My name is Michael Fox and this is my first, though certainly not last, post to the Serotek blog. As many of you already know from having read the blog post from Mike Calvo, there has been a change in leadership at Serotek. Since Mr. Calvo made the announcement that he would be taking over as executive director of the AIR Foundation and I would be assuming the role of CEO at Serotek, we have had a tremendous outpouring of support from the community. We’re both extremely grateful for that support, and I want to thank all of you who have welcomed me so warmly to this new role, and to this community.
Still, when most people hear about change, even if that change appears to be positive, there is always a sense of trepidation. No one likes thinking about the possibility that something they’ve grown to depend on might be altered in some fundamental way. I won’t put your mind at ease by telling you there won’t be any changes, because there certainly will be. For a company who strives to remain innovative and at the top of its game, change is a necessary component. I will, however, promise that certain things within Serotek will remain the same. Primarily, this company was founded with a strong set of core values.,and those values will remain integral to the way we do business at Serotek. Since its inception, this company has been dedicated to providing products that are just as easy to use by the technical neophyte as by the more tech savvy among us. That will not change. This company has always believed that access to information, entertainment, employment and social outlets is just as much a right for the blind community as for anyone else, and that will certainly never change. Serotek has always recognized that we owe our success to the support and the feedback from this community, and your needs will always shape what we do going forward.
With that in mind, there are some changes I do intend to make, and I believe they are positive for all of us. We talk a lot about accessibility at Serotek, and to me this word means far more than software design. To be accessible, a thing must be attainable by everyone regardless of circumstance, including economic status. For years, Serotek has charged activation fees on initial software purchases to cover the very real cost of maintaining services and processing new customers. However, we recognize that these fees, reasonable though they may have been, present a barrier to accessibility for some people. For that reason, we are dispensing with service activation fees across all consumer and enterprise product lines, effective immediately.
Speaking of product lines, Serotek has grown from having a single product in 2002 to having a number of applications and services spanning multiple platforms that our users depend on every day. We have recently released a major update to the SAMNet Socializer, allowing our customers to utilize multiple social networking platforms from a single interface. The feedback from this update has been tremendously positive, and we intend to bring that same level of dedication and attention to detail to updating all our core products, including bug fixes and updates to System Access.
I’ve managed a number of businesses for over 25 years, and if there’s one thing I know well, it is that a company needs far more than a good product to be a success. The customer experience must be of topmost priority if you want to keep your customers happy, and keep them talking to others about what you do. At Serotek, we already have a phenomenal team of people who genuinely enjoy working with others, and that attitude comes through loud and clear in our stellar customer service. Even so, there’s a lot more to consider when making the customer experience the best it can be. How easy is it to get the information you need to choose exactly the right product for you? How easy is it to purchase the product and get it installed? How easy is it to buy more great things from Serotek once you’ve made your first purchase? We will be examining all this and much more in the coming months in order to make your experience with Serotek as easy and streamlined as possible.
You see, change isn’t always so bad after all, is it? As I guide this company in to the future, I am excited about the further positive changes to come as we continue bringing you accessibility anywhere. It is your support and your feedback that have brought us this far, and I highly encourage you all to continue providing us with that feedback. If you have concerns or suggestions, comment on the blog, or send me an email at ceo (at) serotek.com. We have an exciting road ahead, so let’s begin that journey together.
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Christopher Sims (not verified) says
Dear Mr Fox.
Firstly, congratulations on the new role that you have taken on. As blind people who use screen reading software, I think that one product that needs to be considered is that of a cross platform SAAS Citrix reader. I have some idea of some of the complexities of tackling this. Here in Australia, I have missed out on possible employment because the job that I was applying for was going to involve being able to directly connect across a Citrix network to a server that was not controlled by the company hiring me. As you may know, it is possible to get this kind of thing up and running. However, in the cases that I have outlined Visionaustralia was unable to obtain the appropriate access to the end clients server to install a screen reader to see if it could even be done. .
I should say, that at this time, I am now gainfully employed. Even still, I think that this is a need that remains unfilled.