A couple of Intuit employees whose jobs were outsourced to India have turned their job-loss lemons into lemonade for everyone involved — including Intuit.
Martin Morse and Tony Calabrese were part of a team of call-center experts in Tucson that started out as 30 and grew to 107 who provided help to what are called contracted retail solution providers (RSPs). They’re the people who help Intuit customers in the field install and upgrade the company’s QuickBooks financial management software programs.
Before the layoffs, customers and RSPs would contact Intuit’s Tucson call center for help that often went beyond simple questions about the software.
 Tony Calabrese, left, and Martin Morse, partners in ASAP Business solutions LLC |
"Over 90 percent of the problems these customers had were system and network-related," Calabrese said. "They think it’s a software problem, but it’s actually a system problem."
As demand grew Intuit contracted with a call center in New Delhi to handle calls that would come during the overnight hours when the Tucson call center would be closed.
In a decision Morse and Calabrese say they never understood, on June 2, Intuit notified the 107 call center employees, along with 43 others, that their jobs would be eliminated as of Aug. 1.
Calls that had been coming in to the Tucson center were to go to India.
For its part, Intuit said it saw an increasing number of its customers going to the Internet instead of using the call center.
From their first-hand experience, Morse and Calabrese believed that had as much to do with customers who were unsatisfied with their experience calling offshore. And that gave them their inspiration — go out on their own using the expertise they had gained while working for Intuit.
Because they had signed non-compete agreements, Morse and Calabrese approached Intuit’s human resources and legal officials and obtained permission to become contracted field RSPs, covering a Nogales to Phoenix service territory.
So as to be clear they aren’t competing with Intuit, they created ASAP Business Solutions LLC to offer additional service and support — including the systems consulting that customers had found so valuable. They also got 22 of the former Tucson call center’s agents to join them as independent affiliates who could make service calls.
Morse and Calabrese established Business Solutions Association, a membership group of RSPs and other clients who are entitled to free phone advice, discounts for on-site visits and software, a quarterly newsletter and networking opportunities and online information forums.
Calabrese and Morse said Intuit’s training was "fantastic" and they learned a lot from the company about serving the customer. Now, they say they’re offering extra service that makes Intuit’s customers happy.
"We made a vow that we’re not going to nickel and dime our customers or sell them what they don’t need," Calabrese said.
For example, when explaining the importance of system backup to one customer, he surprised the customer by giving him a $10 flash drive backup device.
"That little driver can save a person’s business," he said.
Further, customers of RSPs will call them and they’ll help over the phone and charge nothing. They just tell the customer about their membership plan and leave it up to the customer to decide whether to join.
Because they handled all those calls directly for Intuit, Morse and Calabrese learned what customers want. ASAP Business Solutions allows service customers to join for as little as a month. Intuit had required customers to sign a one-year contract.
"Some of the best customer service you’ll get anywhere is from mom and pop companies," Calabrese said. "We’re a mom and pop company."
One of their new clients, Lori Dent, manager of a soon-to-open "green" furniture store in Tubac called Casa Fina de Tubac, praised Morse and Calabrese for their work in preparing her store’s systems for a grand opening.
"Tony and Martin were great help and easy to reach when working on the system last week and I needed some quick answers," Dent said. " I would give them great reviews."
Contact reporter Ed Egger at eegger@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4238.
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