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If the question of whether or not to outsource your customer facing Support Operation hasn’t been raised, it soon will be. In this current economic downturn, all companies are under immense pressure to cut costs and outsourcing appears to be a quick and attractive solution. In a typical scenario, this mandate comes from C-level executives who have been approached by an outsourcing vendor with promises to dramatically reduce their operating expenses.

The question is, do we really need a succession plan during this depressed economic period when unemployment is at its highest in decades? In order to answer the question, we need to better understand what a succession plan is and how it relates to running a service organization. There is a perception that succession planning is only applicable for senior executive positions such as CEO, COO etc.

By:  Greg Coleman, Service Strategies
Since the start of the global financial downturn, economists have struggled to accurately predict what will unfold over the course of 2009. The outlook continues to be daunting for most sectors. Even with the US Government’s unprecedented moves to bailout the financial industry and the passage of the largest economic “stimulus” [...]

The impact of the economic downturn on your customers could quickly turn their attention to questioning the value they receive from your service contracts. They may have already cut back internal staff that support your products, which may result is higher service demand, loss of local advocates and product expertise within your accounts.
Now what?? Should [...]

When your implementation team completes an installation, how does the customer learn about support and its role in enabling them to achieve the value from their new system? Too often the turnover process consists of the implementation manager providing a short overview of support or simply providing a phone number to call to answer questions.

By James A. Alexander Ed.D., Founder, Alexander Consulting
From Problem Solver to Business Advisor
A Good Thing
Services executives and managers within product companies have known for years the added value that their technical experts can bring both to customers and to their company. Many customers have asked for (some have demanded) to have services account managers (SAMs) [...]

If you are considering adopting industry standards and certification for your service and support organization you are probably deluged by the sheer amount of information, facts, and myths about the benefits of earning certification, what being “certified” means, how to go about it, and why.

Service organizations today are forever striving to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty by improving operational effectiveness, and management generally believes the rewards of their efforts are the end goal. While improving effectiveness is important, these organizations should also work to leverage service excellence as a hallmark of their corporate brand. When you effectively market service [...]

A recent study conducted by Service Strategies and ServiceXRG reveals that companies have a wide variety of methods for measuring the effectiveness of their eservice offerings. While this is not a revelation, it confirms the fact that companies continue to struggle with quantifying the effects of electronic services.
According to the study, which included responses from [...]

Presentation By: Rusty Walther, SVP Global Support – NetApp
Rusty’s address “Surviving and Thriving Through Huge Growth” addresses how support organizations can maximize business growth, while containing and managing Operational Expenses and Headcount. Rusty is a dynamic contributor to conferences on the international stage. He both provoked and delighted participants with his understanding and insights into [...]