HDI

Change and opportunity…

Peggy Libbey, COO, President and CFO, of HDI has left the company, and she will be missed. As you would expect, out of respect for her privacy and confidentiality, I cannot provide any details. I have spoken with Peggy, and I can assure you she is fine.

I learned a lot from Peggy and we worked well as a team. She has left a strong legacy here at HDI, and many of you have had the opportunity to get to know her as I have. It will be different moving forward.

We have a great future to build here at HDI, and I am confident that my voice and the voice of you, our members, will be heard loud and clear by our new management team at Think Services. I have a seat at the senior management table, and I am confident that the new company will stay member focused as we move forward.

As we all know, change is difficult but change offers new opportunities as well. We have the opportunity to take what we have built and make it even better. Many of you know me personally, and having the opportunity to build an even stronger organization is a mission I look forward to with great enthusiasm.

We have always collaborated as a team here at HDI to deliver a valuable membership experience, and we see that same culture at Think Services. The goal of Think Services is to grow communities of interest for many business sectors, and this is great news for us here in the HDI community. What you have built will be a model for Think Services moving forward. That is a great testament for all of the hard work we have done together over the years.

I am an optimist, and believe that we each have a special place in this life. Each change brings a new path, each path creates the opportunity for a new legacy, and every legacy makes a difference in this world. We are all part of a great community, and I believe we will have the opportunity to make it even better as we move forward.

Your participation is the key to our success. I look forward to each and every opportunity to serve this great community, listen to your suggestions, and continue to meet each and every one of you in person. Thank you for your membership!

Regards,

Rich 

Executive Director of Membership

The More the Merrier!

The 2008 HDI Practices and Salary Survey is up and collecting data! 

If you have had a chance to peruse the 2007 Practices and Salary Survey results you have found that much of the survey is broken down by support center size, industry, and type of support (i.e., internal/external/blended). We have had a great response from this added benefit to the report. We have also had feedback saying you want more of it. This is great! We love to know that you are looking at and using data to drive decisions in your support centers!

In order to do this we need you! More participation in the survey gives us more options on how to analyze and report the industry’s data. We need a certain number of surveys in each demographic in order to report the results for that area. So if you would like to see the 2008 Practices and Salary data sliced and diced for your demographic we need to hear from you in two ways:

1-      Respond to this blog by letting our research team know how you would like to see the data broken down. For example, is there a certain industry to which you want to be able to compare your support center? If so, on which metric(s) would you like to compare? Let us know!

2-      Take the survey! Follow the link below to take the survey AND send the link on to others in your demographic categories. Maybe this year we can report the results not only for the IT support industry, but at an even more meaningful level for YOU!

www.thinkhdi.com/takethesurvey2008

Bonus – in addition to adding value to the 2008 results, all survey takers will receive a free copy of the 2008 report. You will also receive your choice of a $10 iTunes or Starbucks gift card, AND be entered into a drawing for a Tom Tom Navigation System!

Feel free to submit any comments you may have about the HDI Practices and Salary Survey. We are always happy to hear from you! ~ Jenny Rains, Research Analyst, HDI

Rudeness Made Easier

Source - http://www.wwj.com/Be-Polite-While-Staying-Connected/2128679

Along with the widespread acceptance of wireless devices comes new ways for people to be rude. Of those surveyed, 18 percent admit to being reprimanded for having bad manners when it comes to their wireless devices. This behavior extends in and out of work with another 39 percent saying that they respond almost instantaneously when they receive a professional email or call outside of business hours.

As wireless devices become further cemented into corporate culture, a spectrum of acceptable and unacceptable behavior has emerged. Inappropriate wireless device etiquette includes:
Answering a work call or email during personal time after work hours.

• Talking on the phone while in close quarters (such as on a train, plane, bus).
• Talking on the phone while in the restroom.
• Answering the phone or emails while at a business dinner.
• Accepting a personal call while in a meeting or presentation.

It is a pet peeve of mine that people answer the phone in a restaurant, though I can see the need to answer a business call, while in a business meeting if it is relevant. What are your thoughts folks?...Dan

Widespread Use of Wireless Devices Not Creating Anxiety, Survey Finds

A few weeks ago on this blog, I discussed taking a real vacation and allow yourself to disconnect. I found this article from wwj.com and found it relevant.

