Enterprise software is usually created for a big company with several different employees. Some might be able to operate it without any issues, others might struggle. Unfortunately, a big user pool also leads to a large number of complaints and disgruntled users. These complaints are inevitably directed towards the technical support department that has to deal with the issue.
Unfortunately, it’s never easy dealing with angry enterprise users. Sometimes, there’s simply no way to placate them. So how do you handle an angry client who simply refuses to be satisfied with your answers? Here are a few points.
Let them Speak
In most cases, such people only want to vent their anger and frustration. It’s best to just let them. Whether you’re directly responsible for their problem or not, you’re the face of the company to them. Until their anger has passed, they’re going to hate you and everything associated with you. One of the best ways to deal with the problem is to just be quiet and listen.
This can sometimes be very difficult, especially if you’re not at fault and there’s nothing wrong with the product. Trying to point out that it was their mistake in the first place won’t help. In fact, that might only compound the issue. Understandably, it takes a lot of patience and fortitude to bear someone’s anger without retaliating, but that’s your only recourse if you want to retain the user.
Don’t get Offended
One of the worst things you can do when an enterprise user is angry is to take the issue personally. While they might be angry and venting their anger on you, taking it personally will only hamper your ability to look at the situation objectively. When you face a disgruntled user, objectivity is a must. The user is taking the situation personally enough for both of you.
Instead, try to mitigate the anger by using statements that cushion the user. For example, if the user has found a technical glitch in the software that delayed their work and led to loss, they’re rightfully angry. Simply state, “I’m sorry you had to face so much trouble, we’re looking into it…”
This shows the user that you’re being accountable. Of course, these statements would seem hollow if you don’t follow up and actually do something about it. To maintain a positive relationship with the user, make sure that you address the problem immediately.
Ask Questions
While it’s necessary to listen when the client is at the peak of his anger, you need to start figuring out the problem as soon as possible. Ask him valid questions and engage him in a conversation. Eventually, he’ll start to calm down. One of the best ways to deal with angry people is to engage them in a rational conversation where they need to think and focus.
Bring the conversation down to level ground and try to figure out what the problem is. The closer you are to the root of the issue, the calmer the user will be. This way, you can turn the conversation towards a more pleasant end. Turning an angry tirade towards a reasonable conversation can create a positive relationship between your firm and the user.
Give a Solid Time Frame
It’s best to give the users a solid time-frame. Vague open-ended timelines like “as soon as possible” will only irritate the user. Instead, give them a date and time and if the situation isn’t handled by then, call and explain about your progress.
This again showcases accountability and will go a long way to build a good relationship with the customer. By keeping these things in mind, you can deal with different users to the best of your ability.
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According to the Global Policy Forum, as of 2014, there are over 40,000 multinational corporations working through 250,000 affiliated firms. That’s a lot of data being shared across borders. That’s also a lot of IT employees working to keep information flowing and secured.
Do you work for a multinational company? If so, then you know that IT plays a critical role in connecting everyone. Your infrastructure has to support multiple offices, devices, and tools, whether your IT is on-site or in a central location.
How does one determine how the IT department will be structured? The size of your global company and its offices can help you make the right call in designing your IT organizational structure. Let’s explore the benefits of managing IT locally or at your corporate headquarters.
Managing IT Locally:
Pros:
- Team on-site to address to critical/high priority issues
- Help desk support more readily accessible
- Hardware installations/integration may be performed more timely
- Hands-on training of technology
- Localized projects and tasks can be handled and managed
- Communication and language barriers may be limited
Cons:
- Global deployment has to be time to reduce disruption
- Limited resources, if outside of corporate office
Managing IT Centrally:
Pros:
- Global support can be provided to address common/shared issues
- Global resolution of critical/high priority issues and updates
- Limited travel required
- Can monitor activities from one location
- 24/7 support, if resources permit
Cons:
- If 24/7 support is not provided, time zones and locations can become barriers
- Cannot be on-site to support local projects and hardware installations
- Communication and language barriers may be significant and could hiring multilingual employees
- Limited resources, if centralized team structure is not balanced
What will work for you?
