ICAW4027B Relate to clients on a business level ICAW4027B Relate Clients Business Level

ICAW4027B Relate to clients on a business level
Develops skills and knowledge in the following areas:Understanding the business culture and standards of your service provider organisation.Building and maintaining business relationships with customers.Identifying client support needs.Planning support roles and requirements.Identifying the cost of providing client support services .Negotiating support service costs .Obtaining client feedback to monitor and adjust client support services Topic 1 - Building Business Networks and RelationshipsQ:List at least five ways in which you can create, foster or maintain professional relationships with software or hardware supplier companies and individual developers, consultants and other staff who work for them.A: The following are ways in which you can create, foster or maintain professional relationships with suppliers and developers:. Call the technical or business assistance contacts of your product supplier to find out about their services. Most suppliers now provide such contact information in their brochures and websites. If you ask them, they will probably be happy to discuss in detail the kinds of services they offer. They may be able to discuss the expected responses to the kinds of client and product issues that you may be likely to raise with them in future. You may be able to ask them about how they go about maintaining relationships with other organisations to which they supply products..Attend IT industry conferences to find out about current and future issues and new product developments. Use these conferences as opportunities to meet people from product supplier companies, to identify the role of yourself and your support organisation and to explain to these suppliers any user issues of which you are aware. Also develop personal contacts and working relationships with these people. Note: Even if it eventuates that the knowledge and contacts which you gain at these conferences is never needed in your particular support work, such professional relationships may become an avenue for future employment, career development or commercial business opportunities..Network with the wider industry in which your clients conduct business. If you support a particular kind of application, you might attend conferences, educational programs and other functions in that particular industry. Someone who supports financial accounting software may attend accounting conferences to meet with both accounting people and IT people operating in that industry. Many people who provide IT services in the financial markets industry, eg stock-broking, financial futures trading, insurance, superannuation and treasury operations, take part in finance industry education programs to learn about the legal compliance requirements applying to their IT systems and to make contact with industry regulators. Take part in product reviews, technical updates and training programs offered by particular product suppliers. Many product suppliers seek to promote their products and network with industry practitioners through such offerings. Examples are SAP accounting software, who offers a regular national conference on its products and consulting services, the Microsoft technical certification program for developers and support staff and many other large and small suppliers.. Maintain contact with other students at your IT education institution or college after your graduation. Regularly exchange information regarding technical developments, user issues and service industry ideas with them (within the limits of business confidentiality) and between the product development organisations and support service organisations, in which you may each be employed.. Look for ' partners' grouped around the products and applications with which you are involved. Many organisations operate as partners or intermediaries between major application developers and their clients. The partner's role being to maintain close service relationships with the clients so that they continue to be interested in the developer's range of products. For example, most branded software firms, eg major web browsers and major accounting software, maintain a network of re-sellers who are committed to retailing that particular brand of software, providing pre-sale IT consulting and post-sale support, plus other types of IT and non-IT services. They also promote an ongoing relationship with that brand. Small IT firms may also band together into formal or informal partnerships to offer clients a range of related specialty services, such as IT needs analysis, hardware networks, customised application development, project management, design of web page content and strategic business planning. This integration of related products and services from separate providers is called channeling. Useful relationships and sources of expertise can be cultivated by associating with organisations through such partnerships. For examples of corporations offering 'partnerships', look at these sites: Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com), IBM business applications (http://www.ibm.com) and SAP business applications http://wwwSAP.com). Topic 2 - Planning to Meet Client Requirements Q1:Make a list of five questions which you would ask a client in order to understand their general business activities and identify their IT needs. Include support needsA: There are some example of question following:.What does the client organisation do? What are its general business circumstances? .Who are their customers? How do they communicate with them? What exactly are they expected to deliver to their customers? What are not to deliver?.In what specific types of activities are they involved? How much? How often? Which staff are