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Support Makes All The Difference
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January 29 2025
January 29 2025
A Chat With the Pringle Robotics Customer Support Team
These days, it seems like the world is awash with robots. While many of these robots work behind the scenes in industrial settings that the general public isn't privy to, smaller and more interactive service robots are cropping up in facilities that are used by the masses, such as hospitals, convenience stores, airports, and schools. According to the International Federation of Robotics, sales of professional service robots have increased by 30% worldwide since 2023, with the hospitality and healthcare sectors key among those sales.
It’s clear that service robots, such as those used for floor cleaning, supply delivery, and customer assistance, are being adopted at a rapid pace by businesses and facilities looking to streamline operations and alleviate staffing shortages. What’s less obvious is the fact that these highly useful yet complex machines don’t exist in a void. As robots designed to work around and alongside people, their successful deployment and practical, daily utilization by facilities demands the backing of a strong customer and technical support team.
After all, if car manufacturers sold vehicles without the prospect of easily accessible service and repair, very few people would feel comfortable owning such complex and expensive machines. Unfortunately, some service robot manufacturers and distributors take what amounts to a “sell it and forget it” approach, leaving customers with few (or slow and time consuming) resources for training, support, and repair.
This is NOT the case at Pringle Robotics. In fact, far from being “robot sellers,” the heart of our business is a deep commitment to every single one of our customers—ensuring they always have access to the training, technical support, and, when necessary, parts/repairs to keep their robots running at peak performance.
In that spirit, we recently sat down with some of the busiest guys in the business—the Pringle Robotics team of Customer Success and Technical Support specialists—to learn more about the work they do, why ongoing support is essential for facility robot adoption, and what they like most about their jobs.
Read on for our Q&A with Justin Rodriguez and David Kopacz, Technical Support Specialists, and Lucas (Luke) Hayes and Paul Cabrera, Customer Success Specialists.
Justin and David, tell us a little about what you do as Technical Support Specialists.
David: If Luke and Paul, as Customer Success Specialists, are more the “face” of the brand and interact with customers during demos, pilots and installs, we’re a bit more behind the scenes. Once the robots are up and running, at the customer site, they transition to us for ongoing technical support.
Justin: We provide customer tech support and after sales support. Any questions or concerns about the product, we’ll address. Any support questions, we’ll address. Any technical issues, we’ll address. We assess, diagnose and help with issues. Our job is to work out a service solution for the customer. Whether that means getting on a remote call over the phone, virtual support via remote platforms, coordinating parts replacement or coordinating on-site service, it’s pretty all encompassing. We’re there to answer general questions as well as help resolve more complex issues.
Luke and Paul, tell us a little about what you do as Customer Success Specialists.
Luke: We handle on-site robot installation, deployment and customer training, and work with the customer to establish support channels for ongoing after-sales support. After installation we conduct weekly check-in meetings for a period of time to ensure that the robots are running according to customer SOPs, answer any questions, etc. We also provide all necessary training and documentation along with virtual and onsite demos for prospective customers.
Paul: In addition to all of the things mentioned above, I also do on-site equipment repairs when needed. Field repair—having dedicated techs we can send out to customer sites to get them back up and running quickly—is integral to customer success. Frequently, when repairs are needed, lack of maintenance and proper weekly schedule of cleaning the robot is a common reason. Just like a snowblower or lawn mower, it has to be maintained. This is also part of our customer support process—sending out maintenance reminders and preparing full maintenance guides to help them keep their robots in excellent condition.
Why is having robust customer support so important when dealing with facility robots?
David: Some of our competitors are “sell it and forget it,” so the customer has nowhere to go if they have questions or issues arise with the robot. This is how we stand apart from the competition. We’ve developed such a big library of online resources, like our Help site, and have earned such a reputation for technical know-how, that we even have non-customers coming to us with questions about robots they purchased elsewhere.
Luke: It really helps keep usage up. Through our NOC and remote support channels, we notice how often each customer is using the robot, if robots seem to be offline or not running when they should be. We can follow up and find out why.
Justin: I’ve been in tech support of some type for almost 20 years. The success of any product isn’t just down to the product itself. The support drives the product’s success because it lets customers know that the business stands behind the product and cares about its success and usefulness. It does a lot to bolster the reputation of the company if they have a robust after-sales support program.
What is the learning curve like for a lot of our customers who are deploying robots for the first time?
