And that's where the follow the sun customer support model comes in. Read on to learn what a follow the sun model is and how to implement it at your company. 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. The table in Fig. Another consideration is the way you use technology. Organization Support: Role Communications Manager (CM) Description Coordinates emergency communication strategy across teams: customer success, marketing, legal, etc. Beside this benefit, there are also other advantages as well which can be found on Fig. In Agile Conference, 2005. For some, it may make more sense to have people in the office rather than working from home to expand and grow without opening an office first. Organization . In other words, Follow the Sun is a 24/7 customer support approach for local and international clients. Additionally, if you have a site for each area around the sun, in different timezones, you'll be able to acquire more leads in that location because you'll be delighting your customers with consistent service. 42nd Hawaii International Conference on. But these steps will add to the increase in cost due to burnout and fatigue [2]. Are you able to provide 24-hour service at this time? Figure 6: Five essentials for applying the FTS model in practice. Selecting locations for follow-the-sun software development: Towards a routing model. 4KKq#VPd)M(*=X i d`rdadcNaVdnep!!!!|F_f0b Slide 1 of 2. Start small so that you dont overpromise what you can actually deliver. It is quite possible that hundreds of software developers and testers can be working on a project in cycles. 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. The FTS approach utilizes distributed team members spread across time-zones to achieve a single project outcome with the main objective of gaining speed and reducing the time-to-market of a project [13]. The handoffs can be applied to any software development task. 0000013868 00000 n 0000066494 00000 n ITSM Support Model ITSM is built on the core belief that IT is a concept that needs to be delivered as a service. Some other day to day tasks enabled by software include logging time spent by developers, issue tracking, real time reporting, code reviews, and documentation. Please reload the page and try again, or you can contact Zendesk for support. Although these regions share the English language, there were cultural differences, for example, one culture has more emphasis on self-sufficiency; therefore they tend not to ask for help when problems come up. 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. uyLY@= Are the majority simple, transactional issues like password changes and processing returns, or are they more complex technical issues requiring more resources? The main criteria to go for FTS is the reduction in the development time or time-to-market. FTS could provide significant benefit in dealing with these aspects. This project involved five global teams distributed across five different countries. Powerpoint is an application developed by Microsoft which allows users to create slides of important information to present. 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]. endstream endobj 134 0 obj <>stream Pearson Education India, 1995. 0000064464 00000 n In Management of Engineering and Technology, Portland International Center for, pages 24582466. The truth is, follow-the-sun support is simply a method meant to satisfy customers, regardless of time or location, and that too can be a reality for even small- to mid-size businesses. The geographically dispersed nature requires the use of software applications which facilitate tele-conferencing, VoIP calling, instant messaging etc. The term calendar efficiency helps in understanding the analysis further. The research focussed on two aspects: the optimal time zone difference and the natural ease of communication (i.e. Quarterly Executive. (2006). Overall it was found that increasing the number of sites in a daily cycle increased the working speed. That means you need global customer service. The "Follow-the-Sun" support model is a structured model that works best for service desks that work around the clock. There exist several case and field studies over the years, which resulted in challenges and best practices of FTS. But it might not, and thats OK; there are other options that allow you to deliver anytime, anywhere service and get global, fastregardless of the size of your company. 8. mobile handsets, firmware, e-commerce systems, and innovative supply chain management). When you use a follow the sun model, round-the-clock IT support is provided by following the sun from time zone to time zone. From our experience, I would like to point out the major ones: Under no circumstances should the FTS model be reduced to the distant custom support team. 0000067044 00000 n In an Agile based methodology, all major development activities (design, code, test and integrate) are carried out in every iteration cycle. Prezi, for example, has teams in two locations: San Francisco and Budapest. In case of any issues with the blog, please contact: guledalprashanth@gmail.com or berd.kreynen@hotmail.com. Modern day software development is spread more and more across national and international boundaries. This workflow model is specifically designed to help address customers' needs without regard to geolocation or time zone. It is commonly used and regarded as the "gold standard" in the field of presentation applications. 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). A novel approach to distributed concurrent software development using a follow-the-sun technique. The "follow-the-sun" model is about providing the support that clients and customers need by way of a global workflow that literally follows the sun. Additionally, it will help you determine the processes you currently use and if your customer support is robust enough -- do you offer email, phone, and live chat support? IBM Software Group Rational softwareRational User Conference 2003 Presentation Overview Changing Times - The trend towards globalisation . Apart from the usual difficulties faced in globally distributed software development, FTS also has the additional challenges of managing daily job hand-offs. In IEEE, 2005. 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. This in turn increases productivity. 