When compared to traditional global software development, FTS workflow is more difficult to achieve. 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. Any issues can be resolved in near real time since theres always a team member ready to take action.. To manage the workflow efficiently the principles shown in Fig. 0000005432 00000 n 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. Although there were very less successful cases, some companies still showed positive intent in applying FTS model. We would like some form of handover application within Microsoft teams to assist with a "Follow the Sun" support model. 0000010855 00000 n Free and premium plans, Operations software. Because of these reasons FTS is best suited for Agile. 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 focus is on using automated tools which simplify the repetitive tasks. Organization Support: Role Communications Manager (CM) Description Coordinates emergency communication strategy across teams: customer success, marketing, legal, etc. [5] Amar Gupta. What is the Follow the Sun Customer Support Model? - HubSpot A detailed analysis needs to be done in order to understand the advantages to be gained in time. 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. The FTS approach is based on the principle of handing-off unfinished work to the next location at the end of work day. Background, main ideas and principles behind FTS were discussed followed by a brief review on Agile for FTS, advantages and limitations of FTS. Granted, once the pandemic restrictions started to lift, we followed suit with offices. Treinen and Miller Frost [19] published a case documenting two cases of FTS implementation at IBM. While you wont all be in the same room for these meetings, video conferences are fairly easy to set up and schedule. Because of the hand-offs, work is owned by and worked on by one site at a time. 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. z.,'ECC4@ad4pw7?/.iyfhLV%=>=(TvxZN}!p7oN3~4T i+U[8 fZ)6 +r) 4KKq#VPd)M(*=X i d`rdadcNaVdnep!!!!|F_f0b Let your superior service and personalized support work as a marketing advantage to find new leads and sales. The method literally follows the sun so work is performed during normal work hours anywhere in the world. PDF How to Provide Global Support But other companies may determine It's a model that provides support for clients at all times of the day or night, every day. 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. 0000002089 00000 n Powerpoint is an application developed by Microsoft which allows users to create slides of important information to present. You can, however, start planning for it. 2013. 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Three categories of challenges were found, namely challenges in coordination (e.g. It was developed so companies can provide round-the-clock customer service, literally following the sun around the globe. In Global Software Engineering, 2009. Tiered support model with queries and system administrators. If all the IT teams within your company use a follow the sun model, the project could be completed in days. Free and premium plans, Customer service software. What is the follow the sun model? Advantages + strategy - Zendesk FTS is a global software development strategy. In any case, one thing is clear: To provide the highest level of customer service, your support team must decide when to be available. She is a leading digital transformation evangelist for the pharma and life sciences industries. Is a "follow the sun" model right for your company? Sure, this could mean 24/7/365. 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. If you dont have international offices, create a plan that uses staggered start times to cover the time zones you are focusing on. 0000007104 00000 n Presenting support model PPT slide template. Slide 1 of 2. Software developmentusing the 24-hour knowledge factory paradigm. follow the sun model - French translation - Linguee ](Ohg2jFy0tz H`?d/r_@IEPCZGr H Lucidscale connects to major cloud sources like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to pull in data automatically. Shifting to a remote-based model streamlined our FTS approach with the ability to provide client services without opening an office location first. Handoffs management in follow-the-sun software projects: a case study. However, the distance between time zones of production can be an issue since the real-time communication between the teams can be very limited. Make your own animated videos and animated presentations for free. [4] AGupta, Amar. 0000063868 00000 n In addition to verbal communication, teams can also use visual documentation, such as flowcharts, kanban boards, and Gantt charts as part of their daily hand-offs. In case of any issues with the blog, please contact: guledalprashanth@gmail.com or berd.kreynen@hotmail.com. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 9(1):53-69, 1992. Note that it will only suit some business models. Since there is no overlap during the hand-off and the hand off happens, for example, via e-mail, instead of via the phone or other communication tool. As illustrated in Fig. Modes of communication in FTS approach may be asynchronous or synchronous. You may opt-out by. These are reactive in nature. [12] Miguel Jimnez, Mario Piattini, and Aurora Vizcano. In traditional software development, global teams are less dependent on one another and usually do not pass on the work (hand-off). Sorry something went wrong, try again later? Initial handoffs mainly consisted of daily work summaries, which were later augmented by knowledge transfer activities. Is a follow the sun model right for your IT and cloud teams? Presentation Mode allows you to show off the specific parts of your design that stakeholders care about most., There you have it. The geographically dispersed nature requires the use of software applications which facilitate tele-conferencing, VoIP calling, instant messaging etc. Network Security in Theory and Practice. There are several major differences between traditional globally distributed software development and the FTS approach. FTS has many challenges associated with it and it also faces same challenges of GSD as it is a part of GSD. If you plan well and start slowly to see what works and what doesnt, you can more easily scale your efforts and ramp up services until you meet your goals and satisfy customer expectations. Figure 5: Successful implementation of FTS depends on reliable software tools and utilities. "Follow the Sun" Service Desk Model - Abhinav PMP 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. RUC 2003 reducing time to market using follow-the-sun techniques 0000008134 00000 n 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. 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. Many companies are looking for efficiency in software development in terms of quality and development time. 0000016106 00000 n 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. Now, what does this look like in action? [10] Eoin Conchir, Helena Holmstrom Olsson, Par J Agerfalk, and Brian Fitzgerald. Figure 3: Comparing FTS model with other global workflows [1]. Non-stop development can become a serious advantage when you need to reduce time to market or offer your clients better production, development and deployment terms. Slide 1 of 5. 