Asset and Configuration Management - Building the CMDB

October 18, 2005

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Aligning IT with Business by Managing Service Levels

September, 2005

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The City, My Buddy and Me

April, 2004

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Hiring Strategies

February, 2004

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George Spalding

January, 2004

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Coaching

January, 2003

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Ken Stainsby
Practical Application of ITIL Best Practices

 November 2002

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Glen Purdy
ITIL Best Practices

October, 2002

To obtain a copy of Glen's PowerPoint presentation please email him at glen_purdy@dmr.ca

The Future - Where Processes Meet Technology
Ron Muns

June 25, 2002

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Power of Conversation
Wendy Sage Howard

April 23, 2002

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Metrics vs Magic 
E. Sandra Simpson

March 19, 2002

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Think and Be Sexy
Jenny Hoops

October 16, 2001

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Lean Knowledge Solution
Isauro A. Flores

June 19, 2001

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Shift Happens: Dealing with Difficult People
Facilitated by Carol Ann Fried

May 17, 2001

On Thursday (May 17th), Carol Ann presented a fascinating insight into the emotions, behaviours and pressures involved when it is difficult to deal with people. Upon hearing the seminar title for the first time, many people do a quick ‘double-take’ - it reminds them of another well-known saying. During this seminar, however, Carol Ann demonstrated that it takes a Shift, in your own attitudes, behaviours or reactions, to make difficult people not-so-difficult.

We all know difficult people. We may work with them. A friend or member of the family may be ‘trying’. In our daily lives, verbal and non-verbal communication plays a vital role in how we interact with our colleagues, peers, friends and family. Difficult people, somehow, manage to present themselves in such a way that we can become stressed, defensive, threatened and angry. Carol Ann showed us that, many times, people are difficult because of other factors in their lives – which have nothing to do with us. If they are upset and anxious, perhaps they have underlying concerns about their own job or family pressures. If they are rude or impatient, perhaps they haven’t enough sleep or are facing a financial crisis. Whatever the root cause, their actions and behaviours are guided by these influences.

And how to we deal with difficult people? Avoid any contact and communicate only via Email or memos? Do voices get raised in heated arguments? Does your communication with the person become a matter of aggressor and defender? The key to understanding and dealing with difficult people is: Listening. Listen to them. Give them your undivided attention. Paraphrase their comments and work together towards a consensus. Separate the person from the problem – work with the person to tackle the problem and ignore their personality.

In Help Desk environments, we are the front-lines for the IT area. We are interacting with our customers at a time of great stress and frustration and sometimes their frustration spills over and we bear the brunt of their pressures and must deal with, what is now… a difficult person. First, take a deep breath, remember they could be dealing with their own issues and concentrate your efforts on resolving the problem at hand. Through your calm and composed reactions, a difficult person will be unable to maintain the high-intensity emotions and they will calm down too.

So, take a minute to visualize your favourite Difficult Person. Think about their personal and professional situation and the next time they call you, take Carol Ann’s advice and really listen to them.

For more information about Carol Ann Fried and her seminars/training courses, contact her at friedom@istar.ca

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eSupport

April 24, 2001

Jay Kelley

Click here to access the zipped PowerPoint file.
Click here to link to the WinZip website. 

Jay Kelley gave our members and guests a tour of the evolution of Support, from deskside to webside. He started by outlining the current state of support, proceeded to its evolution and finished with a look at the future.

The objectives for the afternoon were to gain a greater perspective on support, understand the key players, solutions and where the industry is headed. Today’s situation is different from even one year ago. Last year dotcoms were flying high, IT budgets soared and jobs plentiful. This year dotcoms are folding, IT budgets are stalling and there are fewer jobs. The hours are increasing, we are still getting as much done but with fewer people.

As technology leaps forward so do the number and complexity of problems. Supporting mobile and telecommuting users increases support costs. As more mobile devices come on line and are embraced this is only going to increase still further. By 2002 the number of internet capable wireless devices are expected to surpass the number of Internet wired devices. We will move from knowing what users are using to not knowing anything about the hardware.

In the 1960's, the beginning of the support industry, support was deskside, on-site manuals and usually involved one computer for many users. By the 1980's we had ACD systems, CCR, IVR and phone support blossomed. 1995 and add email, chat and knowledge bases. 2001 has integrated solutions, support delivery and maximizing user efficiencies.