involved? . How critical in terms of timing are these activities?.What processes lead into other processes? What are the dependencies? . What happens if they do not coordinate? .What back-up practices and quality assurance practices are employed in their business activities?.What computer systems do they need to perform their job?.Is there an IT strategic business plan, resourcing plan or other relevant corporate planning that defines / directs / constrains the current state and the future directions of the organisation's IT systems and activities?.What hardware? What applications? What are the inputs and outputs of this IT system.How long can they continue doing business if their systems are not working?.Who is responsible for the IT system? Should a system administrator with views on what type of support be delivered by you? Are they part of the client organisation's strategic business planning and budgeting team? .How much money will they lose if their systems are not working?.How many support requests does the client make now, per day and per month? .What times during the day do they make the calls? For example, do they make the majority of calls between 9am and 5pm? .What matters are raised in these calls? For example, hardware configuration, software configuration, training needs, network breakdowns, data losses or higher level needs like detailed technical advice and consulting services? .How urgent are these support requests? How do the responses to these requests impact the client's business? (Helpful or not helpful? Short term solutions or long term solutions to the client's issues?) .Are the support and other IT issues interrupting the client's normal business operations? Is e-mail not working or is the network down. Or do users have critical gaps in their training? How much is the client organisation spending / willing to spend on support services per month?Q2: Make a list of five questions which you would ask yourself, as client support officer, in order to double check that you have done a sufficiently thorough analysis of the client's needs.A: There are some example of question following:.What happens if the information about products or services which your client requests is not available either before or after installation? Have you specified and documented these information gaps and how they will affect the client?.Is the list of client requirements complete, in the sense that if your recommended or specified product / service satisfies every documented user requirement, it will be acceptable to the user? What undocumented requirements could be potentially identified later? And, what would be the impact on the client if these unexpected requirements are not satisfied?.Are the client requirements written in user friendly language? Do the users think so?.Does each client requirement for products and support services avoid conflicts with other client requirements? If not, is this conflict specified / quantified?.Are the client requirements for products and support services at a fairly consistent level of detail? Should any requirement be specified in more detail? Should any requirement be specified in less detail?.Are the client requirements clear enough to be turned over to and understood by an independent group for installation of a product or provision of a support service?Is each documented item relevant to a client's issue / problem and its associated solution? Can each documented item be traced to its origin in the client issue / problem environmentQ3: Make a list of five questions which you would ask the client in order to double check that they are satisfied with the way that you have conducted your analysis of their needs.A: There are some example of question following:.Did the client support staff accurately determine your requirements? Let the client see your written analysis..Did the analyst or client support staff listen to and accurately reflect your explanation of how your job operates, what the tasks and deliverables of your job are, how they relate to the key business outcomes of your organisation and how you interact with other people and tasks in your organisation?.Did the client support staff listen to and repeat your client requirements for IT products and support services to ensure that they understood them and your organisational situation?.Did the client support staff adequately explain how and when your IT products and support services would be delivered?.Was the analyst or client support officer, with whom you dealt, knowledgeable about your IT systems and any other relevant aspects of your work?.Are products and support services being delivered in the time-frame and scope as specified by your contract or service level agreement?.Did you receive all of the user documentation that was agreed?.Was the documentation legible and easy to apply in operational situations?.Where you offered any manual or on-line documentation? If so, was it useful?.Where you offered any training? If so, was it useful? What further training to you think is needed?.Did you attend the training that was offered to you? If not, please indicate why not?.Did the documentation address all of your needs? Does it cover all the areas of your work?Topic 3 - Negotiating Client Support Service Costs Q: Negotiations skills are involved in the arranging for the provision of regular support services from an organisation's internal IT services unit and for the obtaining of support for specific user problems when they arise each day.Five general or specific IT support needs which a client would want fulfilled by the support provider include:.response to a problem within a set time.provision of support at a reasonable cost.provision of adequate resources for support services to function adequately.professional manners, technical knowledge and service skills.services which