0000013630 00000 n Keeps Support and the business informed so IC can focus on resolution. Join 64,500+ Customer-Facing Professionals, Pop up for FREE CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP TEMPLATES. Their teams are based in Honduras, Romania and the Philippines. Test the plan before implementation to ensure that hand-offs between sites will run smoothly and make tweaks to the processes as needed. F9,Y%9Q@o:B"w7Fy||:R_q};gxJ2#'S2"8S$I(y'_`}WHw6(iEM:+9%Wl )ThVXNo"iN U=v f4. 2 traditional software development stresses on minimal job hand-offs, whereas FTS focusses on day-to day job hand-offs [1]. However, FTS is not. [16] Josiane Kroll, Ita Richardson, Jorge LN Audy, and Jude Fernandez. Christian Doerr, 128 0 obj <> endobj xref 128 43 0000000016 00000 n This means that efficiency in task hand-off is of paramount importance to the success of the FTS approach. In this section we give a number of research themes within Follow-the-Sun software development research. Increase response time to solve problems more quickly, and reduce development and production times to get products and services to market faster. 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. According to Carmel [1], FTS has challenges such as coordination barriers, cultural differences, and communication difficulties depicted in Fig. The second case study involved three distinct projects with development sites in the United States and India, and met with drastic failure. To this end, the FTS research needs to be done comprehensively, so that companies start adopting it in real-time projects. PowToon is a free . 0000001891 00000 n To do this from a single office theyd have to aggressively staff up. In addition, passing the work to a new group lets people see the problem from a new perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 27(1):17-38, 2010. It is always noon somewhere, right? If you have an online business or SaaS product, you probably sell your products or services globally. Subscribe to the Service Blog below. 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. Free and premium plans. Lucidchart is the intelligent diagramming application that empowers teams to clarify complexity, align their insights, and build the futurefaster. System Sciences (HICSS), 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on, pages 331339. Nataliya Andreychuk is the CEO of Viseven. 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. Outline your company's customer journey and experience with these 7 free customer journey map templates. 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. That being said, we have a few tips for you if you decide to implement this model: Now, before you jump into a follow the sun customer support model, let's determine if it's necessary for your company. The various agile methodologies such as Scrum, Lean, Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), DSDM etc., share much of the same characteristics and practices and are widely practiced in Globally Distributed Software Development. One of the important concepts evolved in the past decade or so is the Follow the sun (FTS) software development. Where are our customers primarily located? 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. The term calendar efficiency helps in understanding the analysis further. Let's review the diagram below. They also need to train employees on how to use the software and then respond to any service tickets upon deployment. See how this model can benefit your IT department. Provide tools: Get your system set up with the right tools so your customer service teams can collaborate and communicate easily. It is interesting to note that there have been very few documented cases of successful FTS application in the software industry. The initiative was unsuccessful, and the project was ultimately implemented using only the essential principles of global software development. You can update your preferences or unsubscribe at any time. Some sites could feel isolated and out of the loop. 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. The three teams consist of 2 micro-teams (composite persona [17]), with at least one person from each location. z(nK9:QS%i$MEaab:a=KpLD;so@ Well explain how to calculate and reduce turnover in your organization. As a result, the benefits of FTS tend to be concentrated around isolated phases rather than having an overall impact on the development cycle. And customers in one location do not get preferential or more support than any other location. Several workflows seem to be using the FTS model, but in reality this is not always the case. Production sites involved in the software development are many time zones apart. 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. HubSpot uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our relevant content, products, and services. In this distributed model, the CIA [8] (the triad of Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of service and data) assumes paramount importance. Do I qualify? Document what has been accomplished so each site can avoid repeating work. HICSS09. 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. 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. Prezi, for example, has teams in two locations: San Francisco and Budapest. IEEE, 2009. Software development involving multiple global locations in different time zones is not always FTS if it does not satisfy all the criteria mentioned in the. We showed that there are three main research themes, namely challenges and best practices, location selection and hand-offs management. By checking this box, I agree to Zendesk contacting me with marketing-related communications about Zendesk products, services, and events. Its also important to have daily stand-up meetings. 0000006358 00000 n This efficiency further increases with the number of locations and shifts. Pearson Education India, 1995. Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. 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. 0000065007 00000 n . The main goal with implementing a follow the sun support model is that people in one location don't receive preferential support. Knowledge transfer and sharing of project critical information with concerned parties is essential for smooth operation of the project. Three important companies which documented their experience is summarized below. Collaboration between teams is very important in Agile, a trait which is also a characteristic of FTS model. Consider these basic steps and questions you need to ask before diving into a follow the sun methodology. This is very important especially for industries whose products become outdated in a very short time (e.g. IEEE, 2013. When youve got teams working round the clock, your troubleshooting efforts become more efficient. Open Scholars Know How to License Their Work for Maximum Impact<br /> 29. What about the companies your business aspires to emulate? A novel approach to distributed concurrent software development using a follow-the-sun technique.
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