Features.............................................................................................
What Happened to Premium Pricing of Services? By Jim Payne, President,
 S-Market Strategies —
My first impression of the critical circumstances outlined in SSPA's recent Defending Support & Maintenance Pricing white paper is a bit of
Déjà vu.
The services marketplace is sounding very much like the commodization of hardware products that has taken place in many markets during the past ten years.
But what is this trend towards price erosion about, and what can we do about it? Full article
The Six Big Challenges Facing the Service & Support Industry: Part II By Shawn  Santos, Senior Program Manager, SSPA —
What’s on the minds of service and support executives today? There are six big issues challenging our industry which may prove to have a bigger impact on service revenues and margins than previously thought. Full article
Meeting Key Motivators Is Best Retention Strategy By Mel Kleiman, CSP —
 Studies clearly demonstrate that finding and meeting employees’ key motivators boosts profits and keeps employees on board for less money. The good news is that filling most employee “needs” is not a costly proposition, but don’t assume what motivates you also motivates your employees. The first in a two-part series on best practices in employee retention. Full article
Drive your Process Quality: Know your Error Rate! By Julie Mohr, Director of  Professional Services, IHS Support Solutions —
Support processes are managed by performance and quality. To manage a process, we establish key performance indicators, service level objectives and observation. Error rate is also an important element to ensure process quality by eliminating defects in the process. This article addresses the incident management process, potential errors and error rate calculation to ensure that support processes are efficient and delivery the highest error-free quality. Full article
Offshoring Challenges: Attracting and Retaining Staff By M. M. “Sath”  Sathyanarayan, President of Global Development Consulting, Inc — Many companies are finding that high turnover in their offshore support team is creating disappointing results. This article provides insights into what you can do above and beyond conventional approaches. Full article
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If you have comments or suggestions we would like to hear from
you. Please email the editor at
sspanews@thesspa.com.
Interested in Submitting an Article for the SSPA News? Do you have knowledge, ideas, or experiences to share with your peers? If so, the SSPA would like to invite you to submit an article that will help foster the advancement of the services and support industry. Please click here for more details, or email Shawn Santos directly.
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Featured Links
Best selling author Geoffrey Moore to speak at Upcoming SSPA Conference. The SSPA is pleased to announce that best selling author and tech industry visionary Geoffrey Moore will speak to attendees on Tuesday during the SSPA Conference in San Diego. His most recent book, Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution was published in January of 2006. Geoffrey has made the understanding and effective exploitation of disruptive technologies the core of his life's work. His books, Crossing the Chasm, Inside the Tornado, The Gorilla Game, and Living on the Fault Line are best sellers and required reading at leading business schools.
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