Your company’s goals and strategies can help you determine how to design the ideal IT team across its many locations. What will work for one business may not work for another. Look at how your company is organized and what business needs are being served in each location. This could indicate how you and your employees can provide the best level of support possible.
A local structure may work if your overseas operations are significant and require full-team support. By having local employees, the IT infrastructure in a specific location can ensure matters are handled efficiently. By having centralized employees, global matters can be addressed singularly, rather than by office.
As business and technology become more global, companies will need to find ways to manage work activities, data exchange and security. In addition, companies are hiring more remote employees, the location of IT will only matter based on reporting structure.
At some point, will IT become more centralized? Possibly. In the meantime, IT needs to be structured around employees and partners where they are and how they work for you.
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It is almost that time again–when companies start compiling their budgets for the following year. As the IT department continues to grow in importance, many business leaders are taking a second look at their tech investments. Overall, the average percentage of funds that companies dedicate to IT spending has not significantly changed. Several recent studies suggest that on average tech spending will either increase slightly or remain the same this year.
However, how those funds are allocated may change year-to-year and vary from one organization to another. When it comes to prioritizing tech expenses, CIOs and other IT leaders must make some tough decisions. They are asking questions like: what is my biggest expense, and am I paying too much for it? We are looking at the most common expenses in IT departments and identifying the most important considerations when making a big investment.
The Biggest Expense for IT Departments
The typical expenses in IT departments today can usually be divided into two categories: maintenance and innovation. Historically, maintenance was the primary focus for IT teams. Now with the rising use of technologies like social media, collaboration tools, CRM systems, wireless presentation software, wearable devices, cloud computing, and more, IT leaders are also being viewed as a resource for innovation. CIOs are even becoming more heavily involved in strategy formation, with the percentage of funds dedicated to innovation initiatives rising.
However, maintenance costs continue to claim the majority of expenses. In a recent global survey by Spiceworks, IT leaders expected to spend 41 percent of their 2015 budgets on hardware and infrastructure.
Organizations often need to update their systems every several years to remain secure, competitive, and efficient, but it can be costly. With tight budgets, CIOs are expected to make the smartest tech investments. Understanding the actual cost and value of expenses can help IT professionals make the best decisions for their organizations. How do leaders know when an expense is worth it? Below are some key questions to ask before making an IT investment.
Cost Considerations
What are the long-term costs?
When purchasing new hardware, some organizations make the mistake of focusing solely on the sticker price. It is easier to obtain discounted systems and devices now than it was years ago. But, a cheap initial price can turn into a costly burden if it performs poorly and continuously needs maintenance.
If you are investing in a new hardware or software, it is essential to examine how long the investment will remain relevant and useful. The technical term for this is total cost of ownership (TCO) has existed for decades and may seem outdated. Some companies have adopted another way to calculate costs. It’s called TCS, or total cost of services. This emerging method anticipates costs of maintaining hardware, while also factoring in costs of labor and internal and external services like: hosting, data storage, and security measures.
Will it help increase efficiency or generate revenue?
What value does this new investment bring to your company? Will it increase worker productivity and engagement? Can it help foster collaboration or provide valuable data insights about your customer demographic? These are all questions that the CIOs from 10 years ago were never expected to answer. To CIOs today, these are critical considerations.
Many organizations are consulting tech leaders about strategic decisions in various departments–from recruitment to marketing. Also, technology has become a vital part of those departments. When new tech-driven programs are proposed, CIOs are likely to be one of the main influencers. Others are increasingly looking to them to identify the best value for their tech investments.
If you find that your company is spending a significant portion on one area, then it could be time to reassess whether or not it is worth it. By asking these questions, company leaders and IT professionals can make smarter, more profitable decisions.
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You work in IT. You love what you do. You believe your team loves what they do too. However,every now and then, we hit a level of frustration with our colleagues. Who doesn’t? Often times, it’s because IT is misunderstood at work.
Your business relies on IT to make sure it has all the tools they need to perform efficiently and securely. Your non-IT colleagues may not be as savvy, but you have to work together to resolve issues, implement new technology and share information. Your department’s reputation within the company will dictate how willing others will work with you and vice versa.
