Rackspace Team Structure

March 18, 2007Customer Satisfaction, Etiquette, Exercises/Resources, Little Things, Big Differences, Specific Companies 2 Comments

I was exploring the new-ish web site for Rackspace the other night. I noticed they had a page explaining their team structure. It reminded me of when I asked David Bryce about Rackspace’s team structure in his interview with Service Untitled (see here and here) and I thought the page would provide an additional explanation about a very interesting element of Rackspace.

I like the graphics that explain how the whole team structure works. It takes a model that is somewhat hard to grasp and makes it fairly simple to understand. The page explains that each team has a team lead, account manager, business development consultant, senior systems engineer, support technician, support specialist, billing specialist, professional services, and data center operations.

There is a problem with this page and many pages like these – they have a lot of company (or at the very least, industry specific) terms and definitions. How will I know what a business development consultant does? Or what’s the difference between a support technician and specialist? What does professional services entail?

To make this page truly useful, Rackspace should explain what each person on their team does, what they are responsible for, and how they will help the customer if they choose Rackspace. Makes sense?

Rackspace’s team structure is great and this page really helps people grasp the concept, but they still have room to improve. Less company specific terms and job descriptions – more explanations. The nice thing about the Internet and online publishing of anything (blogs, web sites, etc.) is it doesn’t cost anything extra to write more.

The point is to:

  • Don’t use company specific terms or jargon
  • If you must, explain everything fully.

I am sure there is an explanation of what these various people do somewhere on the site or you could email or call Rackspace and find out, but the casual user viewing the team structure page won’t be able to find it right away.

Simple concept, but very few companies can keep things in plain, jargon free speak. If you can, it’ll definitely help. People may even understand what you are talking about.

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2 Responses to “Rackspace Team Structure”

  1. John said:

    Mar 19, 07 at 4:22 pm

    IMHO, I think terms such a business development, account manager, senior systems engineer and the like are quite generic terms and largely used in the industry and beyond. No further explanations needed.

  2. Service Untitled » Car Dealer Customer Service Tips - customer service and customer service experience blog said:

    Apr 05, 07 at 10:14 am

    […] Have a point of contact.Throughout my experience, I didn’t really have a point of contact. I had like 5 or 6. Plus, almost all of them were useless. The point of contact should be able to help you with all your questions and concerns, or at the very least, point you in the right direction. Something like that Rackspace Team Structure, perhaps. […]