There are 4 tiers of service: tier 0 for self service at $1.17USD per incident; tier 1 for phone ($35 per incident), email ($9.99 per incident), chat ($7.80 per incident); tier 2 for deskside ($100-$200 per incident) and finally tier 3 for truck roll service ($200-$300 per incident). The more you can cut down and steer people from tiers 2 and 3 to tiers 0 and 1, the more cost efficiencies you will realize.

Jay finished the afternoon with an industry roadmap starting with onsite support then telephone support; on-line support; automatic resolution; intuitive support; prediction and finally prevention.

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Teams and Achieving Synergistic Teamwork

March 13, 2001

Nic Tsangarakis

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Computer Security

February 20, 2001

Doug Dzurko

Click here to view the presentation in PDF format. 

At the February 2001 General meeting, our HelpDesk BC members and guests were fascinated (and a little unnerved…) by Doug Dzurko's presentation on the current state of computer security.

As little as 10-15 years ago, computer security was straightforward - simple network connections, limited number of personal computers, central data storage on protected servers. Access to information was strictly guarded and easily controlled. To break-in to a computer system, a hacker would need to spend hours manually attempting to guess passwords, locate servers and install backdoors.

With the tremendous evolution of technology, computer systems and devices have infiltrated almost every aspect of our lives. Many of us have personal computers in our homes, conduct banking transactions via the Internet, remotely access corporate systems while travelling and communicate with friends and colleagues via Email. Just as we now have more tools and devices available for our own use, the hacker community has also developed new technologies and devices to facilitate system infiltrations and data corruption/theft.

Today's hacker can download new software tools from the Internet, automate many of the previously manual processes and exploit vulnerabilities in almost every type of system. With new telecommunication channels available, Kernel "root kits" on-line and the proliferation of distributed networks, hackers can scan multiple systems for passwords, probe IP addresses, identify & exploit your specific operating system and install a backdoor so that they can return later to collect more data/passwords. Sounds like a lot of work - unfortunately, it isn't. Many hacker activities can be automated in a script and these scripts can automatically search-out your system, launch the attack and, when the attack succeeds, the hacker is then notified that he is "in".

Recent attacks on Microsoft's system, eBay and Yahoo, illustrate that no-one is 100% secure. The only way to be 100% secure is to unplug your network cable - which is not practical or possible to today's wired-world. So what can be done to defend any hacker attacks…. Learn everything you can about your operating system. Apply all patches, updates and security fixes. Install firewalls. Practice 'safe-computing'. Educate your customers of the dangers of computer viruses. Administer your networks and systems tightly - don't place your data security on the 'hope' that a hacker won't break-in. Protect yourself, your systems and your data from attack - because one day soon, a hacker will attempt to break-in and you must be ready….


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"What Did You Say?"

January 16, 2001

Carol Ann Fried

For our January 2001 seminar, HelpDesk BC was pleased to present Carol Ann Fried's "What Did You Say?" seminar. As the title implies, effective listening skills are vital in our everyday communication with our colleagues, family and friends. But listening with our ears is not enough…. We must also listen with our eyes and our heart.

Human communication is a complex process full of verbal words, non-verbal messages and sociocultural factors. To communicate an idea or thought, the 'sender' forms the message, based his/her own personal perceptions and cultural/family issues, using our spoken language to convey this idea or thought. The 'receiver' of this message must pay close attention to the entire message. Hearing the words used will give the recipient a part of the message but, if you rely on your ears alone, vital parts of the original message will be lost. What about the sender's body language, personal feelings or original intention? To effectively listen to someone, your full attention must be given to him or her so that you can communicate effectively and, in turn, they must give you their full attention as well. Needing to listen to the actual words, watching body language and inferring the sender's intentions and feelings can sometimes lead to miscommunication and incorrect assumptions being made. With this potential for misunderstanding inherent in all of our communications, listening with our eyes, ears, soul & heart will keep us focused and on-track.

Listening to others, however, isn't always enjoyable. There will be times in your life when others will need to offer criticism and provide constructive guidance or remedial assistance. By our own human nature, we are betrayed in these situations.  To defend against criticism is an instinctive and natural response. This defence, however, can lead to a worsening of the situation and a total breakdown in effective communication. If someone begins to criticize your actions, first take a deep breath and then remember what Carol Ann taught us about removing the barriers to effective communication, paraphrasing, fogging, accepting, specifying, prompting and summarizing. Paraphrase their words to ensure correct understanding, accepting the criticism, prompting for more information and summarizing what has been said. Basic human instinct includes the 'fight or flight' mechanism - we can either fight our way through the process or simply take flight and pretend that everything is OK. With Carol Ann's assistance, we can now deal with the criticism head-on to ensure a healthier and more comfortable working environment.

