follow the sun support model presentation

Open Scholars Know How to License Their Work for Maximum Impact<br /> 29. Naturally, the language and culture barriers do not seem like such big obstacles these days. Fourth IEEE International Conference CX is a top priority for financial services providers, and for good reason. Improving global software development project performance using simulation. Let's review the diagram below. The University of Dar es Salaam Computing Centre is going to offer you in-class facilitation of all of the openEd 2.0 course modules against a moderate fee.<br /> 28. 2 traditional software development stresses on minimal job hand-offs, whereas FTS focusses on day-to day job hand-offs [1]. In other words, Follow the Sun is a 24/7 customer support approach for local and international clients. [7] Monica Yap. 0000013868 00000 n Initial handoffs mainly consisted of daily work summaries, which were later augmented by knowledge transfer activities. To say that life during the global pandemic has recentred our focus on health is an understatement. However, since we are talking about the FTS model, we already imply that our teams are most likely disproportionate and may need to be more interchangeable regarding specific tasks. Sure, this could mean 24/7/365. That means you need global customer service. That means customers requests and communications are coming in quickly and oftenand these businesses must meet that demand. We have underlined some of the essential concepts of FTS such as use of Agile for FTS, tools required and learnings from past experiences for the efficient implementation of FTS. 0000065768 00000 n What about the companies your business aspires to emulate? The initiative was unsuccessful, and the project was ultimately implemented using only the essential principles of global software development. How do companies similar to your own handle support? The main reasons to use this approach are that you'll have faster problem solving, consistent levels of customer service, reasonable work hours, and you'll be able to branch into new markets. For example, our customer and partner Zuora offers 24/7/365 support coverage. Expertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. To get a proper picture of the background on FTS, there is a need to understand a development pace and its associated concept of time to market, which are the main drivers of the development of FTS. . The number of sites had only a small impact on the accuracy. As support teams brace for an economic downturn, many are leaning on customer service outsourcing to cut costs. [17] Amar Gupta, Rajdeep Bondade, and Nathan Denny. Organization Support: Role Communications Manager (CM) Description Coordinates emergency communication strategy across teams: customer success, marketing, legal, etc. 0000006358 00000 n It is a model in which work from one site is handed over to another, which is many time zones away (for example, U.S.A to India), in order for the work to be advanced while one team rests for the night. Its also important to have daily stand-up meetings. The effective utilization of code repositories and version control management systems is crucial to the success of the FTS approach. It must also ensure that all the required information and reports to continue the work are visible and easily accessible. Businesses can reduce the amount of time it takes to progress from ideation to planning and development when a team is working on the project on a 24-hour schedule. Understand and optimize your cloud infrastructure today with Lucidscale. 0000009498 00000 n The major benefit is the development duration or the potential in reducing the time-to-market. Since the teams may have different tasks, it is important to ensure that each team has a common understanding of goals, methods and company policies. The organization which we are using in our example has offices spread worldwide and the Follow the Sun support model works wonderfully well for it. It is also known under different names such as 24 hour development or Round the clock development. 0000013744 00000 n Entertaining and motivating original stories to help move your visions forward. But as you grow, you begin to standardize, build out streamlined processes, and build teams. Start small so that you dont overpromise what you can actually deliver. December 20, 2021. With rising customer expectations around better service in todays macroeconomic environment, its important to lean on customer education programs to boost agent knowledge and productivityand to help your business retain customers. Outline your company's customer journey and experience with these 7 free customer journey map templates. Your team needs to deploy a brand-new, process-defining software to all the computers and devices on your companys networks. 0000008134 00000 n Focus on those regions first. Make your own animated videos and animated presentations for free. By following the sun, the issue is worked on until it is resolved. [15] Christian Visser and Rini van Solingen. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Global software development (GSD) is now the need of the hour more than ever. Why 2023 Gold House A100 List Has Starbucks CEO But No Michelle Yeoh, Parent PowerED: Parents Powering Solutions In Education, Conversations Across Generations: Shawn Dove And Peter Storey, Empowering Young Adults Through Tech With Sandee Kastrul Of i.c. 0000013987 00000 n See how this model can benefit your IT department. Its a great way to optimize your support. The follow the sun model gives your employees their lives back to spend more time with family and recreation. 