A Little Service, Please
August 21, 2000
By Dave Molta
When I installed my first Internet connection many years ago, running over a speedy 9,600-bps link, there was no such thing as an Internet service provider. We met with the guys from Austin, Texas, who were responsible for the ARPANet connection at the university there, and we figured out how to get connected. We never thought much about how we would support the users; after all, they were a limited bunch who mostly took care of themselves.
Today, everyone talks about service providers, and while ISPs are still a major force on the landscape, the real excitement revolves around those other service providers--ASPs, MSPs and SSPs. What frustrates me most is the widely held assumption among executives that contracting with an outside provider will improve services. It ain't necessarily so.
I recently received e-mail from a reader summarizing his site's experiences with a major ISP. Which ISP isn't important; they all suffer from the same maladies.
All the issues raised are roughly the same as those I faced for so many years as an IT manager. And the problems are:
Now there's breaking news. Everyone who manages information services is understaffed, but how a service organization deals with it is key. Many overwork their employees to the point of burnout. Others implement crazy policies and incentives that guarantee trouble tickets are closed before the problems are resolved. Others take no steps, and your reports fall into a black hole.
- First-level support doesn't have sufficient skills.
This has always been one of my biggest pet peeves. I've worked both sides of this issue, managing helpdesk staff, and second- and third-tier staff who must interact with frontline people. The classic response from first-level-support managers is to invest in automation--knowledge databases that provide assistance to first-level-support staff. As far as I can tell, all these tools really accomplish is to enable inexperienced support staff to make mistakes more efficiently.
- Second- and third-level support are swamped.
This is probably the most serious problem service providers face, and it is a direct result of their inability to come to grips with first-level-support issues. When the percentage of escalated problems rises beyond 20 percent, you're in trouble. A sense of helplessness and alienation begins to set in among level-two and -three staffers--a recognition that they will never catch up. They become infuriated when problems that should have been resolved at level one get escalated. An us-versus-them culture develops, and, to be honest, these folks are so stressed out that if it weren't for the unity they derive from their common level-one enemy, they'd probably kill each other.
- Communication with clients is poor and inconsistent.
It's called "closing the loop": verifying a problem has been resolved to the customer's satisfaction before the ticket is closed. It doesn't happen often enough, probably because the service provider knows that the problem hasn't been adequately addressed. But management will be all over you if you don't close those tickets. "Never mind the customer; the problem has been resolved to our satisfaction."
We can learn two lessons here. One, when dealing with service providers, don't be wowed by the pretty pictures of fortified data centers or diagrams of fully redundant network infrastructure. That's the easy stuff. Grill them about their support policies and procedures and talk to existing customers.
Two, think about how these criticisms apply to your organization. While it may be fashionable to rail on the commercial service providers, all of us are faced with the same challenges somewhere in our work environment. No matter what business you're in, service is still the key, both inside and outside the organization.
Send your comments on this column to Dave Molta at dmolta@nwc.com.
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