the death of “hierarchical support” rusty walther vice president, global support centers network...

The death of “Hierarchical Support”

Rusty WaltherVice President, Global Support CentersNetwork Appliance, Inc.

2NetApp Confidential -- Do Not Distribute | Subject To Change Without Notice

Agenda

Introduction

Historical perspective

Why the past isn’t good enough

Building a “Case Closing Culture”

Organizing for collaboration

Ten tips that will help to kill support hierarchy

About geese and buffalo

About cows and rhinos


The road to obscurity …

10 years building US Government networks, and then …

SynOptics+ Wellfleet= Bay Networks

3Com+ US Robotics= 3Com (TNG) Bay Networks

+ No. Telecom= Nortel Networks

AboveNet+ MetroMedia Fiber Network= MMFN (TNG)

ONI Systems+ Ciena Comm.= Ciena (TNG)

Airespace+ Cisco Systems= Cisco Systems


The road to obscurity …



Hierarchical organization– Level 0: Customer Service Reps (Administration)– Level 1: Technical Support (Trouble-

Ticketing)– Level 2: Escalation Management (Simulation)– Level 3: Engineering Interface (Bug

Management)

Management defined at each level

Numerical career-pathing

Workspace isolation

Sometimes even geographical isolation



Hierarchical workflow– Level 0

• CSR open the case– Level 1

• TSE works the case– Level 2

• EE manages escalated case– Level 3

• SEI manages the bug

Case moves in linear and sequential fashion

Case ownership changes as it moves

Solutions are delivered directly to the customer by whoever solves the case

Metrics measure the individual’s and/or sub-team’s results

CUSTOMER

CSR

TSE

EE

Sustaining

Engineering

PROBLEM

Deliver Solution

Deliver Solution

Deliver Solution

Deliver Solution

Deliver Solution


In search of … a better way

Some problems with “Hierarchical Support”– Contributes to a caste system

between teams– Prevents distribution of

knowledge to lower levels– Provides a discontinuous

communication path– Encourages use of the “Kill &

Ignore Loop”– Harder for managers to

improve processes


Enterprise customers need …

Instant familiarity with their environment

Faster access to higher level resources

Escalation visibility to meet stronger SLA’s

Self-directed prioritization

Proactive information delivery

A true support “ecosystem”– Systems that enable– Processes that expedite– People that execute


The solution is a “Case Closing Culture”

Characteristics of a “Case Closing Culture”– Real-time collaboration– Non-traditional escalation– Systems and processes that drive familiarity– A “meritocracy” that rewards the right behaviors

• Cross-level teamwork• Knowledge creation• Consistent communications• Time to resolve• Bug “Brokerage” services• RESULTS


Tip #1: The upside-down Org Chart

Turn the org chart “upside-down”

Virtually everyone maps to a very few tightly defined roles:– Customer Service Rep– Technical Support Engineer– Escalation Engineer– Support Engineering

Interface (SEI)– Technical Global Advisor

(Major Accounts)

Everyone is either closing cases - or supporting those that are closing cases

Rusty reports to the TSE’s … and so does everyone else

TSE TSE TSE TSE TSETSE

EE EE

TGA SEI

Management


Tip #2: Architect to collaborate

Collocate multi-level teams in workgroup “clusters”

Multi-level management

Goal for a common result

Reward escalation “avoidance” instead of deifying the “dive & catch”– Keep the pin in the grenade

Institutionalize the “Technical Huddle”

EE EETSE TSE

TSETSE

MGR


Tip #3: Ask useful questions

Avoid the “TSE Beauty Contest” in your transactional surveys– Measure progress on key initiatives:

“NetApp was easy to contact and was and very responsive to my issue.”

Ease of doing business

“NetApp's online self-help tools were used and were helpful in this case.”

Drive web-based case closure

“My support engineer was knowledgeable, professional, and kept all commitments.”

TSE focus on the customer

“The solution provided was appropriate, and it fully resolved my issue.”

Complete resolution of all issues

“NetApp delivers reliable, high quality products.” Perception of product quality

“Based upon this service event, I would be a positive reference for Network Appliance.”

Brand loyalty


Tip #4: Regionalize, then personalize

Cluster into “regional” support teams– Align with Field Sales and

Support– Increase the repeat “hit-rate”– Increase customer familiarity

• Escalations• Management

Move to “personalized” service when possible– Primary & Secondary TSE’s– Service Account Managers


Tip #5: Streamline your Problem Resolution Process

AllowedAllowed

NONOCUSTOMER

CSR

TSE

EE

Sustaining

Engineering

PROBLEM

SOLUTION

CASE

Resist the urge to solve everyResist the urge to solve everyproblem by creating a newproblem by creating a newgroup or forcing cases onto agroup or forcing cases onto aside-street.side-street.


