NetApp SAM customers report up to 57% less disruption time

Meet the NetApp SAM. In our previous blog post, we explained how the NetApp® Support Account Manager (SAM) service can help you manage your NetApp estate, reduce disruptions, improve availability, and free up your team to focus on other business priorities.

So how exactly does the SAM do all those things? Foremost, your SAM becomes your trusted advisor and acts as your advocate within NetApp. They help you proactively manage your NetApp estate and are your main point of contact for any post-sales questions or problems.

Think of the SAM as an extended part of your team. Someone with inside knowledge of NetApp, and someone who has links to all other parts of the organization. Someone who can give you tailored advice, identify issues before they become problems, and help you navigate NetApp Support when you need technical help.

Your SAM is personally focused on you and your team. They have a deep understanding of your NetApp environment and your business. They are aware of your priorities and your criteria for success and are working toward those same aims. Consequently, the help and guidance that they offer are tailored to your specific needs.

Just like any other member of your team, your SAM talks to you regularly by phone, email, and videoconferencing to keep in contact with you and to keep your environment running smoothly.

The SAM service also never sleeps. Outside of local business hours, a dedicated SAM team that’s based in India monitors for alerts from your systems. And for public sector customers, a 24x7 coverage model is supported by U.S. citizens on U.S. soil. If your systems experience a P1 incident, the team is ready and waiting to engage and to assist.

The real value of the SAM is their ability to effectively identify, predict, and quickly mitigate potential risks before they become real problems. Customers with a SAM report up to 57% less disruption time.

On a monthly or quarterly basis, your SAM reviews your environment. They share a detailed health-check report with you and your team, and they highlight actions that are recommended to be taken to avoid any potential risks. Gone are the days of having to wade through product literature and webpages to decipher what you need to do to maintain your NetApp estate, because it’s all done for you by your SAM.

The SAM’s advice isn’t focused on just risks and problems. Your SAM identifies upgrade needs and creates upgrade plans. They also cover storage system optimization, utilization, efficiency, and general best practices to help you get the most from your investment in NetApp.

Inevitably, problems do occur from time to time when dealing with any technology. When an issue arises, your SAM is ready to step in to help manage it to its successful resolution. The SAM is your link to the NetApp Technical Support Centre to help navigate and simplify our support processes. They are your advocate internally and provide end-to-end case and escalation management. Studies have shown that customers with SAMs achieve 33% faster resolution for P1 cases and 40% faster resolution for P2 cases. After the event, the SAM helps with root-cause analysis and any follow-up that’s required.

Your SAM also helps you manage your NetApp technology installed base, provides lifecycle management assistance, tracks end-of-support dates, addresses entitlement issues, and more. They help with special projects and are there for you with any other post-sales questions or issues.

It’s therefore hardly surprising that 60% of the Fortune 100 companies that use NetApp technology have a SAM. The companies that use the SAM service report fewer problems and faster issue resolution, and they’re significantly more satisfied at every stage of their NetApp journey.

In our next blog post, you’ll hear directly from a NetApp SAM. In their own words, they will share their experience of working with a large NetApp customer, explain the value that they provided to their customer, and describe the resulting positive outcomes that their customer achieved.

If you want to find out more now, take a look at our SAM Service Description, talk to your NetApp representative, or send a question to ng-sam-salesdesk@netapp.com.

To learn more how SAM services help the bottom line for NetApp customers, read our other blogs:

• NetApp helps address customers’ top 3 storage challenges for success 

• How NetApp SAMs help customers: Three real-world scenarios

• How NetApp customers gain a competitive edge and accelerate innovation: SAM