…Sometimes you don’t even see it.

We talk a lot here about service both in terms of how we help our clients service their tenants as well as how we provide support and service to those same clients.

We all also have our own personal experiences with service, both good and bad.  My favorite great service stories are those examples that happen behind the scenes – not promoted, but just ingrained into either a person’s character or a company culture.

I was reminded of that this morning. There is relatively new integrated facilities services company headquartered in our local market (Boston) called UG-2.  Though they are a new firm, UG-2’s principals and team have an extensive background providing these services at a very high level nationally and internationally, and are growing rapidly.  We share several mutual clients and in providing their services, they are an end-user of our application – especially our mobile maintenance tools.

While we have a number of other similar providers across the country working for our clients in the same capacity, what is striking about UG-2 is their commitment to not just use the tools provided to them, but to become experts and active extensions of their clients to understand the capabilities of our system, maximize its use and create enhanced value.  They continually reach out to us proactively for guidance or to offer suggestions, periodically sending personnel to our offices (including this morning) to meet with our service and product teams for discussions about best practices for usage, upcoming releases and road map items.  This is not at the direction of their client, but out of a clear desire to provide extended value beyond just what their contract dictates.

This is the kind of commitment that we all want from every supplier we work with and represents the little things that transforms relationships and the perception of a company from “vendor” to “partner.”