Tip #6: Encourage knowledge creation as arighteous calling

Get everyone involved– Engineering, Marketing, SE’s, FSE’s, etc.– Get creative – make it fun and rewarding

Construct a “self-maintaining” Knowledgebase– New knowledge is immediately available– Existing knowledge can be edited “on the fly”– Use systems to get customer involved– Get help in the right areas

• Public vs. Private– Avoid help in the wrong areas

• Pre-release editing


Tip #7: Measure what matters

Metric to Watch Which Measures

Queue times (both average and high) Staffing

Time to live engineering contact Responsiveness

Average case age Backlog health

Bugs as a percentage of backlog Engineering support

Same day resolution percentage Total environment

Cost per case Business efficiency

Knowledge article creation Collaboration

Knowledge article re-use Kbase effectiveness

Percentage of cases resolved by automation

Self-help


Tip #8: Train the “whole” employee

- Process training- Collaboration skills- “Fighting Fair”- Mentoring

- Time management- Management training- Communications skills- Project management- Presentation skills

Technical Contributor

- Job proficiency- New products- Horizon technologies- Prepare for next level

Service Professional

Team Member


Tip #9: Lead to retain

Institutionalize the “Big Five” to avoid attrition Can every employee answer “Yes” to these:

(1) Do I understand the vision and strategy of the company, my department, and my team?(2) Do I understand how my specific job contributes materially to the accomplishment of that vision and strategy?(3) Do I trust my leaders and do I feel that I’m well-led?(4) Am I correctly and fairly compensated?(5) Am I recognized and publicly acknowledged for my results and contribution

Any employee that can answer “Yes” to all five …

… can NEVER be recruited by your competitor.


Tip #10: Use partners wisely – embed them correctly – make them invisible

Partnerships that work …– Logistics

• Distributed spares depots– Good margins in same-day

spares programs– Field Service

• But ONLY on very basic products• “Smart Hands” is an oxymoron

– Volume will drive out-sourcing for Tech Support• Don’t do it until your products stratify

– Only outsource the older and more evolved product lines

– Craft wildly painful performance SLA’s– Meticulously track quality metrics– Expect your partner to “stink” for at least a year


Tip #10: Use partners wisely – embed them correctly – make them invisible

Outsource advanced technology products– If you can’t do it well, your partner will do it worse

Business Operations– Renewals and Contract Administration

• Don’t give away the crown jewels• If you can’t do this well … go run a Convenience Store

Global Integrators– Sales guys love ‘em … Service guys hate ‘em– Don’t EVEN get me started on this one

Training– Do yourself a favor … Keep this in-house


Just for fun … a lesson in “Partner-Speak”

I’ve been watching your company for quite some time.

Let’s explore a mutually beneficial business relationship.

Your CEO suggested that I giveyou a call to discuss ourservices.

Leveraging our services creates a new paradigm that scales well and produces great value-add.

I saw this morning that you just closed a new round of funding.

If I don’t close a contract soon, it’s back to working the “Drive-Thru”.

At least I hope he does when he returns the VoiceMail I left him about 5 minutes ago.

Can I have some of your money … PLEASE ???

Cool PhraseCool Phrase TranslationTranslation


Self-directed workgroups designed for real-time collaboration

Geese– Leadership is distributed– Tired geese move to the back to draft and rest– Direction-changes invoke a natural lead change

Buffalo– Massively hierarchical– Indians would watch to determine the leader– Quick-strike on the leader paralyzes the herd

Borrowed promiscuously from:“The Flight of the Buffalo”

By: Ralph C. Stayer


A word about Cows & Rhinos


Characteristics of a Cow …

Slow and predictable

Lives in a well-defined area

Family unit is called a “Herd”

Runs when challenged

Afraid of everything

Never acts alone

Life usually ends as someone’s dinner


Characteristics of a Rhino

Fiercely independent

Can’t stand fences – hates captivity

Comfortable acting and hunting alone

Fears nothing

Attacks when challenged – never on defense

Family unit is called a “Crash”

Life usually ends in glorious battle


Rules to Live By …

Every day you must wake up and decide …– Am I going to be a cow?– Am I going to be a rhino?

If you don’t choose … the default is “COW”


Service Rhinos

LEAD … by empowering distributed decision-making BUILD … multi-level collaborative workgroups FIGHT … by everyone creating knowledge for re-use TEACH … your crash how to work together ATTACK … any hint of burocracy and self-interest KILL … sales reps that give away services


The Choice … Is Yours

Any Questions ???Any Questions ???

the death of “hierarchical support” rusty walther vice president, global support centers network...

Documents