When I was at Dell (RR5 & RR7), my average call times were always in the toilet. But I wasn't beat up too much about it because I usually handled my own escalations, and got the problem fixed the first time. Managers preferred that they didn't have to talk to pissed-off customers, so in return, they cast a blind eye at my call times.
Still, I could only take two years of it. I finally had to bail out and work for a nearby community college. At that time, Dell was a great apprenticeship for me. But there was no way I could answer the phones any more.
I agree that good metrics are the way to go, but be careful on what you measure, no tracking system is complete enough to follow all relevant parameters (and if it were, it will be such a pain to have it up to date that it would be useless).
Metrics are useful to prove a point, but are not the point.
Obviously, you have never worked in a call center.:p
Unfortunately, some universities have to squeeze out money from any place they can get it. Hence, the obsession to hoard such "assets". Unlike some universities who pull down most of their revenue from their football team and logo/trademark sales.
That's right. I'm looking at you, UT of Austin.
An anonymous reader notes that this weekend, ReadWriteWeb discovered a security hole on several McAfee sites, which lets any attacker piggyback on the company's reputation and brand in order to distribute malware, Trojans, or anything else.
Isn't McAfee already considered to be malware? Perhaps they hate the idea of competition in the malware distribution business.
At our school, Blackboard was set up with the thought of, "Hey, let's start offering online course content. We'll buy Blackboard and it will be our silver bullet."
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
When students started buying computers with Vista, Blackboard would not play right with them. They had all kinds of issues. It won't even play right with Internet Explorer at our school. I'm just glad I'm not the Blackboard admin.
Note to my college administration: Ever wonder why the University of Phoenix is so expensive? It's because they attempted to take the time to design their online program from the ground up. They also hired the staff to make it work. That takes a lot of money. They didn't take the cheap way out by buying Blackboard and saying, "Now we are an online school." F$%^tards!!!! You would have been better off by using Moodle or Double Choco Latte. At least you wouldn't have blown all that money. Dare I say that you are once again "trying to polish the turd"?
It's not a wiki, per se. But you could look at Elog
It's easy to customize, and uses its own built-in http server. It's not a product you would want to use on the public Internet, but it works well for our intranet.
My gripe is in the military adopting 'touchy-feely' models when it comes to killing people (sorry, but that IS the job of the military...it is NOT a policing force).
Isn't that supposed to be killing people AND breaking things?;)
On a more serious note, thank you for your service.
They are ignorant because either they think that their time is too important to waste on learning mechanics which they could delegate, or they think that their elevated position allows them the luxury of passing menial tech tasks off to people that they pay to do unpleasant things.
Actually, it's not ignorance. It's laziness.
In both cases they are incorrect, and their productivity suffers,
Which raises the question of, "How can lazy people be productive?"
Managers are again in a bidding war to compete with their rivals and new Web juggernauts like Google to retain their best employees by offering a laid-back environment to benefit staff morale, retention and productivity.
So, would this mean that stiff dress codes and insistence on haircuts/shaves are detrimental to staff moral, retention, and productivity?
Well, not all security personnel can be swayed by someone's status. I know people who have worked airport security (prior to the TSA takeover, in fact) and you'd better believe that everyone was required to go through the screening,
Like the comedian said about these security checks:
"The good news is that you'll make your flight on time. The bad news is that you have an enlarged prostate gland."
Sounds like an "anonymous" survey that Dell^H^H^H^H a previous employer asked us to take. IIRC, it was the typical morale crap queries: what do you like about your job, what do you dislike, what would you suggest to make things better, etc. We were assured us that there would be no reprisals taken for negative feedback.
We were told it was Web-based and totally anonymous. The kicker was that in order to access the survey, you had to enter your badge number. Needless to say, I chose not to participate.
Slashdot Mirror
Bend over and say, "Aaahhhh!!", suckers. There, fixed it for you.
When I was at Dell (RR5 & RR7), my average call times were always in the toilet. But I wasn't beat up too much about it because I usually handled my own escalations, and got the problem fixed the first time. Managers preferred that they didn't have to talk to pissed-off customers, so in return, they cast a blind eye at my call times. Still, I could only take two years of it. I finally had to bail out and work for a nearby community college. At that time, Dell was a great apprenticeship for me. But there was no way I could answer the phones any more.
I agree that good metrics are the way to go, but be careful on what you measure, no tracking system is complete enough to follow all relevant parameters (and if it were, it will be such a pain to have it up to date that it would be useless). Metrics are useful to prove a point, but are not the point.
Obviously, you have never worked in a call center. :p
Unfortunately, some universities have to squeeze out money from any place they can get it. Hence, the obsession to hoard such "assets". Unlike some universities who pull down most of their revenue from their football team and logo/trademark sales. That's right. I'm looking at you, UT of Austin.
Does this "Peter Wang" happen to know a urologist by the name of "Dick Chopp"?
Isn't McAfee already considered to be malware? Perhaps they hate the idea of competition in the malware distribution business.
I hear that Somalia could use a few....errrrr...adjustments.
There is an Anonymous, AND a Slashdot.
At our school, Blackboard was set up with the thought of, "Hey, let's start offering online course content. We'll buy Blackboard and it will be our silver bullet."
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
When students started buying computers with Vista, Blackboard would not play right with them. They had all kinds of issues. It won't even play right with Internet Explorer at our school. I'm just glad I'm not the Blackboard admin.
Note to my college administration:
Ever wonder why the University of Phoenix is so expensive? It's because they attempted to take the time to design their online program from the ground up. They also hired the staff to make it work. That takes a lot of money. They didn't take the cheap way out by buying Blackboard and saying, "Now we are an online school." F$%^tards!!!! You would have been better off by using Moodle or Double Choco Latte. At least you wouldn't have blown all that money. Dare I say that you are once again "trying to polish the turd"?
It's easy to customize, and uses its own built-in http server. It's not a product you would want to use on the public Internet, but it works well for our intranet.
Uhhh, I think he meant your Mom. Not his.
Random stuff? Is that a new name for "pr0n"?
On a more serious note, thank you for your service.
BSA != Birmingham Small Arms
BSA = Bastard Stopped Again
Actually, the professor should have been the one to call in to Dell for service. Let him explain why the buttons were broken off.
Dilbert: Aahh...It has the sweet smell of an unnecessary assignment.
Wally: Yes, I can smell it from here.
Dilbert: Feasibility of using non-existant software.
PHB: Stop being you!
Wally: Hee,hee!
This brings the "Jedi Hand Trick" to a new level.
DOHHHHH!!!!!!
"The good news is that you'll make your flight on time. The bad news is that you have an enlarged prostate gland."
We were told it was Web-based and totally anonymous. The kicker was that in order to access the survey, you had to enter your badge number. Needless to say, I chose not to participate.
Indeed. I run a Grandstream VOIP phone connected straight to my router. Don't need no steekin' PC to use it.
He forgot to mention that the first 100 people who order get a free Ginsu knife.
You forgot to add Is it safe?