Free White Paper: Fast Track to Service Management Success by AMI Partners

As dependence on IT grows, service desk demands grow. This white paper by AMI-Partners outlines
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This white paper includes a detailed discussion on implementing traditional service management software vs. implementing an on-demand SaaS solution, as well as key criteria for evaluating vendors.

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IT Firm Owes $2.4 Million to H-1B workers
An India-based company that counts itself among the largest recipients of controversial H-1B visas has agreed to pay $2.4 million in back wages to 607 allegedly underpaid computer professionals employed through that avenue. The U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday it had found that Patni Computer Systems Inc., which is headquartered in Mumbai but centers its North American operations in Cambridge, Mass., did not pay the required wages to those temporary foreign workers between January 2004 and December 2005. Patni specializes in global IT outsourcing services. In this case, Patni was not fined or barred from participating in the H-1B program--as has been the case with some companies in the past--because federal investigators found no "willful violation" of the law.

IBM to buy tools company Telelogic
IBM will spend $745 million to buy software-development tools company Telelogic. Sweden-based Telelogic, which has about 1,100 employees worldwide and which has its U.S. headquarters in Irvine, Calif., makes software for developing complex applications. Telelogic's application lifecycle management products are used to design, write and test software. Its software tools can be used in the creation of sophisticated products such as automobile braking systems or airplane radar, IBM said. The Telelogic software will become part of IBM's Rational division, which already sells application lifecycle management products. Acquisitions have become a vital part of IBM's revenue growth strategy.

Dyscern Selects Parature On-Demand Customer Support Software
Parature, the global leader in on-demand customer support and help desk software, announced today that Dyscern, an eBay Titanium PowerSeller, has selected Parature Customer Support Software to manage their customer support needs. Located in Sterling, Virginia, Dyscern focuses on recovering customer returns, distressed and overstock merchandise for resale on the Internet, primarily focusing on handheld computers, PDA phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players. The Parature suite of modules is seamlessly integrated into one solution allowing organizations to effectively manage all of their support needs while reducing costs. This dynamic, online software provides all of the tools necessary to resolve issues quickly and reliably, exceeding customer expectations.

Genesys and Lekane extend the contact center with mobility and presence management for staff on the move
Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., and Lekane announced a major technology breakthrough that extends the contact center to reach mobile and field service staff, while managing their availability and presence. Finnish-based Lekane has leveraged the Genesys suite to create a small, lightweight Java-based agent desktop that confirms the presence and availability of field service personnel and enables a centralized contact center to easily transfer customer inquiries when appropriate. The software is significant because it enables contractors, back office workers, and branch experts who may not be on a centralized system to tie into the main contact center, with virtually no significant investment in new telephony systems.

Webinar Series - Best Practices in Customer Support
We are pleased to announce "Best Practices in Customer Support" Webinar Series sponsored by Parature. This thought leadership webinar series is delivered by some of the industry's leading minds. Register for one or register for all depending on the topics that interest you.

Join leading Customer Support Industry Experts, Sheryl Kingstone, Nancy Rubin, Michael Buckham-White, Paul Erickson, and Carlos Quezada to learn the 'latest and greatest' tips and techniques for streamlining your support teams to provide excellent service and support to your customers.

Register Today!

INPUT Expects State & Local IT Spending to Reach $77 Billion by 2012
Total state and local information technology (IT) spending is expected to grow from approximately $55 billion in 2007 to $77 billion by 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate of 6.6%, according to initial findings from the five-year State & Local IT Industry Forecast presented today at INPUT’s State and Local MarketView Conference.

Economic growth at the state level has been widespread and a majority of city and county officials are also optimistic about their jurisdictions’ financial and economic situations. Discretionary spending at the state level grew at near-record rates in 2006 and 2007. This economic environment combined with population growth and a trend toward states and localities setting their own economic, environmental, and social goals, makes the state and local market an increasingly attractive market for IT vendors.

The industry trends expected to drive significant growth during this period include the national effort to transform health care through the implementation of health IT. Interoperable communications, intelligence fusion, and information sharing will be the focus of ongoing homeland security and justice and public safety spending. Consolidation of data centers and outsourcing of IT infrastructure will be common as states and localities seek to modernize the core technologies behind general government services. However, questions linger and could restrain spending in social services IT, where the search for a successful public-private partnership model and the rise of economic populism have stymied business process outsourcing (BPO) for welfare programs.

More...

Strategic Service Management Yields 14% Higher Profits
Shrinking product-based profit margins, commoditization and intense global competition has compelled corporate executives to increasingly rely on their post-sale service operations to drive corporate growth. 89% of best-in-class organizations recently surveyed by the Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company, stated that they currently manage their service operations as a profit center – a great litmus test to examine whether a company has embraced the tenets of strategic service management.

The recently published study – Strategic Service Management: Moving Beyond the Tactics – reveals that service organizations which have changed their business processes to fit customer needs and have adopted integrated, service-specific technology solutions to strategically leverage their service operations have realized such gains as 17% improvement in SLA compliance, 16% increase in service revenues, 14% higher customer retention and service profits. Interestingly, profit-centric companies dedicate 21% of their IT budget to post-sale service optimization initiatives.

According to the report, other benefits of a strategic approach to service include:

• 19% decrease in service response time.
• 15% improvement in days sales outstanding.

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One Billion PCs In Use By The End Of 2008
By the end of 2008, there will be more than one billion personal computers in use worldwide, according to a new report from Forrester Research, Inc. With PC use growing rapidly in emerging markets and high-profile programs in place to reach previously untapped markets, Forrester predicts that there will be more than two billion PCs in use by 2015, representing more than 12 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2003 and 2015.