In 2014, InformationWeek conducted a survey on IT reputation to examine how IT professionals view their roles at work versus how their non-IT colleagues see them. Our of the 330 participants, the results showed that there was a mutual respect. With the right level of understanding, non-IT workers valued the contributions to IT at their company.
Working cross-functionally is natural in IT, even for the most introverted employee. However, the same study revealed that IT teams seemed too focused on technology rather than the people technology supports. While they may connect with their non-IT colleagues, the research found that the connections were based on projects and tasks (ex. Help Desk Support). Therefore, IT leaders should encourage their teams to build relationships with non-IT teams for the betterment of their business…and their reputation.
Here are some highlights of the study’s data:
- 75% of IT vs. 60% of non-IT were at least moderately satisfied with the quality, timelines and costs of IT projects
- IT’s involvement in other business areas has grown approximately 7% between 2012 and 2014
- Both IT and non-IT find business units (outside of IT) to be more at fault for any lack of innovation
- 71% of IT and 60% of non-IT see IT as having greater involvement in business over the next 2 years; an increase of 11% and 5% respectively since 2012
What are ways IT can improve its reputation at work?
- Break down silos. It’s easy to trap yourself in an IT bubble. However, your business is more than its infrastructure. Find ways to collaborate with our colleagues, rather than just be a support base.
- Be proactive in business. As an IT leader, you’re in the know about new technology trends across industries. Meet with other business units to share insights and data that can help them with their strategy.
- Learning opportunities. No need to a formal class. Gather some colleagues together for a series of “lunch and learn” activities to show how IT supports the business, and how other units are doing the same.
- Ask questions. If you or your employees have an interest in another business area, ask a colleague. It’s another opportunity to learn and gain valuable insight. It can help improve your contributions to discussions.
- Attend conferences and events outside of the IT space. For example, join your marketing colleagues at a a social media marketing conference. It’s not only an opportunity to network, but it’s a way to learn more about the people with whom you work.
Your IT reputation can make or break you and your team at work. Your department is at the core of your business. However, your colleagues need you and you need them, as you exchange and store information. Why not build strong relationships with each other? It will only make your business that much better.
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How often are you being contacted about new solutions from various companies with promises to improve your business? While the sales calls can be a nuisance, it’s also an opportunity to learn and explore the latest trends. When the time comes to bring new technology into your company, you’re ready to make a decision, right?
Not so fast. Because you may meet a number of vendors through your tenure as CIO/CTO, the selection can be a bit daunting. There are sales pitches, product demonstrations, comparison of offerings and services, reference checks and more that need to be performed or considered. How do you know if you’re making the right call? Depending on the size of your business, you need to vet your potential new partner. One way to do that is through the RFP process. RFP stands for “request for proposals.”
By putting out a request for proposals, you can control the process in a number of ways, including:
- The number of vendors
- Setting timeline for proposals and final decision date
- Your budget constraints
- Key criteria being sought
- Key stakeholders within your organization
Parameters help you to manage the flow of information, the amount of contacts and how many people will assist you in selecting the “winner.”
Choosing the “winner” can be a challenge. There are a number of top vendors who provide the exact products and services you need. How can you make sure you’re getting the best one? Here are some tips to help you manage the RFP process and make the right choice for your business:
- Limit the number of proposals. Think quality over quantity. By limiting the number of proposals, you can make direct calls to those vendors in which you’re interested to present a proposal. You also allow yourself proper time to review, communicate and consider each proposal.Proposals can be as short as one-page and as long as 100 pages. You never know what you’ll receive. Set a number that you think you can manage.
- Go out into the industry. If you’re considering new technology, you’re already looking at industry trends to evaluate what is right for your business now and in the future. Technology and business news outlets and publications provide great insights. Attending industry events can put you in front of vendors for immediate conversation.If you’re limited on time or resources, consider reaching out to firms like Gartner and Forrester Research. They conduct research across the technology sector. Their studies and advisors can provide you with information to connect with the right vendors to consider.
