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Musings from
Globetrotting
by Phil Verghis
President, The Verghis Group, Inc.
As this issue of the
newsletter is written, I'm about 40,000 feet above sea level, on the
final leg of a marathon. This series of trips took me from the United
States to India, back to the US, then to Egypt and now back to the
United States, all in just four weeks.
I gave a keynote and a series of talks at the inaugural
HDI-MEA
conference in Cairo, and was impressed by the quality of the people
I met, as well as the amazing hospitality and graciousness of the
Egyptian people. Their government is starting to get serious about IT
and creating a knowledge-based economy, hoping to take advantage of
their location in northern Africa and their proximity to Europe, Middle
East, Asia and Africa.
 In
India, I visited IBM's Software Labs in Bangalore, courtesy of VP Harish
Grama and his senior leadership team. They are doing some very
innovative things, from both a technology and process perspective, you
can expect to see more detailed notes on the trip to IBM, it certainly
warrants the space. Bangalore is where IBM held its first ever analyst
meeting outside the US, and is the home of the second largest pool of
IBM employees in the world (outside the United States). As Business
Week reported,
IBM is investing $6 billion over the next three years in India, on
areas as diverse as research to innovative delivery models to education.
Two things struck me as I observed service interactions in India. The
first reinforced how people-intensive and personal service can be, even
as newer service models are implemented.
Take Honda, for example. When the Indian equivalent of the Civic needs
to be serviced, the dealership calls you and schedules an appointment.
No big deal, you say. What happens next is a big deal. A driver
shows up at precisely the appointed time, picks up your car and takes it
to the dealership. It is serviced, washed and then returned to your door
-- no extra charge. Certainly not part of the Honda experience in the
US!
Question:
Have you adapted your staffing models to ensure that local expectations
for personalized service are met?
The second thing
struck me when I arranged for high speed Internet service for my
parents. Because I was leaving soon for the US, I needed it installed
sooner than their standard service. I had impressed on them the
importance of getting this done two days before I left, as I would have
had to teach my parents how to use the new system after it was
installed. As the appointed day came closer, there were still no signs
of an installation team. So I called the sales rep, who had provided me
with his cell phone number. After that call, the sales rep called me
back three times that day, to update me on what was going on, and
to let me know he would not let me down.
Although installation teams are supposed to finish by 5 PM each day,
they arrived at 9 PM and pulled the cable in pitch darkness, two days
before I was scheduled to leave. They didn't stick by their 'rules' and
their Service Level Agreement. They knew that if the installation wasn't
finished that night, I would not have been able to set up the system for
my parents until my next trip back. All this for the lowest tier of
their service offerings. This display of personal concern has assured
them of the courtesy of the 'first call' when the competition starts
calling and offering their wares.
Question:
Does your team have the flexibility to help the customer achieve their
goals as opposed to just what you are committed to do with your SLAs? Do
they take the time to understand why the customer is using your service?
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Less is More
(Sometimes)
Because I've been
doing so much traveling, speaking and consulting, I confess I've had
very little time to devote to the newsletter. So this month's issue is a
little shorter than usual. Next time we'll be back to normal!
Upcoming Talks:
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October 4
First Wednesday
Group meeting in Boston. This is an invitation-only, PowerPoint-free
set of meetings of senior service executives that I have set up with
colleagues Jeff Tarter and Fred Van Bennekom.
In this meeting, consulting psychologist Jennifer Ash will talk about
why our fascination with leadership is not necessarily driving
improved team and/or organizational performance.
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November 2006 –
SSPA DC conference
I’ll be doing two sessions at the SSPA conference in Washington, DC.
~ Become the Ultimate Customer Support Executive
By popular demand, the SSPA has asked me to deliver my workshop again
at their Washington DC conference. We had to add extra chairs last
time, so
sign up early.
If you’d like to see
workshops in your area, let me know. I’ve got interest from Boston,
Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle. I’ll try and work
out a schedule that meets your needs, starting in November 2006.
The second
session is on Professional Services and Tech Support:
~ A Tale of a
Successful
Partnership Between PS, IT, Engineering, Sales & Tech Support
Learn
how to:
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Apply different constraints that allow you to
come up with innovative ideas
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Partner effectively with engineering, IT, sales
and professional services
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Provide career paths that make sense between
technical support and professional services
What happens
when a successful PS organization in a 'software as a service'
business is asked not to grow staff size, but increase profitability?
How do you get customers who expect an all-you-can-eat service as part
of the base price to accept professional services? How do you convince
other busy groups like engineering, IT, sales and technical support to
buy in to a radical concept that allows you to grow profitably while
not increasing head count? Learn about this and more in a high level
case study by services guru Phil Verghis.
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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:
June 2006
May
2006
April 2006
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 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:
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Phil Verghis
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Box
123, 1770 Massachusetts Ave.
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The Verghis Group
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Cambridge, MA 02140-2808
USA
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info@verghisgroup.com |
Toll-f'ree: (800) 494 9142
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www.verghisgroup.com |
Phone: +1 (617) 395 6613
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Fax: +1 (617) 395 6643
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This publication is a presentation
of The Verghis Group, which is solely responsible for its
contents.
©2006
The Verghis Group. All rights reserved.
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