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. [13] Alex Cameron. With this intuitive, cloud-based solution, everyone can work visually and collaborate in real time while building flowcharts, mockups, UML diagrams, and more. This infrastructure must always be available on demand and accessible. Follow the sun: distributed extreme programming development. For me, staying connected with clients in every corner of the globe was always important. In order to understand and use FTS, some key principles on which FTS is based are mentioned in this section. 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. Deriving Mutual Benefits from Offshore Outsourcing: The 24-Hour Knowledge Factory Scenario. (2007). We operate a 24/7 global support team. It is also known under different names such as 24 hour development or Round the clock development. Test the plan before implementation to ensure that hand-offs between sites will run smoothly and make tweaks to the processes as needed. The effective utilization of code repositories and version control management systems is crucial to the success of the FTS approach. User interface data decision support system model with arrows and icons. Because it is always daytime somewhere in the world, you need a way to support customers around the globe no matter what time zone they are in and without too much delay. -- Created using PowToon -- Free sign up at http://www.powtoon.com/ . 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. 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. HubSpot uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our relevant content, products, and services. 0000063943 00000 n One such analysis is done using the calendar time [1] available for production. The 24-hour knowledge factory: can it replace the graveyard shift? listed 36 best practices and 17 challenges found in literature [14]. culture and language). These are reactive in nature. 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. By following the sun, the issue is worked on until it is resolved. Focus on those regions first. These questions will help you determine if you have enough tickets coming in from each area in the world and if it's a standard practice to offer 24/7 support. CX is a top priority for financial services providers, and for good reason. 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. Opinions expressed are those of the author. An optimal FTS configuration could raise the calendar efficiency as high as 71.4%. Background, main ideas and principles behind FTS were discussed followed by a brief review on Agile for FTS, advantages and limitations of FTS. Stats around ticket volume by time of day will be your new best friend. Two case studies reported on the application of FTS in software development is elaborated below. But as you grow, you begin to standardize, build out streamlined processes, and build teams. Working normal daylight hours keeps employees happy, healthy, and motivated to work while your company is still able to offer round-the-clock service. We're committed to your privacy. 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. working only during daylight hours. What could shorter department turnaround times mean for what youre trying to achieve globally? Do you know where you fall in industry benchmarking when it comes to customer service? Stand-up meetings: Hold stand-up meetings right when shifts are switching from one site to another, so your employees can give the new reps an overview of what's happened, and any outstanding issues that need to be addressed. To this end, the FTS research needs to be done comprehensively, so that companies start adopting it in real-time projects. 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 . Sure, this could mean 24/7/365. There was a 30 and 60 minutes overlap between locations to enable the daily handover of tasks. Project handoffs are done on a daily basis at the end of each shift. Adding more man power to the project is not of much interest in software development, because of the wisdom gained long ago from the seminal Brooks law adding manpower to a late software project makes it later [3]. The specifics of this model require team managers to have constant control over the workflow because delays may result in the poor coordination of teams. Collocated multishift locations where labour is cheap and software development happens round the clock in eight hour shifts does not fit in this category. Several workflows seem to be using the FTS model, but in reality this is not always the case. 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.. The sun never sets for businesses that rely on remote support, and global support, for customer service. 2008. follow the sun workflow in global software development. What in the world is the "Follow-the-Sun" support model? And due to these restraints, teams may have a tough time truly collaborating. This will help avoid any confusion on who ultimately owns the process., Take stock of all the team members available to maintain your IT architecture. Free and premium plans, Sales CRM software. Slide 1 of 2. Business and operational support model. ppt.gc.ca. Handing off work from site to site balances the workload and makes it easier for you to offer consistent levels of service at all times. 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. 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. Picture this. 0000002691 00000 n Do we get enough tickets from each timezone to support a customer service agent. As well, such expansion can always have a positive impact in terms of brand development and brand promotion. Three important companies which documented their experience is summarized below. We showed that there are three main research themes, namely challenges and best practices, location selection and hand-offs management. Read world-renowned marketing content to help grow your audience, Read best practices and examples of how to sell smarter, Read expert tips on how to build a customer-first organization, Read tips and tutorials on how to build better websites, Get the latest business and tech news in five minutes or less, Learn everything you need to know about HubSpot and our products, Stay on top of the latest marketing trends and tips, Join us as we brainstorm new business ideas based on current market trends. 0000010855 00000 n [11] Siri-on Setamanit, Wayne Wakeland, and David Raffo. This is because work happens almost round the clock, compared to just eight hour efforts in traditional software workflow. 1. This theme is specifically for location selection and the impact of it. December 20, 2021. If communication issues are not addressed they will create significant challenges in FTS adoption. 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..