EMC Documentum Support

I had experienced various interesting encounters with EMC support, but lately, I feel like they are just getting arrogant… I guess it comes with the size (Documentum to EMC) and its layers. Here are some to ponder…

• When the case is handed over to the Engineering team, more often than not, we seem to encounter someone who is argumentative.  This really drives the client’s spirits down.  And the funny part is, EMC claims to support an architecture and refuse to set up an environment to replicate the supported environment for testing. Now that makes me wonder how EMC is QA’ing and approving all the supported architecture and its functionality.
• We had opened a case about an issue we had with an architectural decision. The client’s infrastructure was such that they had the content server behind a firewall and even between the CS and DB there was a firewall (as the DB was serving multiple apps). Now we know that EMC supports this architecture (especially considering the distributed docbase model where the CS and repository are separated between regions) and EMC was making the client jump hoops to review this architecture. And the most ironical was that the EMC Support person had his signature which said something to the effect that Client is their first priority – that my friend is hypocrisy, especially when the client feels that the support isdigging their heels against their customer wishes towards resolving the issue asap.

• Few years ago we had opened a case with the support and realized we were being royally ignored. When brought to the Director’s attention and he left a voice mail with the support person that he was going to call Mr. Tucci if he doesn’t hear back from him. That was it – the case got the attention it needed and was resolved at lightening speed.

I know of more than one Client who re-considered keeping Documentum as their global solution based on the issue resolution turn-around time. Since support is one of the key items in determining the role EMC’s product will play in the Client global architecture, EMC needs to take these warning signs seriously.