are appropriate to the functionalities of the applications being operated by the user.Five general or specific needs which the IT support provider would want users to fulfil include:.patience during times of heavy demand for support services.acceptance that the delivery of services will be completed within a pre-agreed timeframe and cost.clear communication of the user's needs to the support staff .clear communication to the support staff as to what the user thinks of the quality and effectiveness of the support services.attendance in training which offers users knowledge and skills on ways to minimise their dependence on the support staff.Can you list additional needs for both the support provider and users?A: Possible general or specific IT support needs which a client would wish to have fulfilled by the support provider:.respond to a problem within a set time.provide support at a reasonable cost.provide adequate resources for support services to function adequatelybe professional in manner, technical knowledge and service skills.provide services which are appropriate to the functionalities of the applications being operated by the user.Possible general or specific needs which the IT support provider would wish the users to fulfil:.be patient during times of heavy demand for support services.accept communicate clearly to the support staff what the user's needs arethe delivery of services within a pre-agreed timeframe and cost.communicate clearly to the support staff what the user thinks of the quality and effectiveness of the support services.attend the training which is offered to users to minimise their dependence on the support staff.Topic 4 - Maintaining a Focus on ClientsQ: Assume that in response to an analysis of a client's needs, you have installed a new software package at the workstations of the end users and you have provided training, user manuals and help desk services in relation to the new software. Your task is compile a questionnaire listing at least ten questions, which you could put to an end user to assess whether the installation has been successful. In this, assess whether the new software is being used effectively in the client's business activities and the client is satisfied with your support services.A: There are some example of question following:1. Did you attend the training sessions which were offered prior to your new application being installed? If not, why not?.2. Did you feel you benefited from the training? If not, why not?3. What was the best aspect of the training you received?4. What was the worst aspect of the training you received?5. Did you read the user manual provided during the training? If not, why not?6. Do you still have your user manual ready to refer to when using your new software?7. How long after the installation occurred did you start using the new software?8. Approximately how many times have you used the new software since installation occurred?9. Do you currently use the new software? If not, why not?10. Have you needed to contact the IT support unit to query any aspect of the new software or seek assistance with using it? Please briefly state the nature of this call.11. Were your calls to the IT support unit regarding any queries or problems with the new software dealt with to your satisfaction?12. Were you dissatisfied with the assistance provided by the IT support unit for any problems or queries with the new software? Please briefly state the nature of your query and in what way it was not dealt with to your satisfaction.13. Have you needed to contact the IT support unit for assistance with the new software on more than one occasion? Please briefly state the nature of these problems or queries.14. How long did it take for the IT support unit to respond to any problems or queries you have had with the new software?15. Do you currently have any problems or queries with the new software which have not been dealt with by the IT support unit or other parts of the organisation?16. Do you find the new software useful in your work? Please briefly state for what organisational purposes and business activities you used the software.17. Would you prefer to have a different type of software, ie different functionalities, to use in your work? Please state briefly why / why not.18. Would you prefer a different version or brand of this software application in your work? Please state any you prefer.19. Are there any features of this new software which you do not understand? Please indicate which ones.20. Are there any IT features or functionalities which you would find useful in your work but which are not present in your new software? Please state what kinds of features or functions you would like to have.Thank you for competing this questionnaire. The IT support unit will provide you with a similar questionnaire to this one in six months from now so that we can optimise our services to you. You may also be contacted in person before that time by a support officer to discuss your individual needs. In addition, please free to contact us at any time to discuss any needs or queries you may have. Jane, Andrew and Mary are available 8am to 6pm on XXXX XXXX - We are here to help support you.GlossoryActive Listening: The process of responding in physical and verbal ways to whatyou hear in order to indicate that you are listening carefully and understanding what the other person is saying. This term therefore covers not only the act of hearing but also the use of positive gestures/facial expressions and the asking of questions, which reflect what the other person has said to you. For example, you might ask a client "How quickly do you think you need support to be provided when a problem occurs?" It could be followed by: "So what you are saying is that you need support services to be provided within one hour of a support