It's not easy - it will require some practice - but with these techniques, we'll learn how to communicate and listen much more effectively and so will you…

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  Knowledge Management

November 21, 2000

Charles Cyna, AvanteSolutions

Click here to view the presentation in PDF format.

Our November meeting was well attended - proving the popularity & necessity of Knowledge Management in all of our environments.

But do we all know what Knowledge Management is? It can be described as "information in context". Raw data is plentiful but what does it mean? Your team has mountains of knowledge in their heads. When one person leaves your team, their knowledge of your systems and organization also leaves. So how can you capture that knowledge? Effective Knowledge Management starts with your raw data. Add-in some type of sorting/digesting process and Information will be the result. But having the information is not the end of the story. To this information, add-in the people & processes in your environment and your result will be Knowledge. As your raw data, people & processes change, your organization's knowledge will continue to change. You must effectively manage this Knowledge to ensure the continued effectiveness and operation of not only your support centre but your organization as well.

But why bother? It's a lot of work to capture the raw data, 'slice & dice' it, then build processes around managing it. But what is the cost of not managing your corporate knowledge? Having that knowledge available will enable your team to answer questions more quickly, reduce the length of each call and reduce the frequency of call escalations - thus increasing efficiency and performance of your Help Desk. Making that knowledge available to your customers is the next step in the process. A corporate Intranet with links to FAQ lists and a self-help searchable knowledge base will increase the value of your support centre to your customers.

With any new process involving technology, there will be some challenges. Customers may expect the technology to 'be everything and do everything'. The old cliché of "knowledge is power" may lead to some difficulties when encouraging people to share their knowledge. Constantly updating the changing knowledge base requires dedication, attention to detail and consistent format/structure. These challenges are just some of the obstacles you'll face if you hope to successfully implement a Knowledge Management solution in your Help Desk/support centre.

But where do you start? Review your processes, interview your team, learn how your organization collects, records and manipulates/shares its data and information. Address the challenges, get buy-in from those most affected and work towards implementing an effective and efficient knowledge management process. Knowledge Management is never an end-result - it is a constantly evolving process of collecting, sharing and updating the knowledge within your organization.

If you would like to learn more about Knowledge Management, visit AvanteSolutions web site (www.avantesolutions.com).

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Interviewing & Selecting Exceptional People

October 17, 2000

Nic Tsangarakis

For our October meeting, Nic Tsangarakis (MICA) presented a seminar entitled: Interviewing & Selecting Exceptional People. After a last-minute change in venue, our members & guests enjoyed Nic's presentation immensely.

In any workplace, there are skills to learn, procedures to follow and projects in which to participate and/or lead. Hiring the best person for each available position requires planning, objective job evaluation and effective recruiting. But recruiting does not begin with the personal interview. Recruitment starts even before the advertisement appears in the local newspaper. You must first understand the requirements and objectives of the position - only then, can you structure the advertisement effectively.

Once the newspaper runs the advertisement and your corporate web site has been updated, your office is then inundated with resumés, covering letters and other materials designed to 'get your attention'. Take the time necessary to review each and every resumé - compare educational and employment history with the requirements of your position. The end result: your short-list of candidates.

The candidates on the short-list then can be invited to a personal interview. This personal interview is the most critical time in the recruitment process. What questions will you ask? How will you judge/grade the responses? Remember - you are looking for "high performers". From the resumé, you will know their level of education and skills. From the personal interview, you can observe their appearance, manners and communication skills. But what else should you look for when searching for a high-performer?

A high-performing person is someone who demonstrates a good attitude, is self-motivated, displays persistence & stability and has a suitable temperament for learning new skills. These performance indicators, however, may not be easily detected in a generic question and answer interview. To probe further, you may need to modify the questions to probe for and bring-out the needed information. Remember - you're looking for personal attitudes and behaviours that indicate the person's performance level - ask questions that probe their past experiences and how they dealt with them.

Nic suggested using a "STAR" system of questioning. Ask each candidate to describe a specific type of SiTuation. Ask what Actions they took and what were the Results. With these answers, you will learn a great deal about the individual's capabilities and suitability for the position.