While it took 27 years to reach one billion PCs, Forrester says it will take only five years to reach the next billion, due to advancing technology, lower prices, and global demand on the part of a technology-aware population. According to Forrester, the emerging Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) market will account for more than 775 million new PCs by 2015.

There is unpredictability ahead, however, according to the Forrester report. Vendors are used to the predictability of buyers in mature markets, but high volume launches into emerging markets are risky. Vendors won't have the luxury of introducing products on a small scale to test the market before going into full production because the economics will force suppliers to focus on bringing volume to market more quickly at much greater risk.

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Consumers Plagued with Slow Computers
support.com, a service which provides consumers with Instant Technology Relief(SM) from their frustrating computer issues, announced the top consumer computer problems which cause consumers to call for support, as reported by the support.com Call Center located in Syracuse, N.Y.

The top five problems account for 85% of calls into support.com's remote tech support service. At the top of the list is "system performance" which accounted for nearly one-third, or 32% of calls. Common system performance issues include too many start-up programs, key settings not being optimized and fragmented hard drives. Other top problems include:

• Application Issues -- Accounting for 22% of calls into support.com, application issues range from e-mail application issues to browser problems as well as installation and configuration of new applications
• Operating System Issues -- Accounting for over 14% of calls into
  support.com, operating system problems include incorrect or out-of-date device drivers and corrupted settings
• Security Issues -- Accounting for nine percent of calls into support.com, security issues result from virus or spyware problems that have compromised the security of a consumer's computer
• Printing Issues -- Accounting for almost eight percent of calls, consumers call for help because they are frustrated by an inability to print

The remaining 15% of calls encompass a variety of issues including problems with peripherals, connectivity to the Internet, home networking set up and troubleshooting, and difficulties with digital media products such as scanners, MP3 players and digital cameras.

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Seeing Eye To Eye On IT
Business leaders constantly ask their CIOs to rationalize IT's spend -- usually expressed as a percentage of revenue -- but they don't ask the CIOs to demonstrate the overall effectiveness of this spend. The major reason? Business execs who still see IT primarily as a cost rather than a strategic investment have no other good way to monitor IT progress over time. In light of this disconnect between business and IT, we recently surveyed 84 senior IT executives to assess their performance using our IT leadership-maturity model. This model explores three dimensions: the link between technology and business strategy; operational excellence; and how well IT manages its relationship with business stakeholders.
Full Article...

The Top 10 Dead (or dying) Computer Skills
Those in search of eternal life need look no further than the computer industry. Here, last gasps are rarely taken, as aging systems crank away in back rooms across the U.S., not unlike 1970s reruns on Nickelodeon's TV Land. So while it may not be exactly easy for Novell NetWare engineers and OS/2 administrators to find employers who require their services, it's very difficult to declare these skills -- or any computer skill, really -- dead.
Full Article...

What IT Customers Need To Know About Private Equity In Tech
Myths die hard in the tech business, but this one's a goner: that IT's too volatile an industry to attract private equity buyout firms. The $250 billion in private equity tech deals this year and last have driven a stake through that notion. Now it's time for these new owners of tech companies to take on another myth: that they're adept at slashing costs and selling assets but not much interested in developing breakthrough products. Obsessed with improving cash flow to afford the mounds of debt they pile on--the reason they're called "leveraged" buyouts--will private equity owners invest in R&D and customer support?
Full Article...

Applying Lean to Application Development and Maintenance
Lean techniques, originally developed to reduce waste in manufacturing, are boosting performance in more and more service environments. Application development and maintenance -- the part of IT that works closely with the business to develop software services -- is a good candidate for lean. Many processes around software development are poorly organized, resulting in rework, unbalanced workloads, and other forms of waste that harm both productivity and morale.
Full Article...

What’s the Big Deal about “Hosting”?
There’s a new term floating around the call center industry called “hosting.” But what exactly is it? Basically, it’s like carpooling your accounts on someone else’s system. The hosting agent has a switch, a call processing platform, or some other large piece of equipment and wants to grow his or her business. The call center owner, or hosting client, has a smaller system and also wants to grow their business through leading-edge technology but has limited resources.
Full Article...

The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
by Seth Godin

Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point-really hard, and not much fun at all. And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you're in a Dip - a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it's really a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.

According to bestselling author Seth Godin, what really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts. Whether you're a graphic designer, a sales rep, an athlete, or an aspiring CEO, this fun little book will help you figure out if you're in a Dip that's worthy of your time, effort, and talents. If you are, The Dip will inspire you to hang tough. If not, it will help you find the courage to quit-so you can be number one at something else.

More Info...

Visit the CRM Solution Center
CRMindustry.com and KnowledgeStorm have joined forces to offer you access to the CRM Solution Center, a fast, intuitive way to locate, research and qualify potential CRM and IT solutions.

The CRM Solution Center provides you unlimited access to white papers, case studies, detailed product information and more. Registration is quick and easy -- in 30 seconds or less, you will be on your way to accessing this valuable resource
Click here to start searching!

Multichannel Service & Support Survey of Executives: Report of Findings
Supportindustry.com and eGain Communications Corp. recently conducted a survey of contact center, helpdesk and customer service managers and executives, focusing on multichannel customer service and support -- its importance, the current state of their multichannel capabilities and challenges in implementing and managing it.

To get a complimentary copy of the report, click here.

State of IT Outsourcing Report
Supportindustry.com and McGarahan & Associates recently conducted a survey on the state of IT Outsourcing. Impressively, 93.30% of respondents said they would outsource again and 94.10% said they would recommend outsourcing. However, although you can easily save money outsourcing, if your customers are not being serviced and it starts to affect productivity and have business impact – then the cost savings is not what it appears to be on paper.

Get your free copy of the executive summary

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Carolyn Healey, Editor - chealey@supportindustry.com

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