AFSMI International Research

Preparing for the Future

(Members Only)

Building a Support Succession Plan that Works Running a technical support business is all about taking action and getting things done. Although, with little time set aside for planning, we tend to focus primarily on support budgets and technology acquisitions. However, there is one future plan that—if done right—will have significant pay offs for your organization--succession planning. Simply put, succession planning is the art and science of grooming high-potential managers for top executive positions; allowing them to become an internal pool of potential executive talent. Succession planning does not just happen—it is a focused, ongoing effort—but the benefits will become evident the first time you lose a VP and don’t have to go outside the company to find a replacement. It’s all about developing a formal plan that allows your brightest managers to gain the skills necessary to become VP’s and beyond.

Annuity Management: Service Level Contracting

(Members Only)

In 2005, an average of 80 percent of the field engineering workforce were billed against service level agreements (SLAs) in the larger IT, printing, and medical equipment organizations. Unfortunately, most of these agreements are not adequately managed from a business standpoint. They typically describe operations from a strictly technical point of view and do not enable executives to make mission-critical decisions about their business operations.

Most users will trade reliability for other types of benefi ts. The customer isn’t always fully aware of what they might want or need out of the agreement, and let’s face it: Just because they signed a thick functional-requirements document doesn’t mean that they have read it from end to end or fully understand everything they are agreeing to by signing at the dotted line. What’s required is a more “user-inclusive” approach to the service level agreement.

SLAs have a way to go before they truly refl ect the customer’s perception of value. Once established and operative, the SLA is a premier interface between consumer and provider and becomes the most tangible measure of successful service provision and a healthy business relationship.

Servicing the SMB Marketplace: Discovering Goldmines and Landmines

(Members Only)

Servicing the small to midsize business (SMB) market is a hot topic today for most AFSMI members. These customers sit somewhere between the consumer and enterprise customer set and offer a really big opportunity for both sales and service revenues. Our friends at Warrillow & Company tell us that there are 27 million firms out there that are in need of technology products and services, so it makes sense that most companies are trying to find a way to expand their current offerings and reach these buyers. Also, this segment is growing rapidly while the enterprise customers are shrinking due to consolidation. So what is the big deal with the SMB marketplace? Why is there a gold rush to acquire these small and medium customers? And most importantly, what are the challenges in supporting them?

Preparing for Knowledge Management 2.0

(Members Only)

Capturing, publishing and maintaining stores of tacit knowledge are ongoing challenges for support organizations, and Knowledge Management success continues to thwart many AFSMI Members. And the challenges are about to increase. Web 2.0, with its burgeoning online communities of both experts and posers, will upset the KM apple cart for many companies, with reams of content offered to any customer or partner with a web connection. How can these new content sources be mined, and the experts tapped, to improve service to customers? Companies should begin tracking Web 2.0 activity for your products and services, identifying community experts, and consider technology elements such as intelligent searching and Web collaboration that are heralding the next big ‘wave’ of knowledge management.

Differentiation vs. Standardization in Services: Is Standardization Conflicting with Our USPs?

(Members Only)

Services account for over 60 percent of the economic activities in the U.S. and the European Union. For this reason, the promotion and advancement of the services sector has become a top priority for the European region. As with any industry that pays heed to the competition, there are forces that can shape its attractiveness, its competitive position, and their underlying causes. This drive for appealing distinction more or less opposes the drive for standardization caused by the need for more cost-efficiency.

S-Business Executive Briefing: Selling the Service Experience

This members-only publication serves to address the requirements of marketing, the strategic thinking process, the role of marketing, the measurement of the right metrics, and the selling and management of services solutions. Get an overview on this important topic from the Executive Summary, or get all the details from the full Executive Briefing.

Get the Executive Summary (Public)

Read the Full Executive Briefing (Members Only)