Strategic SupportThe growing link between IT and business strategy requires rethinking the customer support modelBy Raju Kocharekar Continued from Page 1 The New Support ModelThe new support model will be multitier. The product support tier will continue to be outsourced to product or service providers in combination with more self-support features in products. Role-based support is new and will require greater attention. It will initially be provided in-house, although not necessarily in geographical proximity. It will primarily be provided through a virtual support network with various job or role support specialists working in unison with each other and product support specialists downstream. A sophisticated support system and management structure must be in place to provide this multitier support. This support system must have the ability to share not only data but also knowledge across the support tiers. An IT portal that tracks user preferences to complement defined roles and responsibilities could be used for targeting support areas, with features currently available in the CRM technology used for external customers. The new support role will no longer be entry-level or semiskilled. Many organizations have already implemented job rotation between client support and other IT jobs, such as system development and administration. In the future, job rotation will be within the business unit and support. For example, people in the sales department will rotate between regular sales duties and support for their group. The support job will no longer be considered a necessary evil, but rather a part of career development. Today, client support is normally discussed later in the system development cycle, sometimes as an afterthought. In the future, end-user support issues will be part of the system development process from the project's beginning. Classroom training will evolve into a predominant model for role-based, rather than product, training. As I mentioned before, the support structure is multitier. The product support tier will support the role- or job-support group. This support will also require advanced skills, but it will be consolidated with product vendors that also sell services or other outsourcing vendors. The end user will most likely not interact directly with the product support groups. Some of the challenges in the current support model will remain in the new one. For example, performance measurement of support will become even more difficult than it is today. However, new management techniques such as peer evaluation and reward systems will be more relevant in this environment. After all, if support is provided through job rotation, people will understand both sides - support and customer. Raju Kocharekar [rkocharekar@worldbank.org] is a senior information officer in the Corporate Information Systems unit of the World Bank's Information Solutions Group. He has 20 years of professional experience in IT management and support. RESOURCESRelated Articles at IntelligentEnterprise.com: "Time for a Change," Aug. 18, 2000 "Anatomy of a Process," March 27, 2001 "Leading by Example," Sept. 29, 2000
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