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Einstein and the Pursuit of Gross National Happiness – Nov ’11 newsletter

Phil Verghis — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:01:02 +0000

Announcing the Nov 2011 Verghis View newsletter — ‘Einstein and the Pursuit of Gross National Happiness’ — lessons on measurements from disparate sources like Einstein, an ancient Egyptian cartographer and a tiny, landlocked Himalayan kingdom. http://conta.cc/verghis_newsletter_nov11 This has generated an … Continue reading →

Can slowing down service improve ratings?

Phil Verghis — Sun, 08 May 2011 19:21:30 +0000

For a while now, we have believed that making customers wait online can cause bad things to happen. Some interesting new research from two professors at Harvard Business School has shown that this may not always be the case.

It seems that if customers have to wait, and are shown why they are waiting (for example showing them what was being searched), they give higher ratings than if the results are instantly available. (Note: The information returned has to be ‘good’.)

Read the whole article at: http://bit.ly/slowservice

There’s hope for those of you with slow websites (albeit with good information)… Bring this article to your web team or IT team and talk to them about ‘labor illusion’.

Higher Education: Able to leapfrog traditional IT support or not?

Phil Verghis — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:39:14 +0000

I got a call from Dennis Carter, the assistant editor of ecampus news, and was quoted in an article titled ‘College help-desk services lacking in tech use‘.

In general, many campuses tend to follow industry best practices, and fall short. It’s not surprising given the lack of resources. However, the good news is they can power past most of the best of the best in industry with smart use of social media for higher education support. They have built-in communities that, properly nurtured, can be models for service and support.

Yes before I defected to the commercial world, I worked at universities… The team at Duke University won an award from Network World.

‘Measures, Metrics & Madness’ whitepaper is called ‘brilliant’

Phil Verghis — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 12:55:55 +0000

I’m pleased to note the Association of Support Professionals has called my white paper on ‘Measures, Metrics & Madness: The new world of Guiding, not Grading’ “brilliant”. They further said “… will get you thinking about your whole approach to … Continue reading →

Fascinating article on how biology influences leadership

Phil Verghis — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:57:10 +0000

The Economist has a very interesting article on ‘The Biology of Business: Homo Administrans’ where they talk about how biologists have brought rigor to psychology, sociology and even economics. Now they are turning their attention to the softest science of … Continue reading →

Speaking at HDI New England event

Phil Verghis — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 22:51:07 +0000

If you are in the area, stop by the Robert Half office in Westborough, MA from 3-6 PM where I’ll be chatting about ‘Measures, Metrics and Madness: the new world of guiding, not grading’. Tickets, details and more available at … Continue reading →

NYC Police put goals on activities: Result? more fines for you

Phil Verghis — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 19:17:12 +0000

A classic case of the wrong behaviors that result when management puts goals on activities….
New York Times article: Secret Tape Has Police Pressing Ticket Quotas

Take a look at your own organization — is it that different? Bring in your own metrics and let’s see on October 27th, the world premier of my new workshop: Measures, Metrics and Madness: the new world of Guiding, not Grading. (Only 7 seats left.)

Guiding, not Grading — aka Measures, Metrics and Madness

Phil Verghis — Sat, 08 May 2010 20:10:21 +0000

Over the last year or two, I’ve been trying to replicate the magic of start-ups – where everyone is laser-focused on the mission of the organization. Everyone knows what needs to be done and just does it.

Unfortunately, this ‘honeymoon’ phase quickly dissipates during the transition to a middle-aged company and beyond.

I think I’ve moved one step closer to finding a solution, as this month’s article discusses. Two of my retainer-based clients are one year into the ‘alignment and measurement’ process, and have reported (mostly) amazing success.

One of the biggest unanticipated side effects has been the boost in employee morale, which has a multiplier effect on productivity, customer loyalty and so much more.

Get the article in a pdf format — http://bit.ly/cpFoMv or sign up for the next newsletter from my home page – www.verghisgroup.com

‘Savvy Support’ model (aka no more tiers) cited in new book

Phil Verghis — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:50:39 +0000

Andres Sanchez has published a book titled Technical Support Essentials – Advice you can use to succeed in Technical Support and has cited the Savvy Support model a few times as one of the new models for support.

Read all about it, and much more of what Andres has to say in his book.

Interesting article on software maintenance fees

Phil Verghis — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:19:02 +0000

Oracle’s revenue from software maintenance and service fees have reached $12 billion a year. Read what this interesting article had to say on this topic (includes SAP and more).

http://bit.ly/Sv3ub