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December 2006

• End of Year Musings
  Some of the things that have struck me over the past 12 months…

• Book Review
  Perhaps the "good old days" weren't as good as we thought

• Phil in the News
  In print and in person

• Upcoming Events
  Of interest to support professionals

Some of the things that have struck me over the past 12 months…

Employment Opportunities
If the number of inquiries from recruiters are any indication, this is an exciting time to be a service and support executive. The seems to be true across the entire spectrum, from proven external support executives who have brought in profitable revenue, to small- and mid-sized companies that realize they need to hire professionals to run service and support if they are to survive and thrive in the face of withering competition. There are also great opportunities in the emerging Software as a Service space, where customer support executives will have to make a significant leap from being line managers to executives with company-wide influence.

What's in it for you? When recruiters inquire, I'm happy to pass on the names of qualified people. Just get in touch with me and I'll see what I can do.

Another option is to use a networking tool I'm trying out, Linked In. Sign up and link up to me.

Fortune Favors the Brave (and the Prepared)
It's an annual event at the end of the fiscal year at many organizations, and yet many customer service employees are still unprepared for it when it arrives. It's the 'use it or lose it' budget amount. You know what I'm talking about. Your boss tells you there is a sum of money (often substantial) still available, but it must be spent before the end of the fiscal year.

What would your reaction be? If you've been to one of my workshops, you know that the right answer is to whip out a prioritized list of important things that money could be spent on. If you don't already have such a list, make sure you have one ready at all times. Just because you don't have a 'use it or lose it' budget doesn't mean that your boss doesn't.

While you're at it, do you have a succession plan in place? Something that covers who you would like to take your place, if (when?) you are asked to take on new responsibilities? Not yet? Well, get cracking.

Next Year's Resolutions

• Have you budgeted for a 'tune up' to see how well you and your team stack up against the very best of the best?
• Want to jump-start your support management offsite or get your user group meeting off to a great start?
• Need some help on dealing with those pesky requests from sales leadership in other countries?

Book Review

Over the Edge of the World: 
Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
Laurence Bergreen (Harper Perennial)

As we get older, we all find ourselves occasionally nostalgic about the good old days. You know what I mean. Back in the day, working for an organization was a lifelong agreement, not merely a job whose security dwindles more with each passing year. In the "good old days," your only competition was local, and your customers were people who knew you, trusted you and were confident you would do the best possible job for them.

News flash: The good old days weren't always like that. In the old days -- like the 16th century --  you had to watch your team closely, not for just-in-time training, but simply to ensure you weren't murdered! In reality, the "good old days" were a time when murders, mutinies and terrible illnesses were all known and expected. The unknown was even more terrifying because the leading scholars of the day said it was.

If history interests you, Laurence Bergreen has written a highly readable, well researched book about Ferdinand Magellan's obsessive 16th-century voyage to the ends of the earth. In those days, mariners feared they could literally sail over the edge of the world. This real-life adventure tale resonates particularly well in an age when a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions surround the unknown, and fears of distant lands and different peoples seem to be resurfacing. It's refreshing and informative to see how people in the past dealt with similar kinds of uncertainties, on their way to changing the world forever.

Phil in the News

Last month I held a Webcast titled "The New Balance of Power: IT and Operations" for MRO Software (an IBM company). This well-received program covers how to communicate effectively with different business units within your organization, how to better understand what each one does, and how to adopt a customer-facing view of your internal processes to optimize efficiency.

The Webcast is available

* * *

Can Technical Support and Professional Services Get Along? That's the question I examined in the October issue of SSPA News. While working with a large 'Software as a Service' provider, we were able to come up with a way for the two teams to work together hand in hand, in a way that benefited both -- and helped the customer. Read the entire article here.

* * *

Finally, I was recently interviewed by Joe Fleischer, Chief Technical Editor of Call Center Magazine. The resulting article, "Don't Just Say No: Why the most effective approach to customer support is to build bridges, rather than roadblocks, between your customers and your company," appears in their October 2006 edition.

The article covers an important theme: working closely with other groups in your organization while remaining the chief advocate for the customer.

I welcome your thoughts after you read it here.

Upcoming Talks

• 2007 looks to be another busy speaking year. I've already signed commitments to speak in Las Vegas and Sydney. Also in the works are speaking engagements in Europe, Asia and Africa.
   
• My teaching will continue, too. I've also accepted an invitation to repeat my role teaching a required course, Information Systems & Enterprise Integration, in the MBA program at the University of New Hampshire in 2007.

What Do You Want to Know? 

Your ideas, insights and feedback are important to me. I want to hear from you! What topics or books would you like to see discussed? Who would you like to see interviewed? Your comments, questions, ideas, suggestions, feedback and contributions are welcome. Send them to the editor here. 

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Previous issues:
September 2006
June 2006
May 2006
 

About Phil Verghis
A preeminent expert on global service delivery, Phil was vice president of Infrastructure & Support at Akamai Technologies and a member of the Senior Executive Operations Group. Among other responsibilities, he launched Akamai's award- winning Customer Care Department and ran the world's largest IP network: 15,000 servers in 66 countries handling billions of hits per day. More about Phil.

About The Verghis Group
We unleash the power of your customer (SM). The Verghis Group brings years of expertise with innovative solutions that enable companies like yours to conceptualize and implement world-class customer support strategies that delight your customers and enhance your bottom line. Our strategies encompass your people, processes and technology. For the right clients, we can add significant value by taking a comprehensive look at issues from your customer's point of view.

We are vendor-neutral. Our mentorship and facilitation based model emphasizes the speedy transfer of knowledge to your internal teams.

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©2006 The Verghis Group. All rights reserved.