- Use your network. Your potential vendors may provide you with references of their current clients. That’s great. However, you may want to dig a little deeper to learn more about their business and performance. That’s where’ your professional and personal networks can be a golden opportunity.With your networks, you’re getting immediate feedback and/or referrals to potential new partners. Those in your professional network can share their experiences and knowledge. Those in your personal network, if in a related industry can do the same.
Also, think of your competition as a resource. They’re connected to your network and can provide feedback on vendors they’ve used or considered previously.
- Have a review team. As a CIO/CTO, the final decision on new technology may be yours. You still need to consider the impacts it could have on other areas of your business from Finance to Marketing. There are often other stakeholders who should give their input, which will hopefully make the decision easier for you.Creating a review team may take away some of the burden of the process. It is good to get other perspectives on the same document. You also can work together to clarify any misunderstandings, put together questions for the vendors and quicken the overall process. Just be careful in who you ask to involve.
Remember the saying, “Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth.”
- Use a project manager. The RFP process is actually a project within itself. Why not bring on a project manager to help manage it for you? A project manager can set the timeline, conduct follow-ups and be a point of contact between you, your colleagues and potential vendors.A project manager oversees the schedule and assigned tasks throughout the process to make all runs smoothly. You make the final decision. However, you can now make that decision with a little more balance. That way, you can still support your team and the RFP process.
The decision to bring on new technology can be overwhelming. There are a number of things to consider, in gaining the support from others in your company. The RFP process can help you vet through vendors to find the best fit for your business, based on your needs, strategy and goals.
Have you gone through an RFP process? What tips do you have your follow IT leaders? Share with us in the comments.
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When organizing a presentation, one must always ask the question, “What could go wrong?” The visions of worst-case scenarios in our minds can be frightening, hilarious, or both. Nevertheless, we have a job to do and a message to get across to our audience.
A lot of details often go into planning a presentation—from the content to the technology that supports it. While the presentation may be a one-person show, colleagues and partners play significant roles making sure things run smoothly. No matter how tight your set-up is or how prepared you are, there is always the possibility that something could go wrong.
Anything can happen during a presentation. You can never be too ready. However, with wireless presentations, you’re working with multiple devices and audiences from various locations and time zones. Technology is critical to support everyone across barriers because it’s the technology that brings people together. Therefore, there should be contingency plans to ensure not all is lost when technology fails.
Here are 5 tips to help you salvage your wireless presentation:
- Dress Rehearsal. Coordinate with IT on a date/time the day before or the morning of the presentation to run through your presentation set-up. This is an opportunity to perform system checks for Wi-Fi, security and network access to the wireless presentation. You may want to ask one remote colleague to also participate in the dress rehearsal to make sure external connections work as well.
- Communication Chain. Depending on the number of people and locations participating in the presentation, create a phone/contact chain. Should technology fail, you need to get in touch with everyone as to the next steps. Whether you’ll need to reschedule or change platforms, make sure you have at least a phone number for each person or team lead. This is especially important for those colleagues or partners who work remotely.
- Rain Date. When coordinating the presentation, be sure to schedule a “rain date” using the necessary resources, including the conference room and equipment. When you schedule the presentation date, also have this date set on the calendar.
Should anything go wrong and you’re unable to bring participants back together, all participants will know there’s another meeting set. If all goes well, you simply need to cancel the “rain date” to make resources available to those who need it.
- Documents in Advance. If possible, share your slides or any necessary documentation with participants before the presentation. This could be in the form of a hard copy handout or electronic files. If there is a technical issue that prevents you from moving forward with the presentation, at least your team members will have information readily available.
- Record Presentation/Webinar. If you’re unable to reschedule your presentation for everyone, a great option is to record the presentation for team members to review on their own time. Invite them to join you live.
However, by recording and saving the presentation, you create a new document that can be archived and act as a reference. The interaction of a live presentation may be lost, but there are ways to make recorded presentations just as interactive.
Technology fails can be stressful for the host and the participants. Certainly, your IT team should be on hand to lend support. However, by having contingency plans set, you can be better prepared to handle the issues.
