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Peter McGarahan’s webinar for HDI during Customer Service week brought a great focus to how First Contact Resolution (FCR) is a great metric, but should not live in a vacuum. He stressed the value of making sure the documentation is complete, and making the goal not just “checking off” the incident, but rather tying resolution to a fuller customer experience. In order to provide that experience, Pete stressed the importance of good support tools, including knowledge management.

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Roy Atkinson
Supervisor, IT Desktop Support, The Jackson Laboratory
President, HDI Northern New England

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Innovating IT services to create business value. Our services include: 

Strategic, Tactical and Operational Best Practice consulting

  • Support Strategy and Business Alignment, Assessments, Gap Analysis, Continuous Improvement Roadmaps 
  • Outsourcing RFP creation, Vendor Selection management, Contract negotiation and transitional project management services
  • IT Branding, Marketing and Communication 
  • Service Desk Best Practices, SLA/OLA creation, Metrics, Reporting, etc.. 
Strategic Sourcing 
  • Create Strategic Support Sourcing plans, options and alternatives
  • Create Outsourcing requirements
  • Vendor RFP creation & process management
  • Assistance with vendor contract negotiation 

Training and ITIL Certification courses 

Speaking Engagements 

  • Subject Matter Expert and Motivational speaker
  • For a current list of Presentation Abstracts, please click here ->  

Executive coaching and mentoring

  • Support Strategy, Business Alignment, Value Creation, Career Development and Marketing/Communication plans

Strategic Vendor (Tools) consulting

  • Strategic, Positioning, Analyst Relationships, Brand, Features, Partnering and Marketing consulting 

Seminar and Conference program creation and hosting

White paper, Position paper, Case Study authoring

Quality Assurance and Mystery Shopping services

Customer surveying services 

 

 


HDI Support World / A Time for Courage and Wisdom
11/19/2009
A Time for Courage and Wisdom
Don’t Sacrifice Service Quality While Cutting Costs


As I lay awake trying to make sense of our current economic predicament, I was comforted by The Serenity Prayer. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and  wisdom to know the difference.” There is absolutely nothing I can do regarding the current economic predicament we find ourselves in today.  Personally, I am trying hard to filter that information and courageously face the situation from a perspective of What can I change?”

Read the entire article as published under Customer Service (P.28) in the Nov/Dec edition of HDI Support World..........


Total Contact Ownership: Resolution Ownership – It Should Matter to You!
11/09/2009

Resolution Ownership - It Should Matter To You! 

Shouldn’t it also be important to you?

When customers have impacting technical issues they contact the support center, the ideal situation from their perspective is getting their issue fixed on the first contact. If not, the issue is then escalated to specialized support groups within the organization. The customer simply expects to be told who will contact them and when. This is the basis for setting customer expectations and making a service commitment to the customer by confidently knowing that you "own" their issue to resolution. Total Contact Ownership is the "heart" of the Service Center and promotes an understanding of both the customer and the business. Read on for more insights into this customer and business-based best practice.....


Learn about the benefits and process of Total Contact Ownership:

· Consistency in help desk processes
· Customer service that exceeds your customers’ expectations
· A customer–oriented environment that makes your customers want to contact you
· Continuous help desk & customer training through resolution
· Improved relationships between the help desk and other support teams
· Better measurement of support center analysts’ performance

Download a White Paper -

Resolution Ownership – It Should Matter to You!

Access the article -

http://www.supportindustry.com/asktheexpert/resolution_ownership.htm

by Pete McGarahan, President McGarahan & Associates



Pete's Perspective
10/13/2009
PETE'S PERSPECTIVE as published in the Virtual Support News!

Pete picture

Introducing Pete's Perspective, our new column that provides key insight into service & support provided by Pete McGarahan of McGarahan & Associates. Pete is a recognized thought leader throughout
the support industry and business. Pete's twenty-five years in the IT industry go both deep and wide in all areas of IT, business and service and support.   
 
"It's not rocket science"
     

Support organizations that deliver exceptional customer service and business value have, at their core, something in common:  Leadership. But what does leadership look like?  It's business-focused people who approach their responsibilities with energy, passion, and intelligence.  They never forget where they came from and what it took for them to get to where they are.  They take with them the lessons they learned and the people that influenced them along the way. They are resourceful and thoughtful.  They are unafraid to seek advice, direction, and support. Most importantly, they share the most important characteristic of all - they are servant leaders. They never let their egos convince them that they are the smartest people in the room. And they never let arrogance stand in the way of being a good listener and a continuous learner.

Servant leadership is about doing the right thing and making fact-based decisions. It's about challenging conventional wisdom and having the moral backbone to stand up for doing the right thing for the customers and employees who serve them well. Servant leaders continuously look for innovative ways to leverage industry best practices, technology, and people. They treat every customer like they are their only customer. I challenge all service leaders to become Servant Leaders.  Set the bar high for your team, constantly measure your progress, and continuously improve. Create a rewarding and healthy service culture that is driven by your daily examples of your servant leadership.


OUR TAKE - Serenity CRM
03/17/2009

OUR TAKE -  Serenity CRM

My discussion about moving beyond the half full glass prompted many interesting comments. One suggested that instead of pondering the states of half full or half empty, it was wiser to simply drink from the glass.
 
One person I have known for many years shared his personal feelings and perspectives in what I consider a healthy path focused on service quality. He starts by writing:
 
As I lay awake trying to make sense of our current economic predicament, I was comforted by The Serenity Prayer. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” There is absolutely nothing I can do regarding the current economic predicament we find ourselves in today. Nothing I can do will change any of the many market forces at work from impacting my daily work situation. There is little good news today being reported by the media. Personally, I am trying hard to filter that information and courageously face the situation from a perspective of “What can I change?”.
 
Take a moment to read
the rest of the story - thanks for sharing, Pete. That's my take. What's your take?
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher



2009 Service and Support Metrics Survey Results
06/05/2009

2009 Service and Support Metrics Survey Results: A Look Behind the Scenes in Today's Support Organization

Thank you for attending the Parature webinar, "2009 Service and Support Metrics Survey Results: A Look Behind the Scenes in Today's Support Organization" presented by Pete McGarahan of McGarahan and Associates, and Gary McNeil, VP of Marketing for Parature. Your attendance at this event demonstrates your commitment to discovering best practices that enable organizations, like yours, to provide outstanding customer service and support. A recording of this event is now available online for your reference.

Register Now

You can view my Parature blog entries here:  http://blog.parature.com/



A Time for Service Leadership (white paper)
12/17/2008

McGarahan & Associates would like to offer you this complementary White Paper authored by Pete McGarahan entitled "A Time for Service Leadership".

The White Paper highlights the need for leadership, thinking differently and action in the today's challenged service and support organizations. Given the economic outlook for 2009 and 2010, Service Leaders will benefit from McGarahan's guidance and suggestions for continually improving their organizations ability to deliver service value.

The White Paper can be accessed by clicking here.

Thank you for taking the time to download and read this important authoring from one of today's thought leaders in the service and support industry.






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