Let's review the diagram below. Free and premium plans, Sales CRM software. 0000067044 00000 n 0000001891 00000 n [14] Josiane Kroll, Sajid Ibrahim Hashmi, Ita Richardson, and Jorge LN Audy. Tools for estimating and planning schedules, allocation of project tasks, sprint management, progress tracking are essential utilities for front line managers. Is a follow the sun model right for your IT and cloud teams? I am talking about the follow-the-sun model, or FTS for short. Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. Presenting support model PPT slide template. In order to understand and use FTS, some key principles on which FTS is based are mentioned in this section. 0000001156 00000 n Then, use a calendar to map out how many employees will work each shift in each time zone and how many hours are worked each week all together. 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. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door., I said, 'Hey, the sign says you're open 24 hours. 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. This means that efficiency in task hand-off is of paramount importance to the success of the FTS approach. Selecting locations for follow-the-sun software development: Towards a routing model. You can turn light-speed production and service delivery into one of the signature advantages of your brand. How do companies similar to your own handle support? Agile stresses on the importance of automated testing to reduce time. If possible, these meetings could be conducted during the hand-off so that the team can better communicate and share knowledge with each other. follow the sun model - French translation - Linguee We operate a 24/7 global support team - Microsoft Community A handoff from one site to the other can be occasionally empty due to public holidays or emergencies. If your team is still in the lean, jumping phase, you might not be ready to offer global support. One shortcoming of this article is that we have only investigated the effect of FTS on speed, not on the product quality because of lack of suitable documented references. Cameron [13] highlights the example of FTS application at EDS (now a part of HP). Three categories of challenges were found, namely challenges in coordination (e.g. 128 0 obj <> endobj xref 128 43 0000000016 00000 n Picture this. PjYIh$ 3lKPt[?7\p rNt[n@rS +@G9z|t- ]P$>(h)tQ c5+${._~;i$ X~,h XOjcL^W? The first one involved a software development project consisting of teams in the United States and Australia and met with high degree of success. Establish goals: Define your goals around your customer's needs in each location you service. A subteam can consist of one or more members. With Lucidscale, you have a single source of truth for every project, feature, and bug being worked on by IT engineers. The constant workflow increases response time and reduces time to market. As described by Carmel [1], the agile methodology is best suited for FTS. IEEE, 2009. Kroll et al. [4] AGupta, Amar. If a system goes down or a major bug cripples workflows, employee productivity and customer experiences can plummet quickly., More than ever, customers expect instant action and response when they experience a technical problem with a product theyre using. 0000002728 00000 n 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. Free and premium plans, Customer service software. What could shorter department turnaround times mean for what youre trying to achieve globally? Most agile practices emphasize face-to-face communication. For example, our customer and partner Zuora offers 24/7/365 support coverage. Figure 1: Follow the Sun approach follows a 24h task hand-off based approach to software development. Another documented case of FTS application was by Infosys [20] in 2005 where FTS was applied to small subsets of the project cycle. 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. Because of the hand-offs, work is owned by and worked on by one site at a time. Federal Republic of Germany, 2017. Note that it will only suit some business models. 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. IT architecture and the people who program and maintain the architecture can make or break a companys daily operations, particularly for companies with a global presence. 1 gives the relevant facts regarding various working schemes. What Is Follow-the-Sun and Why Should You Care? 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. 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. Your plan needs to include specific roles, processes, and training necessary to meet customer expectations. FTS feasibility study: In 2013 there was a feasibility study of FTS in the industry [18]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. For more information, check out our. FTS has many challenges associated with it and it also faces same challenges of GSD as it is a part of GSD. [9] Rini van Solingen and Menno Valkema. With this intuitive, cloud-based solution, everyone can work visually and collaborate in real time while building flowcharts, mockups, UML diagrams, and more. 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. Fourth IEEE International Conference Global business processes such as call centres or help desks are not counted under the FTS umbrella. Based on the discussions in the Principles of FTS section which explains the minimum criteria for a work flow to be considered as a FTS approach, the following do not fit in this category [1]: Agile software development practice consists of a set of principles which advocate continuous improvement, adaptive planning, early delivery and flexibility in responding to change. In Global Software Engineering Workshops (ICGSEW), 2013 IEEE 8th International Conference on, pages 1823. 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. So how can companies of different sizes utilize that to their advantage? Companies large and small are able to provide 24-hour service without putting the burden on one site and requiring employees to work late shifts or overtime. Modes of communication in FTS approach may be asynchronous or synchronous. 