Recruiting for any available position can be fraught with pitfalls. The cost of a bad recruitment decision can cost your company 1.5-2-times the position's annual salary. There is loss of training, productivity, efficiency and, since we interact with our customers each day, a loss of credibility in their eyes - not to mention the financial cost of salary, benefits and severance packages.

Remember, take your time, review the resumés and interview effectively… find the high performers and hire them !

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How to Move your Support Centre
from Reactive to Proactive

September 21st, 2000

Char LaBounty

Once again, we were pleased to present a Char LaBounty presentation as our first HelpDesk BC meeting of the 2000/2001 seminar season. This year, Char addressed an issue that is foremost in many of our minds - how to turn your Support Centre/Help Desk from reactive support (ie: 'fighting fires') to strategic/planned support.

As IT support services have evolved (and continues to evolve…), there are two different management approaches that can and must be taken: Tactical & Strategic management. Tactical management is focused on the primary (day-to-day) operations and service while Strategic management focuses on long-term planning and results.

Moving your Support Centre from 'Reactive' to 'Proactive' involves both a Tactical and a Strategic operational review. Improving your support centre's call tracking application or implementing web-enabled knowledge base are two examples of Tactical issues which are easy-to-see/measure and are undertaken by front-line or middle managers. Secondary strategic issues, such as quality improvement and produce development, are harder to quantify and generally concentrated at the senior level of management.

But how do you know if your Support Centre/Help Desk is in a 'Reactive' mode vs 'Proactive' mode (besides the fire extinguisher on your desk J) ? - if you have a high staff turnover rate & need to constantly train new staff - if management does not recognize/appreciate the level of skills & knowledge the Help Desk possesses - if staffing levels are never enough….

To be Proactive, first… put away the fire extinguisher. Now - take a look at your Call database. Identify repetitive calls & find a way to reduce the calls (practice Call Avoidance). Look deeper … find the Root Cause for recurring problems and resolve the root cause. Review your internal workflow and processes - identify & automate/eliminate 'busywork' to free your time to address other problems. Use software distribution and remote control applications to automate problem resolution.

Your support centre/Help Desk supports the infrastructure technology used in the organization. This technology is used every minute of every day to make money for your company. If there is a problem or question regarding the usage of technology, your Help Desk needs to answer questions quickly and make sure the technology is operating at peak efficiency - thus reducing the costs associated with staff downtime.

With such an important role to play in the support of your internal customers, your Help Desk must address both the needs of management (to keep costs down) and the needs of the customer (to resolve their issue effectively in a timely manner). Moving to a Proactive paradigm will do just that.

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How to Market Your Help Desk

 June 20, 2000

The final seminar of the 1999/2000 season focused on the Marketing aspect of your Help Desk or Service Centre. Pete McGarahan from Help Desk 2000 was on-hand to facilitate this fun and informative session.

Marketing your Help Desk occurs every day, in every contact with a customer. Your smile, tone of voice, knowledge and patience are, in fact, very effective Marketing tools. A simple gesture of empathy, an understanding of their deadlines and a dedication to resolving the problem quickly and effectively are positive reinforcements of your Help Desk's image and credibility. A grumpy voice, impatient tone or careless service, however, can have the opposite effect - one where the customer is dissatisfied with the Help Desk. This dissatisfaction will spread via word-of-mouth and, before you realize it, the damage has been done and your Help Desk can become marginalized with the organization. Ensure each customer receives excellent Customer Service and that word-of-mouth marketing will, instead, be your greatest asset.

During the seminar, Pete asked the group about their "1-minute speech" - did we have one? My first thought was - what is a 1-minute speech? It's the amount of time you share the elevator with your President and/or Senior Executive. For that small slice of time, you have the full attention of that Executive - now is your chance... Use that time to describe the current Help Desk situation - praise the people answering calls, describe recent 'wins' and accomplishments and, if appropriate, describe how you are proactively resolving a current problem to better server your customers.

My favourite part of the seminar dealt with Marketing Tools... what tools can be used to Market your Help Desk? It was wonderful to hear everyone's suggestions and to learn how different tools have (or have not) worked well. While I was familiar with newsletters and signs/posters, other terrific ideas included:

- a "Hall of Fame" - where good calls and/or positive customer comments would be posted

- Help Desk staff profiles on a corporate Intranet site - so customers can learn about the person on the other end of the phone.

- Open House events - inviting the Customers to visit the Help Desk. Decorations and costumes can make the event more relaxed and interesting.