Luke: If they’ve had any experience with doing regular maintenance on manual machines like walk-behind scrubbers, they often know more than they think they do. A huge part of Pringle Robotics’ value-add is that we fully install each robot for the customer. We set up the mapping according to their SOPs, and can adjust it remotely. They don’t have to learn how to do that (but it’s awesome if they want to!). The customer just needs to focus on the maintenance and making sure it runs according to schedule. Using the robot can initially be intimidating for customers, but once they use it, they see how easy it is and how much time it saves.
Paul: A lot of folks can be intimidated at first, but it becomes easier over time. Some people are resistant at first and then end up becoming the most in-depth experts on it because they enjoy learning and utilizing the machine. Those who don’t want to learn tend to have the most issues. Overall, the learning curve really isn’t bad. The more they learn and utilize the robot, the easier it becomes.
David: Generational differences can sometimes be an issue. Younger generations tend to take to the robots pretty quickly and aren’t scared of the buttons or to just walk up to it and start tapping away on the screen. Older people are sometimes more intimidated at first, but really, once people get used to using the robots, it becomes second nature.
Justin: Utilization is key. If they are open to embracing the product and engaging with it daily, it goes very smoothly for them. Learning the menus and basic maintenance isn’t very complex. The learning curve isn't steep if they keep up the utilization.
You mentioned that we provide all customers with comprehensive maintenance guides. Why is sticking to these guidelines so important?
Paul: It’s kind of like your car. If you don’t maintain it, you’ll have issues. Cleaning the robots is very important. These are machines that do a dirty job (floor cleaning), and if you don’t take care of them, wear and tear will add up.
Justin: If you're willing to do the minimum maintenance requirements and take care of the robot, the robot will be able to handle its assigned tasks and will take care of you.
What are some common questions you get?
Luke: We get a lot of funny banter during demos especially. People joke about the bots being like a Roomba—does it cost the same as a Roomba, can it clean their house for them?
Paul: We do get people at customer sites being concerned the robots will take jobs. But a lot of these companies can’t find the help they need to keep things clean. These robots truly just supplement the staff they do have. On the funny side, I’ve had people walk by and ask if the robot’s actually doing any work because it’s so quiet while running. We also get standard technical questions, maintenance questions, what to do if the customer changes the indoor environment and needs to re-map the robot.
Justin: Each facility is different, so there aren’t a ton of common ones. A lot of the requests we get are for assistance with basic functionality when customers want to make sure they’re doing right. Things like task creation, re-mapping, basic maintenance, etc. We do get requests for replacement parts as usage increases. Some of these bots do miles of travel time and cleaning every day, so may eventually require parts replacements. Wear and tear does happen.
If we didn’t offer our customers this kind of support, where would they turn when they had issues or questions?
Justin: They would basically have to Google it (and this is how some people have found us when they aren’t even customers). They could try to find any online manuals or videos, which aren’t always very helpful for troubleshooting.
Often the equipment manufacturers don’t offer that type of 1-on-1 direct support where you can just get on a call. You’d have to email the manufacturer or sales person and then wait. If you get a response, they may or may not have the technical knowledge to help you. They might wait weeks or months to get a reply from a technical support person. This is why the support we offer is so important to customer success and the ongoing utilization of the robots.
What’s the favorite part of your job?
David: The people I work with, definitely. Also, it’s great to check the usage logs and stats and see that the robots are working as they should, everything is going smoothly at client sites.
Luke: I love that every day is different. Every customer and location is unique and it’s rewarding getting to create tailored plans for each situation and overcome different challenges.
Justin: I enjoy the collaboration between us, customers, and other members of the Pringle Robotics team. You definitely need a close-knit group of people to do this type of work because it requires extra levels of communication and willingness and ability to flex outside of your comfort zone. That collaboration of people with different skill sets—field, admin, dev, warehouse, shipping—it’s great. You really need that synergy for a good result.
Paul: It’s a lot of fun traveling to customer sites. I enjoy getting to meet new people and see new places. For my role, I've been to 25 different states this year and driven over 22,000 miles. I’ve gotten to see amazing parts of the country and visit places I might not have without my job taking me there. Places like Mount Rushmore, different sports stadiums, the ocean. Then at the end of the day, we’re helping our customers install this really useful technology. People like the robots and are impressed by them, and it’s always rewarding to see that.
Well there you have it folks! A little peek behind the curtain at the support team that makes such a difference to our customers day in and day out. If you’ve been contemplating incorporating autonomous robots into your facility operations, why not get in touch? You’ll not only get the best commercial service robots to fit your needs, but also have peace of mind knowing you’ll be supported by our team every step of the way.
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