by Rob Addy | April 6, 2012 | 5 Comments
I had a call last week with an organization that is spending 20 times as much as the support premium they are paying to their software provider for a full-time team of 18 sub-contractors to operate and manage the solution on a day to day basis. This 2000% cost uplift isn’t intended to cover incremental [...]
Category: Support Strategy Support Value Tags: Processes and Methodologies, Support Value Chain, TCoS, Total Cost of Support, TRKFAM, Value Proposition
by Rob Addy | April 2, 2012 | 2 Comments
Dr Seuss’s story of “Sam I am” and his reluctant friend’s aversion to trying new things is a cautionary tale for the support industry. In it, Sam attempts to convince his “friend” of the merits of Green Eggs and Ham over and over again. Eventually, after the friend has tried everything they can to avoid [...]
Category: Customer Experience Support Operations Support Processes Support Strategy Tags: Customer Constituencies, Internal perception, Processes and Methodologies, Product Support, Strategic Planning, support as a weapon, TRKFAM
by Rob Addy | March 28, 2012 | Submit a Comment
Benchmarking data is a powerful tool. But it can be misused just as any tool can. Benchmarking data is meaningless unless the comparison is against something very very similar to a particular providers operation. Comparing restoration times for servers against switches against PCs against consumer electronics is bogus. Even within these asset classes it is [...]
Category: Support Operations Support Processes Tags: Customer Experience, Customer Perceptions, Market Perceptions, Processes and Methodologies, Support Technologies, TRKFAM
by Rob Addy | March 18, 2012 | 3 Comments
Requiring customers to pay an uplift for extended support is obscene. Or so some would say. Certainly on the face of it, extended support offerings do look less than good value. ISVs typically state that the code line is archived and that no updates, patches or bug fixes will be forthcoming. The very fact that [...]
Category: Support Strategy Support Value Tags: Customer Perceptions, Gartner Product Support Maturity Scale, Service Definitions, Software Support, Support, Support Value Chain, TRKFAM, Value Proposition
by Rob Addy | March 14, 2012 | Submit a Comment
Sequels are inherently risky. Will it be “The Godfather Part 2” or “The Godfather Part 3”? Is it more of an “Empire Strikes Back” than a “Phantom Menace”? Yes, sequels are risky. They can make or break a franchise. Has the 2nd version of the Maturity Scale helped or hindered the product support cause? Only [...]
Category: Support Operations Support Processes Support Strategy Support Value Tags: Customer Experience, Gartner Product Support Maturity Scale, Support Value Chain, TRKFAM
by Rob Addy | March 11, 2012 | Submit a Comment
Do you remember what your life was like before you got a handle on managing the day to day trials of running a product support function? Well many people are still there. Struggling to escape the python-like grip of the reactive break-fix mind set. Flailing against an organisation that doesn’t recognise there even is a [...]
Category: Support Processes Support Strategy Tags: Customer Experience, Processes and Methodologies, Reactive Break / Fix, TRKFAM
by Rob Addy | March 6, 2012 | 4 Comments
Question: What have Product Support, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, Amy Winehouse and the Teddy Bears got in common? Answer: The song that launched Phil Spector’s career, “To know him is to love him” To know, know, know him is to love, love, love him Just to see him smile, makes my life [...]
Category: Customer Experience Support Operations Tags: Customer Constituencies, Customer Experience, Customer Perceptions, Processes and Methodologies, TRKFAM
by Rob Addy | February 28, 2012 | Submit a Comment
Rudyard Kipling’s inspirational poem ‘If’ first appeared in his collection ‘Rewards and Fairies’ in 1909. ‘If’ contains many maxims for life, and is seen by many as an excellent blueprint for personal integrity, behaviour and self-development. In today’s world of SAS 70, Sarbanes Oxley and COBIT procedures, compliance audits, corporate governance requirements and the like, [...]
Category: Support Processes Support Strategy Support Value Tags: Customer Experience, Predictive, Processes and Methodologies, role of support, Strategic Planning, Support, Support Quality, TRKFAM, Value Proposition
by Rob Addy | February 19, 2012 | 1 Comment
Many vendors rely upon their support annuity stream for their very survival. Renewal revenue is also the foundation of growth. Without it, vendors must find and win a continuous flow of new business just to stand still. “Service stickiness” is a measure of the ability of a provider to retain its customers. Minimising revenue leakage [...]
Category: Support Strategy Tags: Customer Constituencies, Renewals, Stickiness, Support Value Chain, TRKFAM, Value Proposition
by Rob Addy | February 14, 2012 | 1 Comment
Reactive support is… always having to say you’re sorry. Saying you’re sorry is one thing. Being sorry and basing your future actions upon a desire to ensure that your partner doesn’t suffer the same fate again and again is something completely different. If a support provider allows its customers to find the same issue time [...]
Category: Customer Experience Support Value Tags: Customer Experience, Customer Perceptions, Gartner Product Support Maturity Scale, Predictive, Proactive, TRKFAM, valued contributor