Source - http://www.wwj.com/Widespread-Use-of-Wireless-Devices-Not-Creating-An/2128632

Does being “too connected” to your boss, colleagues, spouse and others stress you out? Or is your wireless device your lifeline?

A recent survey finds that, for many people, the electronic leash is actually comforting and being out of touch is what really makes them crazy.

According to the Yahoo! HotJobs annual virtual workplace survey, 37 percent of employees feel more relaxed than stressed when they are connected to work by a wireless device. Another 42 percent of those surveyed are altogether indifferent to their wireless devices, feeling neither relaxed nor stressed by them.

With 38 percent of respondents describing their wireless device as a necessity, these gadgets have become exponentially more integrated into workplace culture:

• The majority, 55 percent, of respondents use more than one wireless device to stay connected when outside of work.
• More than half, 55 percent, of respondents say that their office supports a virtual workplace culture – allowing employees to choose from where they'd like to work.
• Twenty-eight percent, of respondents say that having the freedom of remote access via a wireless device helps them work more effectively than when they are in the office.
• Almost one quarter of survey respondents admit to only putting their wireless device down when they are sleeping, and only 5 percent of respondents admit to being 100 percent offline when not in the office – down from 8 percent last year.

What are your thoughts on the article and the gift and curse of being connected 24x7?

Future Possibilities of the HDI Community

Two things have recently captured my attention.

The first item is the newly released HDI Focus Book “The Support Center in 2011: A Report on the Future Trends Facing the Support Industry”. The second item was the meeting minutes from the Feb 2008 Local Chapter Officer conference call.

How do these two items fit together? They’re both about change.

In the August 1st 2007 “The Muns Report”, Ron wrote, “We must envision the future to see new possibilities in everything that we do.” The Support Center in 2011 Focus Book is about the vision of change in our industry. When you read this Focus Book, you’ll see how it hit the mark.

The Feb 2008 Local Chapter Officer meeting was devoted to questions concerning the recent acquisition of HDI by ICMI/CMP. One of the questions asked was “what is driving the purchase?” The response identified a business focus change for ICMI/CMP. With print media showing decline, IMCI/CMP has started diversifying into membership based associations.

So what is IMCI/CMP buying when they acquire a membership based community? They’re buying you! Of course not you literally, but you as a paying member of HDI. The acquisition of HDI by ICMI/CMP is about change in the HDI community.

Existing community venues such as the HDI Annual Conference & Expo, which hosted more than 2800 participants in 2008, are growing. In addition, the Local Chapter network has increased in the opening of new chapters and interest toward starting new Local Chapters. The number of HDI Forums is now at eleven.

Several people I’ve talked with over the past couple years have expressed frustration that they live in an area that cannot support a Local Chapter. While the SPIN webinars act as a surrogate by providing outstanding content based presentations, it still doesn’t address the social interaction of networking a Local Chapter provides. Looking at the possibilities, could the HDI Blog be the start of that social network for those members living in geographically challenged locations?

What do you see as the future possibilities of the HDI community?

Ed Bano has fourteen years of IT Support experience and has been the IT Service Desk Supervisor for the past twelve years at the Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM) in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Ed has been on the HDI Strategic Advisory Board since 2006 and currently serves as the Vice President of Programs for the HDI Southern Virginia Chapter.

Failure to Communicate

“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” This famous line from the 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke seems to be spoken many times by Support Professionals, mainly in reference to inquiries by users who just don’t seem to “get it.” While it is spoken as an attempt at humor in sometimes difficult situations, it may be more of a truth that we suspect. It is not unusual in my role as Help Desk Manager to hear something similar to the famous quote from Help Desk Agents, Second Level Support groups, and the customers themselves. What’s amazing is the “failure to communicate” is not limited to Customer – Support relationships but seems to occur between groups and even within groups at times. Like in the picture to the right, we sometimes don't pay attention to what is being said around us in an effort to get our own message across.

