(From left) Scott Yu, product service delivery operation manager of technical service business unit, TSG services, Isaiah Cheung, vice president and general manager of PSG, HP (Chinese mainland and Hong Kong), Kumar Ajit, director of APJ TSD PSG services, and Yang Lingyun, country manager of technology support delivery (China), technology services, HP enterprise business, at the opening ceremony of the Total Care Center on March 17. [Photo / provided to China Daily]

Hewlett-Packard (HP) opened its first customer experience center in the world at Pacific Digital Plaza in Zhongguancun, an area in western Beijing often termed China's Silicon Valley on March 17.

Known as the HP Total Care Center, the 150-square-meter outlet offers customers the chance to try out the latest high-tech equipment while their own computers are serviced or renovated.

Clients can now use cutting-edge HP computers and browse and print out information on state-of-the-art technologies while drinking freshly ground coffee.

Engineers are on hand to offer individual consulting.

Core competence

"This is an innovative approach by HP to build better interactive communication between customers and engineers," said Isaiah Cheung, vice-president and general manager of PSG, HP, for the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong special administrative region.

Cheung told China Daily that the company now places improved services at the top of its business strategy to help the high-tech giant carve out bigger niche in the Chinese market.

Other centers are scheduled to open in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing this year.

Tablet computers and mobile phones will be on offer for customer experience in the near future. Videos and games zones are also in the pipeline.

"When customers are waiting for us to renovate their computers, it is very boring for them to sit there," the vice-president said.

"Now trial use of new products, watching video training courses, drinking a cup of coffee or printing some interesting information can give them more enjoyment."

"I find service and maintenance have enormous potential (for improvement) in China and over the past year HP has made great strides," Cheung said.

HP opened 1,300 "Golden Service" centers in 31 provinces and autonomous regions in Chin

a in the past year, compared with 500 in the previous 12 months.

It now has such service centers in 1,105 cities in China that are open every day of the week.

Increased numbers of staff in tech services and customer response ensure that 99 percent of help calls get through to the centers and 95 percent of questions are answered. "All the rates have been significantly lifted compared with previous years," he noted.

For difficult problems that are hard to solve at service centers, a taskforce is on call and ready to offer tailed solutions, the vice president said.

Under the condition that the company is still in the standard maintenance period, he noted that a customer can receive a new computer if the repair period exceeds 14 days.

New service heights

With China as its central strategic market, various levels of HP management have formulated major improvements to HP's customer experience and its services have reached new heights.

"We have set a stringent standard - a 97 percent level of fulfillment in helping with clients' needs," Cheung said.

The company also established a new Total Care Experience (TCE) Department to better listen to consumer needs and offer solutions.

A taskforce reports service progress directly to Cheung every week, while another group briefs senior level executives in the Asia-Pacific region.

Headquarters has also assigned staff members to work at the TCE team to examine their progress.

Cheung stressed that more channels for feedback is also key to success, so a variety of innovative ways to gather new proposals have been implemented.

"We also look for more suggestions from the media sector, the Internet and central and local quality supervision authorities in China," he said.

The vice president said HP's next sales foray is to boost its presence in suburban areas along with expansion into 600 new cites, 2,000 new counties and 10,000 new townships by the end of this year.

The company unveiled a new consumer PC portfolio on Feb 23 in Shanghai, with redesigned sleek looks and the latest technologies to enhance the connection with consumers.

Among new offerings is the PC maker's Beats Audio package that enables users to "experience music the way artists intended it to be heard", optimized by onboard quad.