call or your business will suffer. Is that correct?" Body language: The use of facial expressions, hand gestures and orientation of the body to communicate your attitude (often unintentionally).Budget: The ordered and predictable allocation of the organisation's available funds, in the present and in the future, to purchase any necessary goods and services for its operations, to pay the salaries of staff, and to invest in the development of the organisation's structure, activities and its personnel.Business culture: The general set of qualities embodied by the working practices of an organisation. This includes attitudes, values, ethics (principles of behaviour), actual standards of behaviour, standards of quality in service and manufacturing, the formal organisational structure and management hierarchy, performance management, reward practices and the particular style of conducting relationships between employees, management, business partners, clients and other stakeholders with why. Client/Customer: Someone who comes to you for your professional services. Customer satisfaction survey: A survey of customers (management and end users) who ask specific and non-specific questions about how well the customer's needs have been met by a product or service, how well their business outcomes have been facilitated, the customer's view about how well the provider has managed the specific relationship with them, and the customer's attitude to how the relationship should develop in future. Surveys may take the form of questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, physical and electronic monitoring of a user's business activities. They seek to understand how well the organisation is facilitated by the IT products and services. They assess the quality and effectiveness of support call conversations.Contract: A legally binding agreement made between two parties, to define the obligations and rights on each party. Contracts are usually created in written form, but may also exist as verbal agreements. Or, they may be implicit in the behaviour of two parties without any specific agreement having been spoken or written (eg when you are buying a bus ticket you are contracting with the bus service to be safely transported as far as your desired bus stop). In this module, contractual arrangements refer particularly to the legally binding rights and obligations which exist between a service provider and its client.Contract: A legally binding agreement made between two parties, to define the obligations and rights on each party. Contracts are usually created in written form, but may also exist as verbal agreements. Or, they may be implicit in the behaviour of two parties without any specific agreement having been spoken or written (eg when you are buying a bus ticket you are contracting with the bus service to be safely transported as far as your desired bus stop). In this module, contractual arrangements refer particularly to the legally binding rights and obligations which exist between a service provider and its client.Customer Relationship Management (CRM): The process of integrating all of the provider organisation's operational processes and procedures, human culture, strategic planning, policy development and technological facilities to maximise the outcomes for the provider's primary stakeholders (ie its clients), and to establish itself as a successful and reputable provider of products and services.Escalation: The procedures for making appropriate decisions about when to seek more experienced, knowledgeable or extensive help to deal with an IT problem or issue, which is beyond the skills or resources of an IT support officer or their unit. This is the process of bringing in the necessary additional people and resources to support those circumstances.Ethics: The behaviours, attitudes, duties and actions which an individual is expected to engage in whilst operating in a professional relationship environment or in any circumstance of trust. Typical ethical attributes which a professional is expected to adhere to are honesty, trustworthiness, diligence in the completion of skilled or knowledgeable work, diligence in serving a client according to the best interests of that client (rather than the provider's interest), and maintaining a professional standard of competence in technical knowledge, organisational procedures and legal obligations.Functionalities: The features of a hardware or software application and the specific tasks which they are able to perform for a user. For example, in a word processing application, the general functionalities would include text editing, formatting, graphic insertions, creation of macros, spelling and grammar checks.Infrastructure: The tangible IT hardware, office equipment, accommodation, communications, networks and the manufacturing, distribution and sales-related equipment which an organisation requires in order to carryout its operations. It can also be argued that infrastructure includes non-tangible assets like softwareStakeholder: A person or group of people or organisation who have a concern or an interest in a particular issue or outcome (often referred to as one of the "players" in the issue or set off issues being handled). The key to good policy development is to manage and fulfil as far as possible the needs, expectations and outcomes of all the stakeholders who have an interest in the issueStrategic planning: The process of identifying the broad business direction and goals which an organisation will follow, the main business issues which it expects that it will encounter in the near future and in the longer term, and the general approaches which it will implement in order to deal with those issues. It also includes its predictions for how successful it is likely to be in the ongoing achievement of its business goals.