Interviews
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Identifying the Voice of the Customer
Interview 1: Richard Huett (Director of Tec Campus Sinaloa)
1.          How do you decide with which companies you should initiate a partnership (For example which companies to contact when making Semester I)?
Three key factors:
i.            Values and mission of the company are aligned with the vision of the Tec de Monterrey and our institutional values
ii.           The project offered by the company provides educational value for the student and organizational value for the company.
iii.          The company is committed to the project and has the recourses, structure, and ability to provide good follow-up.
2.          When making a decision, how do you decide about one company above the other?
i.            A decision must be made based on the three above indicators. It is not an exact science.
3.          When selecting a company, which needs should the company solve?
i.            The guiding principle is that the company provides the students an opportunity to put their knowledge and skills into practice to develop their competencies.
ii.           These competencies will differ between the programs: a company that works with finance students will be different to those in engineering (although not always)
4.          What are some requirements that a company must have to seek a partnership with Tec de Monterrey?
i.            This question I do not have a good answer. Please ask your academic leader.
ii.           In general, the company must be legally established; name a leader of the project; and provide the infrastructure and security necessary for the project.
5.          For how long do you decide to do these partnerships?
i.            Very open question varies by project. In Guadalajara I had a project (with schools) for 10 years. Others might be 1 semester.
6.          How do you decide when to stop having these partnerships?
7.          Why do you decide to stop having these partnerships?
i.            I will answer 6 and 7 together.
ii.           The partnerships should end for one reason: the defined project was completed successfully. No further projects are identified that satisfy the three conditions from question 1.
Of course, some projects end (very few) because the relationship has not been successful, and the project does not add value.
Interview 2: Jesus Wilson (Teacher in charge of the Manufacturing Lab)
1. How do you decide with which machinery to implement on the lab?
By looking at the best brand on the market, those that have a reputation of having good quality and that meet the requirements for the courses taught on the school, and those that are most commonly use on the market.
2.How do you decide with which companies you should initiate a partnership?
Usually with those that give the best post sale service and who give the customer constant support either by phone or in person.
3.How do you decide when to stop having these partnerships?
Because of bad service, bad customer support or because there are better companies on the market in terms of quality and service.
4.What are some requirements that a company must have to seek a partnership with Tec de Monterrey?
That it is a well-established company, which is serious when doing business and are respected on the market.
5.For how long do you decide to do these partnerships?
It depends on the type of partnership, on those that bring software to ITESM, it can be very long, but for those that bring machinery, it can be for around 10 years.
6.When selecting a company, which needs should the company solve?
That the service is good, the software works and that there is a good post sales service where you can easily get support when it is needed.
7.Do you usually ask for demonstrations or tests?
Yes, it is ideal to have previous knowledge of how it works, there sometimes are times when I am asked to go to demonstration events for this.
8.How is the process for acquiring software, machinery, lab equipment or something similar at ITESM?
There are several suppliers selected and the options are sent to the school administration, where they have the last say about which company to choose, they will select among different factors such as the current budget, quality and the position of the brand on the market.
Interview 3: Fausto Rios (Teacher that was in charge of Manufacturing Lab at CBTis 224)
1. How do you decide with which machinery to implement on the lab?
It depends on the course program and how many students there will be on the semester.
2.How do you decide with which companies you should initiate a partnership?
In this case, the teachers select the companies that we consider the best but it all comes down to upper management’s decision and the budget.
3.How do you decide when to stop having these partnerships?
Because of bad service, because of low quality or because of low budget.
4.What are some requirements that a company must have to seek a partnership with CBTis?
That it is a company with good quality, is on the budget level and is approved by upper management
5.For how long do you decide to do these partnerships?
It depends on how good the service of the company is, but at the end of each semester the decision of whether we should continue or not is made.
6.When selecting a company, which needs should the company solve?
That they bring what is necessary for the courses that we teach and that they give a good post sales services and maintenance.
7.Do you usually ask for demonstrations or tests?
It is recommended but sometimes it is not possible to do this.
8.How is the process for acquiring software, machinery, lab equipment or something similar at CBTis?
The machinery or software is asked to the school administration, the teachers give some proposals with different possible budget scenarios and in the end the school administration chooses.
Interviews
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Identifying the Voice of the Customer
Interview 4: Carmen Olais (Teacher in charge of the Food Lab at CBTis 224)
1. How do you decide with which machinery/equipment/software to implement on the lab?
It depends on the course program, the number of students and how the current equipment is working now.
2.How do you decide with which companies you should initiate a partnership?
It must be with companies that have good quality and that meet the requirements that we have.
3.How do you decide when to stop having these partnerships?
When the quality is of low service and/or when there is a bad post sales service such as bad maintenance service.
4.What are some requirements that a company must have to seek a partnership with CBTis?
That they have good customer service, good post sales service and are on the budget level.
5.For how long do you decide to do these partnerships?
For as long as the partnership is working, and the other company does not fail us.
6.When selecting a company, which needs should the company solve?
The same as question 4, good quality, good post sales service and good maintenance.
7.Do you usually ask for demonstrations or tests?
Yes, it is necessary in order to know if the software or equipment will actually meet our requirements.
8.How is the process for acquiring software, machinery, lab equipment or something similar at CBTis?
The machinery or software is asked to the school administration, the teachers give 3 options with 3 different suppliers and in the end, it is up to the school administration to decide.
Interview 5: João Pedro Canhisares (Geologist in construction company in environmental areas)
1. How do you decide with which machinery to implement on the lab?
By first using free trials so that I can understand if it will accomplish our requirements.
2.How do you decide with which companies you should initiate a partnership?
It depends on the integration that their software can have on other software that we currently use.
3.How do you decide when to stop having these partnerships?
When a new software that adapts better to the company´s needs and requirements.
4.What are some requirements that a company must have to seek a partnership with your company?
That it is a legally valid company and that there is a thorough contract.
5.For how long do you decide to do these partnerships?
It depends on the type of project that is being done.
6.When selecting a company, which needs should the company solve?
That the software allows the company what we want and that it has good customer support, that it has constant uptdates.
7.Do you usually ask for demonstrations or tests?
Yes, always.
The Voice of the Customer
Good quality: the software is not breaking down, the software allows the company to acomplish the project for which they acquired the software.
Constant updates: the software is being constantly updated so that it does not falls behind to other software on the market and is at the top of the technology currently on the market.
Good post sales service and customer support: this is the most important according to the people interviewed, when there is a problem, the company must be able to take the time to talk with the customer and help them fix their issue while always treating the customer with respect.
Providing demonstration and or free trials: the customer wants to know if the software will actually help the company so this will allow them to get acostumed to the software and event make suggestions.
That the software is compatible with others on the market: this will allow the customer to be able to use it alongside other programs that are more popular, so this can be a huge bonus for the customers.
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Reasons for choosing the people that were interviewed:
Although not all of them were in charge of areas that manage software, they all work on schools which are the main market for this software, and they all have experience making partnerships with companies in order to obtain software, machinery, lab equipment, among others.
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