0000065843 00000 n The research focussed on two aspects: the optimal time zone difference and the natural ease of communication (i.e. When you keep everyone on the same page, service ticket times go down, security gets stronger, workflows become more seamless, and customers receive a better technical experience. If you have an online business or SaaS product, you probably sell your products or services globally. Ultimately, this means better customer service and improved customer experiences. Computer, 42(1):66-73, 2009. We identified three main themes, namely challenges and best practices, location selection and hand-offs management. Still, it did, and that is where our plan and ability to coordinate staff remotely across the world helped keep all the processes running. Many factors influence the need to develop the products quickly such as avoiding contract creep, schedule slippages, budget overruns and other managerial reasons. The most popular online Visio alternative, Lucidchart is utilized in over 180 countries by millions of users, from sales managers mapping out target organizations to IT directors visualizing their network infrastructure. We have showed earlier that using the concept of calendar efficiency, FTS gives lot of room for decreasing the development time. Software tools used for actual FTS implementation must include both managerial and technical aspects, to adapt to the changing requirements of the software development process. It is always noon somewhere, right? The first one involved a software development project consisting of teams in the United States and Australia and met with high degree of success. However, it may be one of the most potent benefits for your business. Christian Doerr, time zone difference and hand offs management), communication and culture. Powerpoint is an application developed by Microsoft which allows users to create slides of important information to present. The FTS model doesnt seem to be a suitable choice for complete projects, when compared to its applicability for particular phases like - testing where it works very well due to less dependency on hand-off work. We've got a true, "follow the sun" model, allowing access to support engineers [.] Major lessons learned in the study that could improve FTS from their experience include: It was also observed that hand-offs between different sites were especially difficult in the weekends. In case of any issues with the blog, please contact: guledalprashanth@gmail.com or berd.kreynen@hotmail.com. Regardless of where the bulk of customers are located, if you know that youre receiving a lot of tickets outside of your standard support hours, then its time to start thinking about a rotational support model. You will need to determine which agile methodologies are best for the various global teams that help you to track work, allows for continuous integration, keeps team members accountable, and facilitates work hand-offs.. Calendar efficiency can be increased in a simple way by working overtime (overload mode), but this only improves the efficiency by 6%. In this distributed model, the CIA [8] (the triad of Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of service and data) assumes paramount importance. Keeps Support and the business informed so IC can focus on resolution. We operate a 24/7 global support team. uyLY@= Several reasons such as misinterpretation of specifications, multiple rework cycles, lack of proper coordination and communication between teams, time zone issues and cultural differences were attributed to the projects failure. Challenges and improvements in distributed software development: A systematic review. Slide 1 of 2. You can update your preferences or unsubscribe at any time. Their teams are based in Honduras, Romania and the Philippines. Most agile practices emphasize face-to-face communication. Ultimately, the processes kept running, the staff were not forced to work overtime, and none of the offices were overwhelmed, and that is key when it comes to a successful business model. In addition, there is research about location selection and the effect of the number of selected locations. When compared to traditional global software development, FTS workflow is more difficult to achieve. In any case, one thing is clear: To provide the highest level of customer service, your support team must decide when to be available. 3 levels of support delivery model. A customer service platform with mobile access might allow you to stagger your shifts between home and work, and to cover different time zones, without having to hire a remote representative. 0000004606 00000 n Following the sun: Case studies in global software development. IBM Systems Journal 45.4 (2006): 773-783. As described by Carmel [1], the agile methodology is best suited for FTS. This theme is specifically for location selection and the impact of it. Time to market is the amount of time it takes from the moment the product is conceived until the product is available for use or sale. Having multiple subteams on deck to keep a project moving along 24 hours a day empowers your entire IT department to set realistic short-term deadlines, avoid working overtime, and complete roadmaps more efficiently., Think about what your IT team is really trying to accomplish on your roadmap for the next year. Figure 1: Follow the Sun approach follows a 24h task hand-off based approach to software development. They also divide their support to cater to two groups of customers: participants (employees at companies) and client administrators (HR teams administering equity and compensation). CNSC released the formal