Benefits of the Follow-the-Sun model for Technical Support

When working with a complex product which is deployed globally, it makes sense to consider the feasibility of utilizing a Follow-the-Sun model for Technical Support.  Technical Support is the team that works escalated customer issues, those issues not easily solved by Level 1.  Level 1 teams tend to be established in the country or region where major product growth occurs.  Tech Support teams tend to remain co-located with the product development teams.  While product footprint grows, the afterhours demand for Tech Support begins to increase.   It is important to watch the ‘inbound call volume’ and ‘time to restore’ metrics.  The Engineer on-call solution might have to become an Engineer on-duty solution.

I have managed ‘engineer on-call’ and ’engineer on-duty’ solutions.  They work great for the short term but don’t scale well as the global product footprint grows.  It becomes even more complicated if through acquisitions, there are geographically separated product development teams, each working on different products in your company’s portfolio, each with its own Level 2 and Level 3 teams. 

By creating one or two regional Tech Support office locations; co-located in existing sales offices in Asia and Eastern Europe for example, you can replace all US based overnight solutions with just one or two small teams.  Each Tech Support team location, US based, Asia, and Europe would work during their respective daytime hours to support all requests globally requiring product specialists.

I have had great success implementing Follow-the-Sun and ensuring Technical Support competency at remote locations.  There are many important considerations but with proper attention, the FTS support model can ensure that your Technical Support solution is World Class and continues to be World Class as your company grows. 

Advantages include:

                Reduced cost by consolidating all afterhours Tech support

                Reduced ‘time to restore’ metrics

                Reduced employee turnover due to shift work

                Creates the best contingency plan for handling US based Tech Support facility shutdowns