- Executives shadowing the Help Desk staff - an excellent way for Executives to see how their decisions affect the customers directly and how well the Help Desk staff respond to calls.

The core component to Marketing your Help Desk is communication, communication, communication. Tell your customers who you are. Tell them how many calls the Help Desk handles. Showcase the Help Desk contributions to the corporate 'bottom-line'. But, above all, be creative and have fun !

For more information on Pete McGarahan and Help Desk 2000, check out their web site: www.helpdesk2000.org

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Using Visual Communication Tools
in the Help Desk

 May 16, 2000

As Help Desks and Call Centres have evolved, the tools used each day have not been left behind.  The telephone was one of the earliest tools used in a Help Desk environment and remains an important method of communication with your customers.  The simple telephone has now evolved into ACD, IVR, PBX and VoiceMail technologies ‑ without which many Help Desks can't function.

As business processes and technology have developed, new and innovative tools can now facilitate faster and cheaper communication with both internal and external customers.  Technologies such as Email, Fax and the Internet have revolutionized our communication patterns and styles but these tools are primarily used to communicate with clients/staff outside of the Help Desk.

In a busy and ever-changing Help Desk/Call Centre environment, distributing up-to-the-minute information is always a challenge.  Leave a voice mail and it could be several long minutes before someone listens to the message.  Sent an Email and it may takes hours before the message is read.  Fall back on 'word of mouth' and there will always be someone who doesn't receive the message or worse yet, receives incorrect or incomplete information.

Wouldn't it be easier to flash current, up-to-the-second information onto a reader board that everyone can see?  Instantly, every member of your Help Desk/Call Centre will be notified of major service disruptions, off-line servers and the status of the call queues.   They can even be notified of problem situations in other departments or offices and be ready to receive extra calls from that area.

Using visual alerting tools will both change and improve your current environment.  Your supervisors will have more time to manage their team, monitor progress and train/educate new staff.  Those on the front lines will spend less time searching for information and more time providing customers with up to minute information and accurate ETA's for resolution of their problem.

Any visual tool, however, must be carefully reviewed to ensure that its application and implementation are smooth.  Staff will need to be trained, the equipment must be purchased but don't stop there...  do some brainstorming to see what other information the reader boards could provide.  Perhaps the boards could be used to notify staff of an upcoming meeting or presentation.  Perhaps the boards could display group/team stats or information about new products/services.  Ask those affected - what would they like to see?

Whatever you display - make it current, make it relevant, make it useful!

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The Self Managing Intranet

May 30, 2000

Several years ago, the Internet exploded into our lives and changed the way we access and search for information.  For the Help Desk, it became possible to download device drivers within minutes, check technical bulletins for software bugs and upgrades and research/review new products and services - without leaving your desk.

This technology has recently turned inwards and organizations are embracing this tool to enable information sharing within the organization - it's name.... The Intranet.  With the look & feel of a Web Page, the familiar underlined links and containing a wealth of internal corporate information, the corporate Intranet is here to stay.

Having an Intranet is all well and good but will anyone use it?   Will it become a really big filing cabinet of outdated, irrelevant memos or will be it become a dynamic, relevant, informative and essential part of your day.  First off, what does your Intranet look like?  Are the colours harsh or ill-matched?  Are the navigation links buried too deep or hidden from view?  Is the initial Home Page filled with 'cute' animation that slows down the response time and forces your staff to endure the cartoon each and every time they check the Intranet?

How the Intranet looks is just the beginning...   what information is accessible on the Intranet?  Is the information relevant to 'my' job?  Are staff checking the Intranet for new information, tips or events?  The most critical factor in the success of your Intranet is:  CONTENT.  Make it current.  Make it relevant.  Keep it changing.  The Intranet is a dynamic environment filled with current events, news on 'corporate happenings' and general notices.

But what about security?  Who is allowed to post to the Intranet?  What process should be used for reviewing the postings for accuracy or appropriateness?  What about limited access areas?  The issue of security is a fundamental one and one that depends on your corporate environment.  Will someone be available to monitor the postings or will staff be allowed to post notices directly to the Intranet?

Whether it's the content, look & feel or security requirements, a corporate Intranet is a powerful tool to share information, reduce data duplication and inform everyone of the latest 'happenings'.  If developing an Intranet is in your future, learn the technology, design with the end-user in mind and make it a 'must-see' place everyday.

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