News ................................................................................................

The New Wharton School/SSPA Program Begins June 19 “The TSSM Program was an eye-opening look into the managerial mirror — A series of experiences that will benefit both the new and seasoned manager.” - Mathew O’Donoghue Technical Services Manager of New Product Training Cisco Systems. Click here to learn more.

Self-Service .....................................................................................

Self-Service Best Practices—Beyond Contact Deflection By Zachary McGeary, Associate Analyst , Jupiter Research —

During the past several years, companies have focused on the self-service paradox (i.e., the difficulty of balancing cost-effective self-service and satisfactory self-service).  Ninety percent of consumers who contacted customer service during the past six months used online self-service, but satisfaction with self-service remains low, compared with more costly phone and e-mail support channels. Companies must look beyond self-service as a contact-deflection tool, and increasingly consider it a problem-resolution tool. Full article

Self-Service vs. Outsourcing: Two Answers to the Same Question By Allen Bonde, SVP, Strategy & Marketing, eVergance and Alan Winters, President, The Winters Group —

Self-service and outsourcing are in a number of ways two answers tothe same problem: how to drive costs out of the business whileproviding consistent service.  Yet, the impact on customer satisfaction and up-sell potential, and the longevity of the benefits of each can vary dramatically.  Based on a recent study from eVergance and The Winters Group, this article considers what to outsource, the role of self-service and the impact – and unintended consequences – of both. Full article

On-Demand .....................................................................................

What is the Future of Support & Maintenance in an On-Demand World? By Shawn Santos, Senior Program Manager, SSPA —
The on-demand model opens up an exciting landscape of new opportunities for vendors and customers alike. Yet with any computing paradigm shift, there are far-reaching implications to the status quo—support and maintenance is no exception. How will the imminent shift to an on-demand computing environment impact the traditional maintenance and support model? Full article

Professional Services .......................................................................

The Service 50: Dispelling the Dangerous Half-Truths of Technology Professional Services By Thomas Lah, Executive Director & Greg Burnett, Program Manager, TPSA —

To date, professional services executives have been extremely handicapped in their ability to understand the performance of other technology professional services organizations. Data to measure the performance of the technology professional services industry for benchmarking purposes is difficult to obtain, or worse non-existent. This leads to pressure and unrealistic expectations to manage professional services organizations based on some dangerous half-truths. Full article

Renewals .........................................................................................

The ABCs of International Maintenance Renewals
By Mike Smerklo, President & CEO, ServiceSource —
For technology companies with significant European operations, the EMEA maintenance stream has the potential to generate 15% to 20% of total worldwide revenue. Yet, European renewal rates are typically well below the industry averages and often as low as 45%. To maximize international renewal revenue, technology companies must follow the “ABCs” of global maintenance and support renewals.
Full article

People ..............................................................................................

Five "Rs" and One "F" Spell Retention
By Mel Kleiman, CSP —
A recent Gallup survey found that more than 70% of the 700,000 U.S. employees polled feel disengaged from the work they perform, and that this sense of disconnection increased the longer employees had been with an organization. Best practices studies clearly show that companies with high retention rates have created work environments that consistently provide recognition, rewards, respect, rules, responsibility and fun.
Full article
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