For example, who hasn’t learned of a software upgrade or new product rollout from the customer BEFORE getting the information from the group responsible for the roll-out? One example from my own files is from a recent change in policy we made regarding how a certain issue was to be recorded in our Incident Management system. We communicated the change to the Help Desk Agents and Supervisors, documented the process and changes in our knowledge base, received buy-in from second level support groups and management and implemented the change. Sounds pretty solid, doesn’t it?  It did to me too, until the first reports came in which should have shown how compliant the enterprise was in the new recording processes. It was immediately clear we had forgotten to include a group in our communication plan. It was the Field Support personnel spread out around the world at our properties. While they had access to the same knowledge base the rest of the support organization uses, they were not directly informed about the change in process.

That was a big “Oh-No!” moment.  It was embarrassing to have to admit the mistake, but it exposed a gap in the centralized support organization’s communication plans and abilities. As a result of this breakdown, we did engineer a plan for future communication which would include the field support technicians. It also allowed us to open a channel of communication previously unused. Operational Support hosts a daily check-point meeting hosted by a member of the Change Management team every morning at 8am.  The meeting last no more than 10 minutes and reviews any major issues from the previous day and any open issues or up coming changes for the next 24 hours which might affect system stability or operational metrics. Regional field support management is now invited to this conference call to listen and give input back to the support organization as a whole.

What methods do you use to communicate within your support organization? What have you found to be most effective in communicating changes and issues to other groups in Support or to your customers in general?

Andy Glover

(Picture by gtmcknight used under Creative Commons license)

Andy Glover is a Help Desk Manager with over 17 years experience in Internal Information Technology Support, ten of those years in direct management of Support Professionals, across a wide variety of industries from manufacturing and financial, to hospitality and entertainment.  Andy is currently at Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. based out of Memphis, TN where he is Global Enterprise Help Desk Manager

Employee Compensation

So...I've never actually blogged before, and even as I type it, I am thinking how long ago would someone have smacked me for suggesting that the word blog could be used as a verb. I mean let's face it, blogging sounds like something your dog would do. Anyway, getting over my own hang-ups, I figured I would try my hand at bloggery and see if it suits me.

I guess the whole point of this is to just write out something on my mind to share with everyone who has a similar interest, and perhaps you will post comments, good or bad, about my thoughts. As someone new to this, please don't be too harsh. It is my understanding that there are no rules to blogging, and like most creative ventures, there are no bad ideas.

So I just finished up and employee satisfaction survey last week. Overall it went' quite well. When I first started this job and measured employee sat it was about 58%. I now have it holding steady at 80%, and if I really wanted to brag, it is actually at 100% rating their job as satisfied or better. After all, if it is an employee satisfaction survey, do we really need to ask if they are extremely satisfied. I suppose the answer is yes. When I was asked about the difference I described it as such; Ane employee who is extremely satisfied with their job is excited to come to work at least 3 days a week. I don't know if that is the official answer or not, but it works for me! Moving on, the two areas where there was a slight hint of discontent, and by discontent I mean someone marked down Neutral rather than Satisfied or Dissatisfied, where for compensation and praise. I liked to talk about the compensation question today.

Looking at compensation, the question posed whether or not the employee understood how their performance impacted their compensation. I always figured this was an easy one. You come to work and do good, you get paid and keep your job. I know that simplifies it...but isn't that truly the hear t of the matter? To give a little more insight, and I reviewed the same with the team. Everyone on my team got an unexpected bonus this year. The amount of each person's bonus was directly correlated to their performance. I reminded them of this when I told them the amounts a month ago...but I suppose that may have slipped their minds.

As far as their raises go, like most companies, we are frugal. The target for raises was 3%...but there was room for playing. As I said, that was just a target. The higher performers got a little more than the lower performers. I suppose the issue is though, when someone is making $38k per year as an analyst, a 3% raise is about $1140 per year. A 4% raise is $1520. It is less than $400...but a whole percentage point. The business looks at the percentage, but the individual looks at the value. This is a hard area for both groups to see eye to eye on. 

We have a pretty significant rewards and recognition program. We have quarterly and yearly team goals and e have had catered meals, outings, clothing, backpacks, hockey and baseball tickets, food supplies, etc as rewards. These are always based upon the team hitting a performance target. We also have a monthly customer survey contest winner, who gets a gift card. This target and contest is based upon performance.