0000069194 00000 n Are you able to provide 24-hour service at this time? 0000007912 00000 n Do I qualify? Free and premium plans. Your team needs to deploy a brand-new, process-defining software to all the computers and devices on your companys networks. [8] Christian Doerr. FTS is a special case of GSD which aims to achieve a 100% workday in software projects. Please select this checkbox if you do not wish to receive marketing communications from Zendesk. A follow the sun model can help your organization provide 24/7/365 support to customers across the globe, regardless of time or location. 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. The purpose of this article was to present a comprehensive study on the FTS model for software development. However, if the communication within the system is poor, it may also end up in chaos, production delays and sufficient losses for the company. 0000068561 00000 n WDSGlobal case study: In 2004 a study conducted within the company of WDSGlobal reported the following list of what worked in FTS software development (when doing Extreme Programming) [7]: The study reported the following lessons that were learned: The study involved teams from the USA, UK and Singapore. Follow-the-Sun Strategy: A Process for Global Software Development Open Scholars support emerging Open Learning alternatives<br />In-Class Support in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania! User interface data decision support system model with arrows and icons. The truth is, follow-the-sun support is simply a method meant to satisfy customersregardless of time or location. Follow the Sun (FTS), a sub-field of globally distributed software engineering (GDSE), is a type of global knowledge workflow designed in order to reduce the time to market, in which the knowledge product is owned and advanced by a production site in one time zone and handed off at the end of their work day to the next production site that is 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. It is commonly used and regarded as the "gold standard" in the field of presentation applications. Tiered support model with queries and system administrators. 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. Background, main ideas and principles behind FTS were discussed followed by a brief review on Agile for FTS, advantages and limitations of FTS. 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. 1. 0000065843 00000 n Based on these observations and the results presented in literature, it can be said that FTS approach is not widely used in practice because of its limitations and challenges. It is quite possible that hundreds of software developers and testers can be working on a project in cycles. %PDF-1.7 % But other companies may determine that they can meet their global support needs with other tactics. In traditional software development, global teams are less dependent on one another and usually do not pass on the work (hand-off). Follow the Sun is a customer support method that focuses on providing consistent customer support without regard for geographic location or time restraints. ICGSE 2009. Agile methodologies fit well with follow the sun models because all work is completed within set iteration cycles. follow the sun workflow in global software development. ppt.gc.ca. The efficiency of the number of hours per day spent on actual development is much higher in the FTS model when compared with traditional software development [1]. That means customers requests and communications are coming in quickly and oftenand these businesses must meet that demand. 3 levels of support delivery model. Ultimately, this means better customer service and improved customer experiences. If not, determine what you are able to provide customers right now as you work toward your long-term 24-hour service. Some key assumptions in deriving the above principles are listed below: Follow the sun approach involves daily handoff of the work which suggests that there will be some reduction in the project duration. What is the Follow the Sun Customer Support Model? But as you grow, you begin to standardize, build out streamlined processes, and build teams. They meet their global support goals by working together, providing a combined 18 hours a day of coverage. The major benefit is the development duration or the potential in reducing the time-to-market. 'r( bU:nL,/C^=E#$c;kNaw ] ^6JaI-~5%)IScN8D!MZl1?/*8(Y 7 3go>".X@`kDe!K One key benefit of a follow the sun model is high uptime. Multiple teams may be working on the product over a certain amount of time, but one defined team is responsible for overseeing the process from start to finish. 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. hb```b``b`2^21 Pc3HbL=6(TMA`2 DeI&6P)be7fLS;X|Oim5kQT,.Fj=,gwK,7# According to Carmel [1], FTS has challenges such as coordination barriers, cultural differences, and communication difficulties depicted in Fig. VX8pt@I:4QLBfbjT,m}66 One of the important concepts evolved in the past decade or so is the " Follow the sun " (FTS) software development. Positive messages from current users make selling to new customers much easier, and if you can deliver consistent service around the clock and delight your customers, positive feedback is sure to come your companys way. As well, such expansion can always have a positive impact in terms of brand development and brand promotion. 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). By submitting my personal information, I consent to Zendesk collecting, processing, and storing my information in accordance with the, By submitting my personal data, I consent to Zendesk collecting, processing, and storing my information in accordance with the, The value of agent education and training during economic slowdowns, What is employee turnover? Network Security in Theory and Practice. No one prepared us for the pandemic, but it changed the world and how we look at work tremendously. Entertaining and motivating original stories to help move your visions forward. The result was that the project was completed in 5.5 weeks, while it was estimated to be completed in 6 weeks in non-FTS mode, so it reduced time. Journal of Management Information Systems, 27(1):17-38, 2010. 