The Verghis Group: Global Service Delivery Consultants

   


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  In this issue:

March 2007
 
    Is Your Team Wasting 80% of its Time?
by Phil Verghis
President, The Verghis Group, Inc.

Wow, what a busy time it seems to be for everyone. The world economy is humming (despite the recent hiccup in the China markets), and if my clients are a representative sample, CEOs are once again setting aggressive new growth targets. Since services brings in a significant percentage of profit, there's more pressure on services to bring in additional revenue (or in the case of some clients, to make the shift from product to services/solutions based companies). Of course, to keep margins high, all this has to be done without additional investment in staff.

It's no wonder that service executives groan. Working harder isn't an option. Working smarter doesn't seem to be an option, either. You've already looked at or started implementing a number of new initiatives.

What if I told you that 60-90% of the work your teams are doing is simply wasted effort?

Well, I just did. Don't believe me? Ask someone else. Greg Oxton, Executive Director of the Consortium for Service Innovation, says that in their experience, a staggering 60-90% of support requests have already been dealt with before. From a customer's point of view, that is a colossal waste of effort and energy, with absolutely no value add to the customer.

For you CFOs reading this, please wipe that grin off your faces immediately. This does not mean that support leaders can cut their staff by 80%. What it does mean this that by looking closely at what you do across the entire lifecycle of your product or service, and looking at why you do it, you can often find ways to make quantum leaps in efficiency gains. Most of this time savings can be better spent providing not just 'good' service -- taking good care of customers after they have a problem; but 'great' service -- making sure they don't have a problem in the first place. This saved time can be used to bring in more lucrative 'trusted advisor' deals where you become embedded with your customer's businesses.

Last month Greg and I worked together at a client site. It's part of an engagement the Verghis Group is doing to help them get ready to become a $1 Billion company in a few short years. Our analysis showed that 80% of the incoming requests in this particular company were handling known issues. (I must hasten to add this is a company with a very complex support environment, with smart and dedicated people who truly care about each other, their customers, and the quality of their work!)

This client is a great candidate to adopt Knowledge-Centered Support. KCS is a knowledge management strategy whose principles and practices help organizations improve service levels, boost operational efficiencies, and increase the service organization's value to their company.

But that's only one of the tools the company will use as it looks to scale services to keep up with their CEO's vision for the company. Other key initiatives will encompass people, process and eventually technology that will dramatically improve the global customer experience (they operate in over 80 countries), while still improving their profit margins. It's a demanding and complicated environment -- mission critical support involving trillions of dollars of transactions spread all over the planet -- and I'm betting they'll pull it off.
   

Upcoming Talks

  • April 3, 2007 - Be the Voice of the Customer Workshop (Boston)
    Boston Marriott Newton (Hurry, only five seats are left.)
    By popular demand, I'm offering my signature workshop in Boston on April 3. For maximum interaction, this event is kept intentionally small, and it's almost completely sold out. It's based on my book, The Ultimate Customer Support Executive. Learn more here. I'll keep a small waiting list in case some of the participants (who are coming from across the US and Canada) have to make last minute cancellations. 

    NOTE: I'm extending a courtesy $100 discount to readers of this newsletter. When you register, use this promotion code: TVG256. Want to bring a second person from your organization? Sign them up as 'guest' and they'll receive 50% off. However, to ensure audience diversity, only two people from each organization may attend.

    Can't make it to Boston? Meet me in Las Vegas. (See below.)
     
  • March 2007
    Private event:     Support Leadership Offsite (keynote for client in Cambridge)
    Private event: Customized workshop on Service in Education (MIT)
     
  • April/May 2007 - HDI's World Conference on IT and Technical Support
    Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas
         April 30: Join me and members of the Leadership track for a pre-conference session on how to Become the Ultimate Customer Support Executive. More info here.
         May 1: I'll deliver a talk on Leveraging Cultural Understanding with Global Customers. Details here.
     
  • May: Boston Executive session for Consortium for Service Innovation.
     By invitation only. We will explore the question, "Can we create an explosion of productivity and innovation in support?
     
  • June 2007 - Pacific Rim Help Desk & IT Service Management Conference
    By invitation only. I'll deliver the keynote address at the conference and an invitation-only talk for CIOs. Get details.
     
  • July 2007 - Maximo World
    Orlando Florida
    IBM's Maximo users gather to discuss asset and service management.

I hope to see you at one or more of these events. If you're there, please come up and say hello.
 

What's On Your Mind? 

I want to hear from you! Your ideas, insights and feedback are important to me. 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:
January 2007
December 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.

For more information or a no-obligation initial consultation, contact:

  Phil Verghis  Box 123, 1770 Massachusetts Ave. 
  The Verghis Group Cambridge, MA 02140-2808 USA
  info@verghisgroup.com Toll-f'ree: (800) 494 9142 
  www.verghisgroup.com Phone: +1 (617) 395 6613
  Fax: +1 (617) 395 6643

This publication is a presentation of The Verghis Group, which is solely responsible for its contents. 
©2007 The Verghis Group. All rights reserved.