As a company, we have performed well and improved benefits, including increasing the company contribution to 401k...which, if you participate, if basically another 4.5% of your salary.

Oh...I just purchased a library of CBT materials and told the team I will pay for any certification tests they pass.

After reviewing all of this, I think the most of the team got it...but I believe some people in the back of their minds still are thinking I should do more. I guess it is the challenge of making people understands that compensation is much more than just your bi-weekly pay check. The whole package is important.

Well...thanks for letting me talk about this. I am curious to see what others think about my view of compensation. I am right...wrong...left field. Should we abandon all extraneous compensation programs and just give everyone another $1 per hour.

I look forward to your comments.

Jeff

REAL Vacations

Last weekend I got back from a weeklong trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico (just south of Cancun).  This was a huge milestone in my career because it was my first REAL Vacation, ever. I did not take my cell phone, I do not have a blackberry, and I did not bring my RSA Token so there was no way for me to connect back to work. I planned it all in advance. I planned to not work and hoping to not think about work for the week and funny thing was that I dreaded it. I had anxiety about unconnectedness (the lack of being electronically connected), the lack of not being able to help someone for a whole week, the lack of not being needed to help. We are Help Desk people right, that is what we do, we help those in need. I felt like I was abandoning those that needed me. AHHHHH!!!

Well, at the end of it all... IT WAS AWESOME! I did not have any escalations, requests for reports, complaints, or people wanting more that we were capable of offering.  For an entire week I was FREE!

But hey, I am a Help Desk person so I could not avoid helping someone. I helped myself! I relaxed. I reconnected with my beautiful fiancé who has spent the last 3 months carring for our new baby girl; I overcame some fears and zip-lined at 45MPH over the Mexican jungle, snorkeled in a cave, and repelled down a cliff. I visited Mayan ruins in Tulum. I slept in. I got a killer tan. I, Dan Wilson, took a REAL vacation and LOVED every minute of it.

OK now it is your turn… Tell us your joys of a REAL vacation. And for those that are not brave enough to take one, let’s try to offer support on how you overcame the fear of "unconnectedness".

Continuous Improvement

I was fortunate to recently have a white paper selected as the featured HDI member download entitled Pete’s “A List”: A Roadmap for Continuous Improvement.

Download a_roadmap_for_continuous_improvement_petes_a_list.pdf

The focus of the paper was a call to action for a Service and Support Leaders to implement a Continuous Improvement (CI) program. To instill a culture of Service leadership and innovation that drives continuous improvement through a cultural mindset of ownership ¾ calling on all employees along the value chain to own their own results, their teams, and their ongoing role in driving change for the for the right reasons. I created Pete’s “A List” ¾ A roadmap for Continuous Improvement. The following are the ten clear, concise common-sense ideas to help you drive CI deep into your organization:

1. Accept

2. Ask

3. Align

4. Assess

5. Act

6. Achieve

7. Announce

8. Affect

9. Adopt

10. Adapt

I am interested if anyone has brought any of these 10 common-sense CI ideas into their environment and what the result has been? Please share these experiences and lessons with us?

Thank you, Pete

IT Professionalism

My esteemed colleague Ric Mims and I are authoring an HDI Focus Book on IT Professionalism.

I am reaching out to the HDI community for quotes and lessons learned from your experiences around the topic of professionalism. I have attached the article that Ric and I did that will be used as the introduction to the Focus Book. Download the_essence_of_professionalism.pdf

In short, we have seen the eroding of professionalism in the IT service and support arena that we believe is impacting our ability to work more closely with the business. More importantly, it is impacting our ability to reach our potential in terms business credibility and respect. Ric and I would like position the Focus Book as a workbook for managers to help themselves, help their teams and help their IT organizations change the way in which they represent and conduct themselves as they build relationships across the organization.

The areas we are looking to cover are environment/culture, career, values, ongoing education, communication, customer service, image, relationships and work ethic. I value and respect the opinions, experience and thoughts of the HDI community.

Please take a moment to share with us a quote, a story, a lesson-learned, experience or your perspective on Professionalism.

Thank you! Pete