The Future is in the Forest
by Bill Rose, SSPA Founder/Executive Director

Can it be we’re so deeply immersed in technical service and support, we can’t see the proverbial forest for the supporting trees? I’m sure you have ideas on where your support organization is headed in the next few years. I have my views of where the support industry is headed, or should be headed. I believe we’re looking at some serious evolution in the way support is done and the kinds of things support organizations will be tasked with in the next three to five years. Is it possible we’re missing something?

Other sources, even other parts of your company, will have a lot to say about the future of technical support. Not only will customer expectations and demands affect the future of support, others like authors, analysts, educators, CIOs, researchers, association executives, sociologists, global economists, technologists, and even HR and workforce experts are likely to have a say in the roles support plays as the future unfolds. It’s likely that they have drastically different views of where we’re headed as an industry.

Is there a future for technical support? When will the next major shift occur? As products get even better and customers become more tech-savvy, what role will support play? We’ve already seen support evolve from a break-and-fix role to a consultancy role. More calls come in for help in getting products to work well together. We spend a lot more time helping customers get the most out of their technology investments than we do fixing functionality or broken parts. We’re probably better at seeing what’s coming head-on rather than what might sideswipe us.

To answer these questions and to ensure we’re taking a holistic look at the future of support, I’m developing a Conference @ Savannah Power Panel made up of non-support visionaries. I want to invite these thought-leaders to give their perspectives of the future of technical support. To do that, I need your help in identifying those people, outside of our industry, that you’d like to have as part of this panel. Please send your recommendations to me, bill.rose@thesspa.com.

Sincerely,


Bill Rose
SSPA Founder/Executive Director