by Rob Addy | January 14, 2013 | Submit a Comment
Access rights to firmware aren’t completely meaningless yet but they are getting there. Support providers that continue to over rely upon theoretical customer firmware dependency will fail. Proprietary lock-in models only work if your customers believe that the technical chains that bind them are unbreakable. Many don’t believe any more. It’s just like Santa Claus [...]
Category: Support Value Tags: firmware, proprietary lock-in
by Rob Addy | January 9, 2013 | 3 Comments
Infrastructure services providers must change. Today’s business models won’t work tomorrow. The transition will be hard. Some will fail. Providers must deliver demonstrable value, prevent operational and business pain and wage a war on waste to survive. If customer’s see no value; there is no value. Figure 1. The Infrastructure Services Factory of the Future [...]
Category: Infrastructure Services Support Strategy Support Value Technologies Underpinning Support Tags: Factory of the future, Infrastructure Services Agenda Story 2013, Prevent pain, Prevention pays, Promote value
by Rob Addy | December 18, 2012 | Submit a Comment
Is it better to ask for forgiveness after the fact rather than seek approval ahead of time? It could be argued that the only providers that don’t cause offence are those that don’t do anything. Am I part of a growing minority that finds inactivity more offensive than the occasional mistake? If you are innovating then by [...]
Category: Support Value Tags:
by Rob Addy | December 10, 2012 | 1 Comment
Support innovation is non-trivial i.e. hard. So many potential projects… So little time… How can you secure funding to innovate your services if the business still see you as “just” the annuity laden cash cow? Even if you have funding there are still far more questions than answers. How should you utilize your limited resources? [...]
Category: Support Value Technologies Underpinning Support Tags: Merry Christmas!, Portfolio Rationalization, Processes and Methodologies, Service enhancements, Support Technologies
by Rob Addy | October 12, 2012 | Submit a Comment
The cloud is much more than a mere delivery mechanism. Much much more. Guinness know it. Learn from the liquid velvet creator. I urge every “Something-as-a-Service” provider to watch the following infomercial… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URxLYupra5s. It is not an advertisement. It is a road map to success. I delivered a session entitled “To the Point: Releasing SaaS’s True [...]
Category: Support Strategy Support Value Tags: "Guinness is good for you"
by Rob Addy | August 6, 2012 | Submit a Comment
Most support providers suddenly get squeamish when I ask them what they are doing to actively reduce the internal IT operations labour requirement for their customers. They stare at their feet, start mumbling into their coffee cups and generally do anything to avoid making eye contact. I’m not saying they need a “Sack a Sys [...]
Category: Support Messaging Support Strategy Support Value Tags: crash diets vs. lifestyle changes, Gartner Product Support Maturity Scale, Processes and Methodologies, support as a weapon, TCoS, Total Cost of Support, TRKFAM, Value Proposition, where does support fit in?
by Rob Addy | July 9, 2012 | 4 Comments
Damn, it was stiff. He applied some lubrication to aid his entry. Muscles twitching from the strain, he grunted from his exertions. She was being difficult. But her resistance only made his resolve harder. A cold bead of sweat trickled down his back. It was hellishly hot. She was hotter still. But he had a [...]
Category: Customer Experience Support Value Tags: Gartner Product Support Maturity Scale, Market Perceptions, Market Trends, Predictive, Proactive, TRKFAM
by Rob Addy | May 28, 2012 | 2 Comments
Active involvement in a process makes the process more valuable in the eyes of the participating customer. Just ask Maxine Clarke, the Chief Executive Bear, at Build-A-Bear. Providing the involvement is initiated and driven by the customer to avoid them feeling that they are doing the provider’s job for them, then customers are likely to [...]
Category: Support Strategy Support Value Technologies Underpinning Support Tags:
by Rob Addy | May 6, 2012 | Submit a Comment
Support related reporting packs MUST evolve from backward looking accounts of provider and product failure to include as much detail about what went right as well as what went wrong. Focusing solely on the negatives is best left for those with sadomasochistic tendencies and a love for Leonard Cohen albums. If you regularly present your [...]
Category: Customer Experience Support Value Technologies Underpinning Support Tags: Dashboards, Processes and Methodologies, Reporting and Metrics, TRKFAM, Value Demonstration, Value Proposition
by Rob Addy | April 27, 2012 | Submit a Comment
Premium support offerings should deliver, and be seen to deliver, premium value. Unfortunately, many don’t. The product support service value proposition is based on 4 foundational elements: Mitigation of the impact of failures i.e. productivity loss minimization Increased availability, improved stability and reliability i.e. reduced risk Achieving a greater return from the technology investment i.e. [...]
Category: Support Strategy Support Value Tags: Gartner Product Support Maturity Scale, Support Value Chain, TRKFAM, Value Proposition