What are some ways you’ve saved your wireless presentation? Share your tips with us in the comments!
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3 Mobile Apps for Productivity
Posted onDid you know that the average person looks at their smartphone as much as 150 times a day? A few years ago, some businesses may have tried to prohibit the use of mobile devices in the workplace in order to keep employees focused and productive. Now, using mobile apps could be one of the keys to engaging employees and increasing productivity in the workplace. Some studies suggest that using enterprise apps can increase productivity by 34 percent.
More companies have or are considering implementing mobile enterprise apps. According to one report, over 128,000 enterprise apps were released in the iOS store last year. One consulting firm estimated that there will be close to 5 billion downloads of enterprise apps this year. In addition, 79 percent of organizations in a recent Gartner survey responded that they planned to increase their mobile spending by 36 percent in 2015.
As mobile apps become more prominent in the workplace, company leaders are trying to decide how to use these new tools and identify which ones will be most effective for their businesses. Below are some apps that could help you and your employees be more productive.
Focus Booster
Some experts believe that people are more productive when they break their work up into intervals. A study of one company even found that the top 10 percent of their high performers tended to work for around 50 minutes and take about a 15 minute break from their desks.
Focus Booster is an app that is designed based on this belief. The app is a sophisticated task tracker that separates tasks into time intervals and breaks to optimize productivity. However, it doesn’t just track time. It also collects data and compiles reports about how individuals work, giving them insights on how to improve their overall efficiency.
Charlie
When prepping for a meeting, there are dozens of variables that presenters often need to consider. For instance, creating the agenda, reserving the appropriate meeting space, or using wireless presentation software may all be on their to-do lists with dozens of other tasks.
The mobile app Charlie aims to cut down the time people spend preparing for meetings by syncing with their calendar, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other sites. The app pulls information about meeting participants and creates a profile of highlights for users to view beforehand, minimizing the time they devote to researching.
Trello
Trello mixes productivity and collaboration tools into one place. The interface looks similar to Pinterest but for business operations.
Individuals can use the app as a personal goal tracker or to-do list. Companies can use it as an internal system to organize and keep track of goals and tasks. Members or employees can be assigned cards or boards to collaborate and share documents and notes with other team members. Once a task has been completed, they can move it to the completed pile, so that the rest of the organization is notified. Also, the mobile and desktop versions sync together to allow users to view their boards from anywhere, on any device.
There are millions of mobile apps on the market today and thousands that claim they can increase productivity. The wave of available enterprise apps can make finding the right one for your needs difficult. When it comes to productivity, these three apps are some of the best. But, like all apps, their level of effectiveness depends on how you use them.
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Meetings can be boring, exhaustive, and a down-right ridiculous waste of time if you don’t handle them properly. When you’re in a leadership position, meetings are a part of your day-to-day life. When you need to discuss important details about a project with your team, you need to plan the meeting carefully. You’re going to get nowhere if you’re not able to retain your team’s attention.
Some Tips
Here are some tips of how to make your meeting more productive and keep every participant engaged.
• Less is More – Before you even plan a meeting, consider whether it’s actually needed. Several leaders think that meetings need to happen regularly whether they’re needed or not. For example, you tend to schedule a meeting at the end of every month. Why schedule a meeting at the end of every month unless it’s absolutely needed? It’s best if you only schedule a meeting when you need it. To keep your team engaged and updated, you can easily schedule a meeting every quarter.
• Have a Meaningful Agenda- Just having an agenda isn’t enough; you need to have a meaningful agenda. There are some companies that schedule meetings regularly and discuss company policy and ethics for the lack of any other subject. That’s just a waste of everyone’s time and no one’s going to be happy about it. However, if you need to discuss an upcoming project, or a new client, or any subject that your team needs to know about, having a meeting is necessary.
• Planning Ahead– Plan the meeting carefully and well in advance. While you’re planning it, be sure to consider the following points:
− The number of people needed for the meeting. You need to limit this number to people who’re absolutely necessary.
− See if you can use remote conferencing tools to have meetings with people in other areas.