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. Their teams are based in Honduras, Romania and the Philippines. 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. Because they have sites spread across the world, companies using the follow the sun model will find it difficult for everybody to be in the same room at the same time. 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. This research [15] introduced a routing model, which supports the selection of geographical locations for Follow-the-Sun software development. 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. 0000002842 00000 n 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. Another culture would not offer their help unless they were asked while the third considered that presenting the problem was a sufficient invitation for willing team members to jump in and help. The implementation of FTS, if not practiced correctly, may result in failures and projects going over budget [10]. The iteration period lasts for a short time period (between two to four weeks). Because of its uncommon nature, FTS is also least practiced in the industry and has very few documented examples of success. December 20, 2021. FtVz:-zn>\M~J/CeTb{POj"}"yX-hD]0)u&Z?C4SX0;53mHp 8Q[M#A.l{ GrhhXE3rVY)^a. + endstream endobj 135 0 obj <>stream Though the teams faced initial setbacks due to cultural differences and technical glitches, by re-orienting their thinking they could successfully implement agile practices across all locations on a single working codebase. Hand-offs are the central idea of the FTS approach. Employees hand off work at the end of each shift to the next site that is beginning a new shift several time zones to the west. Self-service is often the best place to start when building out global support, but some companies overlook self-service because it feels like there arent enough resources to build out a nice-looking repository of help articles. It may take more time than anticipated to ask questions and receive answers. They meet their global support goals with these two teams working together, giving them 18 hours a day of coverage without having to staff up aggressively. Companies large and small are able to provide 24-hour service without putting the burden on one site and requiring employees to work late shifts or overtime. Although this seems like such an intuitive idea to work with, it is not practiced widely, misunderstood often and has had few documented industry success cases. 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. Others, such as Gupta [5], also make similar observations and propose that FTS is very well suited to support core agile practices. Zuora also employs a daily handoff model, in which open and pending matters are passed along to the next team when one goes off duty. She is a leading digital transformation evangelist for the pharma and life sciences industries. Our offerings for Salesforce include the same 24x7x365, follow-the-sun support with a guaranteed response of under 10-minutes for P1 critical issue . ). 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. That means you need global customer service. For example, you may need skilled bilingual managers and associates to help with international communications. Follow the sun is also used by software development teams that are spread out across global sites. 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. 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.. Project collaboration becomes immensely easier when the status of each task (and the progress made on the task) is clearly documented. 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. 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. Please reload the page and try again, or you can contact Zendesk for support. This is a highly collaborative, communicative approach to customer service, and it's a delicate line to balance. 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. Each production site works during the day as a subteam and it needs within-site coordination. Collocated multishift locations where labour is cheap and software development happens round the clock in eight hour shifts does not fit in this category. The war in Ukraine also impacted us personally. In any case, one thing is clear: To provide the highest level of customer service, your support team must decide when to be available. On-Call and Incident Response: Lessons for Success | New Relic At any given time only one team owns the product unlike other global configurations in which multiple locations can own different parts of the product. Some other day to day tasks enabled by software include logging time spent by developers, issue tracking, real time reporting, code reviews, and documentation. You will want to standardize on the technology and tools you use to support your agile methodologies and implement, monitor, revise, and manage your follow the sun model. The number of sites had only a small impact on the accuracy. But not every industry really requires that. Well explain how to calculate and reduce turnover in your organization. However, it may be one of the most potent benefits for your business. 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. 0000002691 00000 n The top three best practices that were found in research are agile methods, the use of technology for knowledge sharing (e.g. [13] Alex Cameron. However, one slight difference is that Agile stresses on face to face communication, whereas in FTS inter-site communication between production sites is maintained at the bare minimum by using automated tools. 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. FTS could provide significant benefit in dealing with these aspects. If the workdays among satellite offices overlap, work can be passed from an office that is shutting down for the day to an office that is still open or just starting its day. 