follow-up report to Sun Media, with the un . There are numerous advantages if the FTS implementation is successful which are reduced time-to-market, reduced software costs, increased international relationships leading to better diversity among companies, etc. Establish goals: Define your goals around your customer's needs in each location you service. Believe it or not, the Covid-19 pandemic certainly influenced the decision to bring this powerful idea to life with local client support branches and personnel on every continent. A part of this may be attributed to the availability of efficient tools and enabling technologies for implementing the FTS model. IEEE, 2009. If not, determine what you are able to provide customers right now as you work toward your long-term 24-hour service. What in the world is the "Follow-the-Sun" support model? IEEE, 2007. One of the principal benefits of the FTS model is the opportunity to speed up processes and reduce time to market. Inverse schedules on an escalation policy - If you have two or more users that rotate primary and secondary on-call shifts, then you will want to create two on-call schedules and add . Teams must be able to define what work has been done and what work is expected next in the process. Follow-the-sun support model is a very common paradigm for enterprise support companies wanting to deliver round the clock critical support for business critical applications. Is a follow the sun model right for your IT and cloud teams? Now that youve done all the groundwork of defining workload capability, visualizing infrastructure, and hammering out the handoff process, youre ready to get your new model signed off by stakeholders. 0000007104 00000 n 0000064539 00000 n Subscribe to the Service Blog below. Note that it will only suit some business models. They do it by starting a team in Colorado at 8am (MST). This can be done by evaluating when your customers need you most, and carefully considering how to meet them where they are. Any issues can be resolved in near real time since theres always a team member ready to take action.. It may take more time than anticipated to ask questions and receive answers. FTS has many challenges associated with it and it also faces same challenges of GSD as it is a part of GSD. The constant workflow increases response time and reduces time to market. Agile places a lot of emphasis on continuous integration (using automation) encouraging every team to maintain an updated and testable version of the code which can be used by the next production site. Theres no reason to leap forward with global support if most of your customers are in only one or two regions. It is used mainly for school presentations and businesses. In the gaming and retail industries, for example, 24/7/365 support might be pretty standard. Unpublished EDS working paper, 2004. Advances in Software Engineering, 2009:3, 2009. The FTS model has proven its potential for decreasing time to market, accelerating product development and ensuring consistent client communication. 0000002691 00000 n This is a highly collaborative, communicative approach to customer service, and it's a delicate line to balance. Agile has several characteristics which support FTS adoption [6]. Most of the current code repositories are cloud based and accessible across geographies. 2008. Are you using a tool that makes it easy to scale, and to quickly hand off support tickets? on, pages 185194. IEEE, 2010. The purpose of this article was to present a comprehensive study on the FTS model for software development. Agile methodologies fit well with follow the sun models because all work is completed within set iteration cycles. Tools for estimating and planning schedules, allocation of project tasks, sprint management, progress tracking are essential utilities for front line managers. A key observation from this study is that even after decade long progress of FTS, its challenges are not overcome yet and it may be relevant to notice that there are no substantial benefits to FTS, thus FTS achievability is an empirical question for which a necessary first step is a consistent definition. Two case studies reported on the application of FTS in software development is elaborated below. Linear sequential approaches such as the Waterfall model seem to be inefficient for the FTS approach. IBM Software Group IBM Software Group Rational software Click to edit Track Number on Title Master Reducing Time to Market Using Follow-the-Sun Techniques Alex Cameron EDS Alex.Cameron@eds.com. Figure 3: Comparing FTS model with other global workflows [1]. Are you ready to follow the sun?. Let's talk about providing 24-hour support without overwhelming one location and forcing staff to work overtime. To do this from a single office theyd have to aggressively staff up. Global business processes such as call centres or help desks are not counted under the FTS umbrella. She is a leading digital transformation evangelist for the pharma and life sciences industries. 0000016106 00000 n To visualize, we created the diagram below: Global customer support might not be necessary for every company, but it's important to begin using a global customer service model if you have international customers who are submitting tickets while you're asleep. In California, teams start in waves at 7am, 8am, and 9am (PST). If all the IT teams within your company use a follow the sun model, the project could be completed in days. Quarterly Executive. (2006). Increase response time to solve problems more quickly, and reduce development and production times to get products and services to market faster. We showed that there are three main research themes, namely challenges and best practices, location selection and hand-offs management. You can turn light-speed production and service delivery into one of the signature advantages of your brand. A systematic literature review of best practices and challenges in follow-the-sun software development. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(53, '12501f7c-8e26-4e3c-9642-7afbe078156a', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); The follow the sun customer support model is designed to address customer needs without regard to geographic location or current time. At the same time, I can attest that it takes considerable investment, time and human resources. One of the cornerstone principles of FTS is that certain assets are repeatedly shared between the offices at the end of the production circle or a working day so that the second team can continue the production/maintenance. Calculation, effects, and prevention tips, Streamline call center BPO management with data-driven WFM, Why great CX is the doorway to success with open banking for financial services firms. Lucidchart is the intelligent diagramming application that empowers teams to clarify complexity, align their insights, and build the futurefaster. Figure 6: Five essentials for applying the FTS model in practice. 0000002089 00000 n That's why as the assets are transferred to the next team, you need to ensure that detailed workflow documentation and technical tasks do not require further clarification. Journal of Management Information Systems, 27(1):17-38, 2010. A follow the sun model can help your organization provide 24/7/365 support to customers across the globe, regardless of time or location. So how can companies of different sizes utilize that to their advantage? Many companies. Technology Tools and Infrastructure to Support FTS. Essentially, it's 24/7 support, no matter where the sun is up, without needing any customer service department to work late shifts. And when the shifts switch, you'll have each site hand off work to the next shift. And customers in one location do not get preferential or more support than any other location. There are several major differences between traditional globally distributed software development and the FTS approach. In its early days, this customer service approach only seemed feasible for big companies that had the resources to open and staff multiple offices around the world. 1. Global software development: never mind the problems are there really any benefits? The 24-hour knowledge factory: can it replace the graveyard shift? 0000003713 00000 n A handoff from one site to the other can be occasionally empty due to public holidays or emergencies. [16] Josiane Kroll, Ita Richardson, Jorge LN Audy, and Jude Fernandez. A daily dose of irreverent and informative takes on business & tech news, Turn marketing strategies into step-by-step processes designed for success, Spotlighting bold Black women entrepreneurs who have scaled from side hustles to profitable businesses, For B2B reps and sales teams who want to turn complete strangers into paying customers, Get productivity tips and business hacks to design your dream career, Free ebooks, tools, and templates to help you grow, Learn the latest business trends from leading experts with HubSpot Academy, All of HubSpot's marketing, sales CRM, customer service, CMS, and operations software on one platform. trailer <]/Prev 478482>> startxref 0 %%EOF 170 0 obj <>stream FTS is a special case of GSD which aims to achieve a 100% workday in software projects. When a task is handed off from one engineer to another, there is an up-to-date, accurate architecture diagram to work from.. HubSpot uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our relevant content, products, and services. There was a 30 and 60 minutes overlap between locations to enable the daily handover of tasks. Documenting how many resources are available every month at the start of a new project will help your team determine accurate timelines and avoid team member burnout. This project involved five global teams distributed across five different countries. There exist several case and field studies over the years, which resulted in challenges and best practices of FTS. IEEE, 2009. HVKn0Hi[dh;>~K@ HhD^ @)+{J:=,q&U^yZVf|7Gv1$[l3/ S 29= 25~xZOFXO_/Y 9vO,sI:bqgj-1`tIfZ{L#D9t5@R\B/PN=@7c8@T5jF/0'?daCE]7K'e%JtQSe,86^8Gv8[G@2S7 ^fH!7x%7Zo>.Wckhb|j\p{>K"N{cn; [9] Rini van Solingen and Menno Valkema. Organize the data by cloud, region, compute instance, and more., Having this tool in your arsenal transforms project management and puts you in a better position to respond to security risks and downtime., Every piece of your infrastructure is laid out right in front of you, and you can easily filter diagrams based on the task at hand, removing unnecessary details, and even @mentioned specific users to direct them to the specific part of infrastructure that needs action to be taken. Slide 1 of 2. Formal systems such as discussion forums or internal Wiki sites may prove to be useful. With this intuitive, cloud-based solution, everyone can work visually and collaborate in real time while building flowcharts, mockups, UML diagrams, and more. 0000013630 00000 n 0000007912 00000 n Overall it was found that increasing the number of sites in a daily cycle increased the working speed. Do we get enough tickets from each timezone to support a customer service agent. The main goal with implementing a follow the sun support model is that people in one location don't receive preferential support. Follow the Sun is a support model which works best for service desks that work around the clock, i.e 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. HWY1S%lI^t#ByFwOC+aPvrsjL Because of these reasons FTS is best suited for Agile. These difficulties prove that a systematic approach is needed in achieving a quick time-to-market strategy, which in turn leads to the Follow the Sun software development scheme. 