Technical support: real assistance or smoke and mirrors?
There are lots of jokes about technical support, especially in the world of computers and the geeks who know them best. I am most fortunate that my son, well-trained in binary matters, arrives at my home for a waffle breakfast almost every Saturday, and in the process invariably attends to some small problem on Dad's computer. Last week it was slow printers--something about "spooling." Well, he unspooled it, and I thought it was more like untangling a fishing line than de-installing bits and bytes that were out of place in the infernal machine.
Pipe organs embrace the oldest technologies in the form of sticks and levers to make pipes speak, while at the same time tantalizing players with a myriad of buttons and other computerized gizmos that stretch the imagination to new heights of perversity. I was more than a little shocked to learn that Canadian conservatory training for organists "requires" the use of an organ with expression shoes and a combination action for the edification of an advanced student. The implication is that a lowly tracker organ built in the historical style is somehow insufficient for the practice of literature these students need to learn. Before I elicit too many howls of protest, I'll concede that technological "advances" are perceived as a necessary part of the education of the pipe organist, regardless of the many and varied aesthetics of the instrument.
With technological advancement comes the responsibility of managing resources and, from a professional builder's point of view, making sure that all systems included in a pipe organ work reliably. In the world of business that governs the creation, construction and installation of pipe organs, most high-tech components of the organ are "sourced"--that is, they are made by specialty firms that sell their products directly to organ builders. Builders install these products in their organs and the client (i.e., the player) is the actual "user" of these materials. Put another way, the source company is a "third party supplier," the organ builder is the "contractor," and the church or other institution is the "client," who hires an organist, who in turn is the poor sap with all the questions when things go wrong just as he begins the doxology.
Most suppliers of electronic goods are quick to provide a high level of technical support. This means that they will hold hands with both "users" and "contractors" in assuring that their goods are put to the right application and that, indeed, all the parts are working as they should. Many will go way beyond the mere requirements of a guarantee to stand behind their product. However, there are a few caveats that might help illuminate the situation.
Most organ builders know how to ask the right questions, but the organists whom they serve may not know how to ask for help when it comes to managing the buttons. Often an itinerant technician will discover (if they are listening) that an organist has been "working around" a problem that could easily have been solved if it had been identified.
When a problem is brought up and head scratching ensues, players should feel confident that technical support will be swift, sure, and helpful. Delays and finger pointing do far more damage to a supplier's (and a contractor's) bottom line than the cost of a quick phone call and decent explanation of how to proceed in specific situations. A frustrated technician can only pass on subliminal "Don't buy" messages!
The point of all this is that organ technicians owe it to their clients to evaluate the suppliers of high-tech components of pipe organs with questions relating to technical support before any other aspect of the product is considered. Forget the bells and whistles for a moment--even how many memory levels are available or what the "programming" options are. The first questions that should be asked--and answered satisfactorily--are: "How good is the technical support?" "How prompt is the response to a problem?" Success in this department will be reflected in a better bottom line for the builder and reliability for the player.
