Strategic Planning series including Contact Centers

Strategic Planning for Service and Support is one of the most popular topics for Support executives. This series is gentle on your schedule: 3 webcasts spaced across several months. At zero cost, it is also gentle on your budget. The June webcast is of special interest. I am sure there will be a strong dose of advertising.

11am Pacific Time April 22 Strategic Planning in Action
11am Pacific Time June 15 The Secret to a Good Night's Sleep: Contact Center Strategic Planning
11am Pacific Time October 5 Using Strategic Planning Software, Liberty Mutual discovers new opportunities

Details are at http://www.tmcnet.com/enews/content/webinar/2010/04/baybridge-webinar-three-part-webinar-series-promo-on-strategic-planning.htm

Growth in Technical Services and Electronics Manufacturing

An overview of the role of services in the U.S. economy can be found at USA Economy in Brief published by the U.S. State Department.

For the service/support industry, a significant observation on that page is "The most rapidly expanding sectors are financial services; professional, scientific, and technical services; durable goods manufacturing, especially computers and electronic products; real estate; and health care." I have added the emphasis.

Yesterday's Presentation: When downtime costs a million dollars per hour

At yesterday's PM PM SIG meeting, attendees discovered in detail how to plan and implement service/support for semiconductor capital equipment. The speaker, Mette Alasti, completed my Foothill College course this summer and I recommended him to PM PM SIG Program Chair. Mette has led development and global implementation of several semiconductor capital equipment and associated subsystems consistently delivering profitable and award=winning products. He holds a BSME, MSME and an EMBA from UCLA. Contact me for more information on this presentation as well as the PM PM SIG and the Foothill College class.

At last; Famed service/support education on-line

In Silicon Valley, we have been fortunate to have outstanding training for service/support management since 2003. That year, a group of highly experienced service/support executives created the Technical Support Management certificate program at San Jose State University's Professional Development Center (PDC). Later those classes were condensed into a single intense class at Foothill College. This class will be offered on-line this Fall. In addition to the skills needed in service/support (business planning, communications, decision-making, leadership, problem-solving, teamwork, troubleshooting), the class also includes substantial project management. At $110 for California residents and about $600 out-of-state, the class is a terrific bargain. See http://www.chalkinstitute.org/bizskills.html for more information.

Using Web 2.0 to Enhance the Customer Experience

Web-based support rests solidly on Web Services, the backbone architecture of Web 2.0.

Now a more in-the-face aspect of Web 2.0 has emerged as an exciting way to provide Customer and Technical Support. An excellent summary of best practices and well-worth the $6.50 price is "How to Profit from a Better Virtual Customer Environment" by Satish Nambisan and Priya Nambisan in the MIT Sloan Management Review.

Quoting from the Abstract: "The authors describe five customer roles in innovation and value cocreation: product conceptualizer, product designer, product tester, product support specialist and. product marketer." Descriptions are included of projects at BMW, Microsoft, Volvo, and other firms.

See http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/issue/2008/spring/13/#buy

East vs. West in Contact Centers

Attrition is a major problem in North American Contact Centers. Retention is a top priority. A group of employees from a New York call center visited centers in Japan and found a very different scenario. Although there are no bonuses and few parties and other perks, Japanese contact center workers often stay in the job for 25 years! The secret: a deep understanding of the purpose of the position. Helping customers is a venerated role and those who are selected are honored.

Instead of handing the next recruit a headset and a script, consider a month or more of training and rotational assignments that include learning about the entire organization and how customer support fits into the grand purpose and direction.

For the complete story, see Customer Relationship Management magazine August 2008 page 26.

Services are 80% of US Economy

Services are 80% of the US Economy and 64% of the world economy. That's twice the contribution to world wealth as products. The profound impact on individuals, families, companies and society may be comparable to the industrial revolution. Services are consumed and delivered simultaneously giving incomparable power to the front line workers who produce and deliver services directly to customers. The need for education and empowerment of these workers has never been greater.