0000001156 00000 n 0000002728 00000 n Free and premium plans, Content management software. Agile seems to be the best and most suitable for FTS based approaches because the principles of Agile anf FTS complement each other. Production sites involved in the software development are many time zones apart. 0000063228 00000 n Project collaboration becomes immensely easier when the status of each task (and the progress made on the task) is clearly documented. If you dont have international offices, create a plan that uses staggered start times to cover the time zones you are focusing on. There is also research that studied the impact of the number of sites on working speed and accuracy in Follow-the-Sun software development [9]. Within the FTS approach, one of the teams always plays a leading role, being responsible for strategic planning, quality assessment and much more. Lucidscale connects to major cloud sources like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to pull in data automatically. -- Created using PowToon -- Free sign up at http://www.powtoon.com/ . Are the majority simple, transactional issues like password changes and processing returns, or are they more complex technical issues requiring more resources? 128 0 obj <> endobj xref 128 43 0000000016 00000 n 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Plus, with a follow the sun model established, your company will be better prepared to support customers around the world, allowing your business to branch into new markets. The organization which we are using in our example has offices spread worldwide and the Follow the Sun support model works wonderfully well for it. The handoff process can become the weakest point in your model due to technical, cultural, and communication style differences across each team., This is where Lucid can really help you shine. The follow the sun model is a service and support method that is designed to address and satisfy customer needs without regard to geographic location or current time. Sorry something went wrong, try again later? The traditional "follow the sun" model is a type of global workflow in which issues can be handled by and passed between offices in different time zones, increasing responsiveness and reducing delays. ](Ohg2jFy0tz H`?d/r_@IEPCZGr H You most likely wont need to open multiple offices, especially at first, but perhaps a small remote office or a representative located remotely in a key area or time zone may satisfy your customers needs. Slide 1 of 2. Business and operational support model. Organization . In fact, a study conducted by the CMO Council found that arranging technical assistance and 24/7 accessibility were the top two ways that companies could improve product experience for users.. Communication through emails and Slack with 16+ hour gaps between responses can lead to deployment missteps, security breaches staying open longer, and IT engineers completing redundant work., With a follow the sun model, on the other hand, daily handoffs of projects and tasks build better communication lines between global offices and their network engineers. y&[vx_TsrbV_[tQoMPDv2[%Xq?>R ,&$[f5_vv=EW\p6{`A7ejw@aAs]9#~;.#%hw AVC$+p( This is where FTS potential gains a lot, as is evident in the bottom rows of the table. The method literally follows the sun so work is performed during normal work hours anywhere in the world. Test the plan before implementation to ensure that hand-offs between sites will run smoothly and make tweaks to the processes as needed. [14] Josiane Kroll, Sajid Ibrahim Hashmi, Ita Richardson, and Jorge LN Audy. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. What could shorter department turnaround times mean for what youre trying to achieve globally? 0000063868 00000 n Another group could start at 8:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. to support the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones. This infrastructure must always be available on demand and accessible. It was developed so companies can provide round-the-clock customer service, literally following the sun around the globe. Adopting a follow the sun support methodology can help you provide high-quality, on-time service and support when your internal and external customers need you.. 7. FTS feasibility study: In 2013 there was a feasibility study of FTS in the industry [18]. It is defined as the percentage of all of the calendar time (e.g., 24 * 7 = 168 hours available per week) that is used productively for work, so, a 40-hour workweek utilizes 23.8 percent of the calendar workweek, showing that there is a lot of room for calendar efficiency improvement. As someone who has been working with the top 100 pharma companies, I know that preparation and planning are key. Free and premium plans. 5 are applied in practice. Do you want to provide complete 24-hour service? The top three best practices that were found in research are agile methods, the use of technology for knowledge sharing (e.g. In reality, setting up a Help Center doesnt have to be a monumental task, and by offering community forums, you can give your customers the chance to help each other. A detailed analysis needs to be done in order to understand the advantages to be gained in time.

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