing marketing programs, and developing our test and measurement business in China.

This role enabled me to fully immerse in the market and build business relationships with key customers within companies in China’s wireless technology ecosystem. By spending a lot of time with customers and our China sales team, I developed a deep understanding of the market, leading players, and how to do business in China. Since then, I’ve leveraged that experience to develop effective marketing strategies and tactics from an ecosystem-marketing point of view.

In addition to the China experience, during my over 30 years in various marketing management roles within HP, Agilent, and Keysight product divisions, I developed an intuitive understanding of the pain points and support needs of our customers. I’m using this insight to build services marketing strategies and plans to deliver the right content that helps our customers understand the value of the offerings in the Keysight services portfolio. In addition, this insight is helping me to more effectively tell the story of how Keysight services can help our customers overcome pressing technical and business challenges.