Technology support teams are garnering more and more attention as technology organizations (ISVs, OEMs, MSPs) begin to augment their financial models by offering customers new subscription-based, on-demand products and services in addition to their traditional license-based offerings. These new offerings typically increase the time required for a customer to generate a profit for the company, so measures such as customer satisfaction and customer retention are migrating from interesting tactical measures to key components of an organization’s overall strategy. Continue reading

One of the most cherished metrics in the world of technology support is the Cost to Resolution. This metric provides insight into both the time required to resolve issues, as well as the expense of the resources required to resolve the issue. Continue reading

Successful technology companies (hardware, software, managed service providers) continue to grab headlines. From Apple’s latest “i” product to Linked-In’s 200 million-member milestone, much of the innovation that touches our day-to-day lives continues to be driven by technology companies. Continue reading

When you hear the word “automation,” what image springs to mind? I don’t know about you, but when a company tells me it has recently “automated its technical support processes,” I envision an endless litany of automated voice prompts when I contact the organization by phone, and an avalanche of useless web pages in an online FAQ / Knowledge Base that make it impossible for me to find what I’m looking for. Continue reading

One of the main reasons customer self-service initiatives fail is that they require too much effort on the part of the customer. How many of us have frustratingly scanned page after page of FAQs looking for a topic that vaguely resembles our particular issue, or have searched countless knowledge base articles in the hopes of resolving what we believe to be a common, straight-forward support issue? Continue reading

I have had a number of conversations recently with prospects who are considering the trade-offs between purchasing an advanced RMM tool or building their own proprietary tool. Continue reading

I believe there are tremendous opportunities for companies to compete on improved customer service as opposed to product or service feature/functionality. What do you think? Continue reading

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Unfortunately, too many organizations don’t consider IT as a tool to enable the business – they view IT as a construct within which the business must operate. These organizations have layers of subject-matter experts that will wax on poetically (or the technical equivalent thereof) about why a new business concept can’t be accomplished. Continue reading

Fortunately, the next generation of knowledge management software (NextGen KM) will dramatically reduce this “back and forth” by automatically gathering hundreds of thousands of data points about the customer’s entire IT ecosystem. In addition, these data points will be gathered over a period of time, which means that the Customer Service team will have all of this forensic information on hand before the customer ever calls with an issue. Imagine calling your ERP vendor to report an issue and after describing the problem the representative says, "I understand the issue and have all the information I need to begin my analysis. Can I call you back in twenty minutes to provide you with an update on my progress?." Now that's what I call service! Continue reading

You may be wondering, “Haven’t these organizations been providing services since their inception? Don’t the large majority of these companies work directly with their customers to sell, install, configure, train and support them on their purchases?” I humbly submit that, yes, these organizations have indeed been providing services for quite some time, but no, they have not been in the “services business.” Let me explain. Continue reading

In recognition of the tireless efforts of the underappreciated technology support representatives everywhere, I am proud to present the brief video in the hopes that it will bring a bit of levity to those courageous individuals on the front line, and inspire a bit of compassion from those of us on the other end of the phone. Continue reading

There is a real opportunity for technology support organizations to take a page out of the credit card provider’s playbook and get proactive with the services they provide. Not only will this approach dramatically improve their customer’s experience, it will drive significant financial gains as well. Continue reading

I have recently noticed that a number of organizations are more willing than ever to abandon a fundamental tenant of successful large-scale project management – the need to achieve “quick wins.” Continue reading

Imagine for a moment that you are the CIO of a medium-sized business and that one of your strategic goals for the year is to reduce your physical hardware total cost of ownership. To achieve this goal, you decide to select a server virtualization software provider. Continue reading

In sports, a great defense may very well win championships; however, in business, this philosophy is doomed to fail. Businesses must be constantly reinvesting in their futures; a delicate balance of growth and expansion coupled with a continuous focus on improving operations and efficiency. Continue reading

Perhaps this is simply endemic of large organizations, but it seems that most organizations that are fortunate enough to become successful eventually forget what got them there – the tireless quest to produce a better mousetrap. Continue reading

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the capabilities of your tools? In spite of the powerful tools at your disposal, do you still struggle with wringing the value out of your technology investments? Continue reading

By making a single post on a social media website, a brand advocate connects with 150 people, on average. Coupled with the fact that 90% of consumers trust word of mouth marketing (as opposed to a 33% trust level for online ads), and this becomes a very powerful competitive advantage. Continue reading

Instead of dismissing the use of the word value as another unoriginal attempt to separate you from your hard-earned Benjamins, I thought it would be interesting to explore this idea in some detail. Continue reading

In order to create significant competitive advantage that lasts longer than the next quarter, an organization needs to re-examine how it does what it does, and develop a new way of creating value for its customers, shareholders and employees. Continue reading

What do you think? Does your performance improve when a map is provided? Continue reading

Today’s healthcare technology is truly astounding. For example, here is an excerpt from a position paper authored by the Center for Technology and Aging in December, 2009: “Remote patient monitoring (RPM) technologies have been shown to be effective in helping to manage chronic disease, post-acute care, and monitoring the safety... Continue reading

No one is more difficult to forgive than yourself. If you don’t believe this, I challenge you to make an unbiased evaluation of the historic baggage that you carry with you wherever you go. When a friend, coworker or family member makes a mistake, we are generally willing to forgive... Continue reading

As I mentioned in my last blog post, my family and I have just moved into our new home. Part of this process includes working with a host of new vendors, from providers of window blinds to landscaping to television, phone and Internet service. Naturally, I asked people in my... Continue reading