Support and Deployment - What is the best way

There are several methods to implementing a deployment, I would like to mention but two which basically display the two far ends.

The All-In-One (my name for it) or the Specialists (my name for it).

The All-In-One approach basically means that the manufacturer handles all parts of the Installation/ Deployment/ Support through one person.

The merits for this method are that the costumer interacts with one person which is responsible for providing all of the answers to all of the different questions.

This type of approach is feasible with certain limitations:

1. The person handling this role has the required capabilities and in-depth understanding of the system
2. System complexity allows a "one man show".

How ever if these limitations are not met then basically what we get is embarrassment in front of the costumer since problems are bound to arise and when the "One Man Show" is unable to provide answers in time/at all this reflects badly on the provider.

The Second method usually works for high complexity systems, in which the manufacturer assigns a team to a project where each of the team members is responsible for a segment of the system and is capable to provide in-depth insight to his part of the system. This may also contribute to a certain amount of respect from the costumer since he receives exact answers to each questions with great detail.

There are obviously down sides to this type of costumer approach since it:

1. requires greater resource allocation
2. costumer may get a feeling of being directed from one person to the other according to the question which he brings up. - this can be handled by assigning a strong PM to the costumer.

Basically both method have advantages and disadvantages it is only a matter of deciding which is better for the system the manufacturer is providing.

If we choose the all-in-one method for a complex system we risk having the one man become both an embarrassment to the company and a "nuisance" to R&D since he is unable to handle requests/ queries from the costumer.

If we choose the specialist approach for a simple system we are wasting resources and reducing profitability un-necessary.

Therfore Choosing wisely is critical.