PierVantage continues to deliver strong customer support performance in 2026, but the numbers only tell part of the story.
Year to date, PierVantage has handled 812 support tickets, with a 71-minute median first reply time, a 3.7-hour median full resolution time, and a 98% customer satisfaction score.
Those metrics reflect responsive service and strong customer satisfaction. But behind the numbers is something harder to measure: a support approach built around relationships, operational understanding, and helping marine businesses use PierVantage in a way that fits how they actually work.
For PierVantage, support is not just about closing tickets.
It is about understanding the customer’s business.
Support That Starts With the Relationship
In many software companies, customers move from sales to implementation to support, often working with different people at each stage.
PierVantage takes a different approach.
From the sales process through implementation, training and after go-live, customers continue working with the same core team. That continuity matters because the team already understands the customer’s operation, goals, pain points, and internal processes.
Stephen Bullard explains that “the relationship begins before a contract is even signed”. Before speaking with a prospect, he reviews their business, studies their website, and uses discovery calls to understand how they manage purchasing, inventory, time tracking, service, accounting, and other core workflows.
By the time implementation begins, the PierVantage team is not starting from scratch. They already have context.
That context carries into training, onboarding, and support.
When customers go live, they are not handed off to a completely separate support desk. They continue working with people who were already part of the journey and who understand how the business is trying to operate.
That creates a different kind of support relationship – one built on familiarity, trust, and continuity.
More Than a Help Desk
PierVantage support is not limited to basic “how do I click this?” questions.
Alicia Hebert, who leads PierVantage customer support, explained that many customers already have access to training materials, knowledge base articles, and videos for basic system guidance. As a result, the questions that come into support are often more specific to the customer’s business model.
A customer may be trying to report on a unique part of their operation. Another may need help processing a complex transaction. Another may be working through a workflow that touches service, accounting, parts, and billing.
That is where PierVantage support goes deeper.
“Support is not just giving system answers,” Alicia Hebert said. “It’s understanding their business and helping customers take the next step so they can be comfortable using the system.”
Sometimes that means answering a ticket. Other times, it means getting on a call, sharing screens, and walking through the issue step by step.
The goal is not just to provide a quick answer.
The goal is to help the customer understand the process behind the issue and feel confident moving forward.
Meeting Each Marine Business Where They Are
Marine businesses do not all operate the same way.
Some customers are small boatyards moving away from handwritten processes. Others are larger, multi-location businesses with full administrative teams, dedicated accounting staff, and more complex operational structures.
The PierVantage Software as well as PierVantage support adapts to those differences.
“We understand their business and we meet them where they are,” Alicia Hebert said. “When I’m going on site for customer go-lives, I’m getting to know the team. I’m getting to know their roles. I’m not only implementing this in the system with them, I’m helping with processes.”
That flexibility is important because PierVantage is not custom software, but it is highly configurable. Each customer uses the platform differently based on how their business is structured.
One customer may organize work by department. Another may track by project phase, location, or service category. Another may need reporting focused on profitability, labor, backlog, inventory, or billing.
The platform is the same.
The way PierVantage is initially setup and how each business uses it is different.
PierVantage support helps customers bridge that gap – connecting the software to the way their business actually runs.
When a Simple Ticket Reveals a Bigger Issue
One of the biggest differences in PierVantage support is the team’s willingness to look beyond the surface of a ticket.
A support request may begin with a simple question, such as how to void a payment or process a transaction. But once the team starts asking questions, the issue may point to something larger.
It may reveal a bookkeeping challenge.
It may uncover a process gap.
It may show that departments are not aligned on who should complete each step.
It may highlight that the customer is not using an existing PierVantage feature that could help solve the problem.
Alicia described this as a common part of support: customers may come in thinking they have a PierVantage issue, but after digging deeper, the real challenge is often tied to process.
“I’ll get tickets where customers think it’s a PierVantage problem, but when I dig in, it’s more of a process problem. Then I’ll help them walk through the process and think about whether a different flow would improve it.”
That is where industry and operational knowledge become just as important as product knowledge.
PierVantage does not tell customers how to run their business. But when customers ask for help, the team can help them think through better ways to structure workflows, responsibilities, and system usage.
Onboarding Built Around Engagement
A successful PierVantage onboarding is not just about turning the system on.
It depends on customer engagement.
Stephen and Alicia both emphasized that the strongest implementations happen when the right people are involved from the beginning. If the training is focused on purchasing, the purchasing team should be part of the conversation. If the topic is accounting, finance needs to be involved. If the workflow touches service, the service team needs a seat at the table.
The more engaged the customer team is during implementation, the more prepared they are for go-live and ultimately how successful they will be with their investment in PierVantage.
PierVantage also looks at whether customers are using the sandbox environment before launch, testing workflows, asking questions, and becoming comfortable with the system before it becomes part of daily operations.
After go-live, support continues.
Alicia checks in periodically to see whether teams are using the system, following procedures, posting payments, and working through the processes introduced during implementation.
“I do periodic checks on their system to see who’s using it and whether they’re following the procedures,” Alicia Hebert said. “If I see they are using the system, then I’m comfortable knowing it was a success.”
That follow-through helps customers move from implementation to adoption – and from adoption to value.
Customer Feedback That Shapes the Platform
Support also plays an important role in the future of PierVantage.
When customers submit functionality requests, report bugs, or share feedback, those items are tracked and reviewed. The team considers how many customers are affected, whether the request improves the product, and whether it aligns with the direction of the platform.
Not every request can be completed immediately. Some are specific to one customer. Some take time to evaluate. Others may not fit the long-term product direction.
But the feedback is not ignored.
PierVantage uses customer input to understand where the platform can improve and where customers need better support.
PV Pay is one example of how customer needs can help shape product direction. Customers wanted a better way to support faster, more connected payments. That feedback helped guide a solution that now supports faster cash flow and a smoother process from invoice to payment.
Helping Customers Get More Out of PierVantage
PierVantage is a deep platform, and customers often continue discovering new ways to use it long after implementation.
That is another place where support adds value.
Stephen Bullard noted that many customer challenges can be solved with functionality that already exists in PierVantage. The customer may simply not know it is available or may not realize how it applies to their workflow.
“A large percentage of the time, the functionality already exists in PierVantage to fix what their problem is,” Stephen said. “They just don’t know it.”
Support helps uncover those opportunities.
The team helps customers understand what the platform can do, how to apply it to their business, and how to use existing tools more effectively.
That can mean helping a team improve a purchasing flow. It can mean helping accounting better understand a process. It can mean showing a customer a feature they were not using. Or it can mean helping a business rethink how work moves between departments.
The result is support that helps customers not just use PierVantage, but run their business better.
A Support Experience Built for Marine Businesses
Fast response times matter.
Strong resolution times matter.
High satisfaction scores matter.
But the real strength of PierVantage support is in the relationship behind those numbers.
It is in the team that understands the customer before go-live.
It is in the support call that uncovers a deeper process issue.
It is in the training that adjusts to the people in the room.
It is in the follow-up after implementation.
It is in the product feedback that gets logged, reviewed, and considered.
It is in the knowledge that marine businesses need more than generic software support.
PierVantage support is built for the same reason the platform itself exists: marine businesses operate differently.
They need a team that understands the work, the people, the pressure, and the processes behind the system.
That is what PierVantage support is designed to deliver — not just answers to tickets, but guidance that helps marine businesses run with more confidence.