− Consider if it can be conducted remotely.
− Check in with everyone you want to call to the meeting. You need to make sure that the time is convenient for most people.
• Organize your Agenda- Now that you know you have a meaningful agenda to discuss; you need to decide how to go about it. It’s vital to deliver the information in a clear yet concise manner. You should use tools like presentations or videos, etc, to explain your point.
Visual mediums convey information more clearly and in a structured way. Organize all your information and explain it in steps. You need to make sure that there’s no room for ambiguity.
• No Open-Ended Statements to Conclude the Meeting- One of the best ways to make meetings successful and productive is to end it with a call to action. Essentially, you need to set clear goals during the meeting that every member of the team needs to follow.
For example, if you need to prepare a detailed proposal for a client along with design samples, give your team a timeline and assign individual duties. This will ensure that they have a purpose as they leave the meeting.
If you follow these points, you’ll have meetings that are purposeful, interesting, and that don’t suck.
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Customers do not interact with businesses the same way that they did in the past. Thanks to social media, digital technologies, and mobile devices, the customer journey is transforming. People expect to be able to connect with businesses through a number of channels. They want flexibility, convenience, and personalization to be part of the entire customer journey.
Creating positive experiences is critical to business success. Studies show that consumers are more than twice as likely to share an unpleasant experience than a positive one. Furthermore, they will go to social media to spread the message if they feel their concerns aren’t acknowledged. When service is handled poorly, companies are likely to lose valuable customers, and attracting new ones can cost 6 to 7 times as much as retaining current ones.
However, when companies excel at customer experiences and service, they have a competitive edge. Poor service is the top reason for losing customers. On the other hand, decreasing that loss by just 5 percent could increase revenue by 5 to 95 percent, according to Bain and Company.
How are companies improving the customer experience (CX)? Many are doing so with the help of big data and IT.
Responsive Customer Service
People now expect their issues to be resolved quickly, many expect a resolution within 24 hours or less. According to a recent report, 42 percent of people expect a response within one hour or less when contacting organizations through social media. Meeting those expectations can be difficult and extremely costly for the customer service team to do on their own. This is where IT has helped tackle the challenge.
In many organizations, IT has helped automate certain parts of the support process. Individuals can go to a company’s website, submit a request, and automatically receive a notification that their problem is being reviewed. This still relies on the customer service team to address the problem. However, now that process has been accelerated too, with many organizations implementing systems that help agents identify customers, their previous contact history, and other data that can be used to improve support.
Personalization
Possibly one of the most important ways that IT has improved the customer experience is by helping companies understand them. Big data has made it easier and more cost-effective for businesses to track purchases, consumer behaviors, and industry trends. Companies like Amazon and Netflix excel at crafting personalized experiences. For example, Amazon users are given recommendations based on their previous order history. A majority of the media streamed on Netflix is watched by users as a result of personalized recommendations.
Companies that enable the IT and CX team to work together can craft personalized interactions with their audiences. These experiences make customers feel important and valued, which is key to maintaining long-lasting relationships.
Channel Integration
Advanced technologies like collaboration tools, cloud computing, wireless presentation software, customer relationship systems, and others have a common theme. They have helped integrate what used to be accomplished with many moving parts and departments into one organized, easy-to-use system.
Instead of working in organizational silos, departments are working together to improve overall business performance. Technology has helped make this type of collaboration possible, and individuals expect a similar approach when it comes to their customer journey. They want to have a number of channels in which to connect with organizations but they want to be able seamlessly move from one area to the next.
For example, they may want to browse a store’s inventory online, reserve a product, and pick it up in-store. They want to be able to pull up a coupon code or discount in-store at the cash register using their mobile device. In other words, they want traditional and digital channels to be able to communicate with each other–a challenge that in most cases, IT leaders have been charged with facilitating.
Providing a positive customer experience is among the top differentiators and priorities for companies today. The increased demand for digital channels and personalized experiences have made improving individual experiences more than just a challenge for the customer service team. The IT team plays a crucial part in giving customer service the tools they need to understand their customers better and provide the support they need.