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. They also need to train employees on how to use the software and then respond to any service tickets upon deployment. The second case study involved three distinct projects with development sites in the United States and India, and met with drastic failure. We have showed earlier that using the concept of calendar efficiency, FTS gives lot of room for decreasing the development time. Within the FTS approach, one of the teams always plays a leading role, being responsible for strategic planning, quality assessment and much more. By staggering their support personnel start times across these key time zones, they are able to meet the service level-agreements theyve set for their customers. In Management of Engineering and Technology, Portland International Center for, pages 24582466. A survey of major approaches for accelerating new product development. Research concluded that nine aspects of management are important for improving hand-offs efficiency [16]: improving communication quality, ensure knowledge transfer between team members and production sites, management of hand-offs information, developing teams trust before and along the project, ensure compliance of deadlines, establishing time rules, providing proper technology and tools, delegating responsibility and coordination of task allocation. Knowledge transfer and sharing of project critical information with concerned parties is essential for smooth operation of the project. 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. The initiative was unsuccessful, and the project was ultimately implemented using only the essential principles of global software development. F9,Y%9Q@o:B"w7Fy||:R_q};gxJ2#'S2"8S$I(y'_`}WHw6(iEM:+9%Wl )ThVXNo"iN U=v f4. On-Call Rotations and Schedules | Articles | PagerDuty Understand and optimize your cloud infrastructure today with Lucidscale. trailer <]/Prev 478482>> startxref 0 %%EOF 170 0 obj <>stream 0000063228 00000 n Support Model - Slide Team Employee turnover is the number of workers leaving your business at any given timeincluding voluntary and involuntary exits. ](Ohg2jFy0tz H`?d/r_@IEPCZGr H Linear sequential approaches such as the Waterfall model seem to be inefficient for the FTS approach. Try another search, and we'll give it our best shot. In Another group could start at 8:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. to support the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones. Hence it is important to select a software development methodology which extends over the entire software development cycle and satisfies the special needs of daily hand-offs. 0000065007 00000 n 0000066494 00000 n Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. "Follow the Sun" Service Desk Model - Abhinav PMP The main criteria to go for FTS is the reduction in the development time or time-to-market. Managing and continuing recruiting and growing regionally helped implement the FTS model for all departments and reinforced the ability to provide top-notch customer service. Follow the Sun: Introduction (1 of 3) - SlideServe Organization Support: Role Communications Manager (CM) Description Coordinates emergency communication strategy across teams: customer success, marketing, legal, etc. 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.. mobile handsets, firmware, e-commerce systems, and innovative supply chain management). A clear path will help your troubleshooting teams and engineers coordinate and get to the bottom of the issue faster., Mastering the handoff process (moving project tasks from one team to the next) is probably the hardest, but most crucial, element of successfully implementing a follow the sun model. Its hard to fill swing or overnight shifts. If your teams are separated by 12 hours, no time is perfect to schedule regular meetingsno matter when the meetings are scheduled, one of the sites will be outside of regular business hours. To fulfil this need, most firms try various strategies such as working overtime, skipping steps and setting aggressive deadlines. Powerpoint is an application developed by Microsoft which allows users to create slides of important information to present. Following the sun: Case studies in global software development. IBM Systems Journal 45.4 (2006): 773-783. Are the majority simple, transactional issues like password changes and processing returns, or are they more complex technical issues requiring more resources? A research carried out by Yap [7], a globally distributed software project team (UK, USA, and Singapore), followed the FTS approach under the Extreme Programming (XP) model (an Agile methodology 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. Software developmentusing the 24-hour knowledge factory paradigm. And that's where the follow the sun customer support model comes in. 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? The main goal with implementing a follow the sun support model is that people in one location don't receive preferential support. It is interesting to note that there have been very few documented cases of successful FTS application in the software industry. We would like some form of handover application within Microsoft teams to assist with a "Follow the Sun" support model. N#"$(591 = |% z#i{vXP!M^\`NVBq PDF How to Provide Global Support Follow-the-Sun (FTS) is a strategy in Global Software Development (GSD) focusing on software development twenty-four hours, seven days per week with physically distributed teams. In theory, FTS can increase time to market by approximately 60%, which seems attractive. The. It must also ensure that all the required information and reports to continue the work are visible and easily accessible. Nataliya Andreychuk is the CEO of Viseven. 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. [19] Treinen, James J., and Susan L. Miller-Frost. Response times are increased, delays in problem-solving are reduced, and customers are satisfied.
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