[160838] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Quantifying the value of customer support
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Siegel, David)
Thu Feb 14 18:09:47 2013
From: "Siegel, David" <David.Siegel@Level3.com>
To: Kasper Adel <karim.adel@gmail.com>, Andrew Latham <lathama@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2013 23:09:34 +0000
In-Reply-To: <CALb2afOLY4ydOJTbuB9qZcY7QUjSbvCQd_ce-LsTdaiMEgrqng@mail.gmail.com>
Cc: NANOG list <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
There is no such thing as a generic business case that can be applied acros=
s all companies in an industry. Every business is unique in its product de=
finition and organization structure, but each question is also unique and t=
herefore the analysis must be done every time.
The way to begin is to ask this manager what he believes the possible outco=
mes are (downsize your group, eliminate your group, re-define your group, e=
tc.) and then work with each of the key stakeholders that you have to estim=
ate the impact of those outcomes. For example, if 1st line operations indi=
cates that eliminating your group would result in decreased customer satisf=
action and missed SLA's, ask them to quantify it as much as possible and go=
to take the numbers back to your business people to have them estimate the=
impact on revenue.
The analysis should be constructed and presented in standard finance terms =
(like NPV) so I would suggest that you make friends with someone in finance=
to assist you with the preparation. You can also take a short two-day cou=
rse like this http://executive.mit.edu/openenrollment/program/fundamentals_=
of_finance_for_the_technical_executive/16 that will teach you how to build =
up these analysis yourself (I have taken the one referenced and I recommend=
it to all managers with budget responsibility).
The outcome from these discussions often has surprising but positive outcom=
es for everyone...maintaining the status quo is not always the best possibl=
e outcome despite the biases we usually have when we begin the analysis. :=
-) If you work closely with all of your stakeholders, everyone will learn =
and benefit from the experience.
Dave
-----Original Message-----
From: Kasper Adel [mailto:karim.adel@gmail.com]=20
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 2:16 PM
To: Andrew Latham
Cc: NANOG list
Subject: Re: Quantifying the value of customer support
I used to think that these kind of situations take place when a manager was=
never an engineer so he does not understand how things work but i was surp=
rised when i faced these from managers with an intense engineering career s=
o i gave up on trying to give conceptual excuses and want to just give them=
the dump tables and numbers that they are looking for.
Kim
On Thursday, February 14, 2013, Andrew Latham wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 3:52 PM, Kasper Adel=20
> <karim.adel@gmail.com<javascript:;>>
> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > We are a 2nd level of escalation in a service provider, trying to=20
> > put a $ value on the support we give to our NOC and other=20
> > implementation teams, when they email us about problems they face.=20
> > But we are merely bits and bytes engineers that cant quantify and=20
> > justify the value of what we do to the management team. I guess=20
> > these smart suits want to see an excel sheet with a table of how=20
> > much they save or gain by the support we do. We
> respond
> > to technical questions and simulate problems in a lab.
> >
> > Can anyone help me with an idea or any material i can reuse? Templates?
> Has
> > any one been in a similar situation.
> >
> > Thanks
> > Kim
>
> Kasper/Karim/Kim
>
> Your job is customer retention. Your value is maintaining all company=20
> income. Write the yearly revenue on a piece of paper and hand it to=20
> them.
>
>
> --
> ~ Andrew "lathama" Latham lathama@gmail.com <javascript:;>=20
> http://lathama.net ~
>
