Friday, December 28th, 2007
Happy Holidays,
A lot of people are busy with the holidays, but our technicians are here because it is a critical time of the year and a lot of business, commerce and other activity is buzzing around the Internet. There is no time for any “grinches” to cause system malfunctions especially as the New Year approaches.
As I reflect about the past year it occurred to me that we’ve done a few good things this year to prevent any “grinches” from ruining anyone’s year with downtime.
Many of you probably already know, but for those that may be unaware, we operate a highly automated system for our virtual private servers. Many systems are dependent on technicians which means the queue can sometimes become clogged while waiting for service to be established. Our highly automated systems install the software ordered, complete the licensing process, send the welcoming e-mails and accomplish other tasks quickly, effectively and efficiently without a queue slowing down the transaction. Automation also enables us to maintain low costs.
This process loses a bit of the personal touch, but we believe it is actually much more personal to provide the service that our customers are looking for by getting them up and running as quickly as possible.
Our way of being friendly is to insure uptime and efficiency and to insure that no “grinches” ruin the prospects for a successful year.
Happy New Year from your friend,
Vik
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Sunday, December 23rd, 2007
This was originally written by Lance Crosby:
Tickets are a tough animal to tackle because everyone is predisposed to their own “best way”. After eleven years in the hosting world (3 in mass virtuals, 3 in enterprise, and 5 in high volume dedicated), the trouble ticket is always tough to perfect.
From our side, here are some pointers that will streamline your ticket:
The 8 Keys to Successful Tickets
1. One Ticket = One Issue – If possible, keep the tickets as simple and targeted as you can. Don’t worry about opening multiple tickets with different issues…we actually prefer it. Having multiple issues can impede proper support. Here’s why:
1) It can make it hard to troubleshoot because we don’t know which one to work on first.
2) We don’t always know which issue is more important (to you) and needs resolution first.
3) It can require different departments and may be shuffled around.
4) The longer the ticket gets, the more the next tech has to read and the higher the propensity to miss key information.
5) Multi-issue tickets seem to be never-ending, frustrating both the customer and the technicians trying to help.
2. Username / Password / Server / IP – start with the basics. We lob about half the tickets back within minutes asking for server credentials which slows the process. It’s your server — if you don’t want us in there just tell us. You won’t hurt our feelings. It makes troubleshooting more difficult when we don’t have access, but we do respect your right and privacy. Just understand there is a trade-off with slower troubleshooting and limited server access. We will not login to your server unless we have to.
3. Come Clean and tell the truth – if you flubbed up a kernel upgrade, deleted key files, installed new software, or just don’t know what you’re doing, don’t worry about it. We will not parade you down the data-center hall of shame. We all learned this stuff somehow and most of that learning came from making mistakes. Being honest will get your resolution much faster and your technician will appreciate you not playing “hide the ball”. We all make mistakes — even seasoned veterans. We are here to help you and that is our goal.
4. Close the ticket – if your problem is resolved, just update the ticket and say “please close this one”. Otherwise, tickets can hang out, get stale, and fill up the queue, slowing the whole ticket resolution process. The techs will greatly appreciate your response.
5. Clear, Concise & Complete – “I installed this, made these changes and now the server does _______” (good). We get a lot of tickets where it states “Server seems slow?” (bad). Does that mean network, hardware, disk IO, application, everything? If you don’t know, general is fine, but if you mean Disk I/O seems slow, tell us you mean disk I/O. Don’t leave off that key piece of info like “I run a forum that gets 10,000 hits an hour”.
6. Network Issues – include trace-routes or ping times (as many as you can possibly get). Attach them to the ticket. The vast majority of network issues are outside the network between you and the server. We are very interested in finding those locations so we can:
1) …help you resolve this issue.
2) …contact the carriers for further assistance.
3) …manually route around clogged public peering points.
Chances are, if it is affecting you, it also affects at least one of our other customers as well.
7. Research & Info – help us help you by giving us any ideas you may have. The forums are chock full of goodies. Google solves half my problems on the first search, and the vendor websites are a goldmine. Remember that when we log into your server for the first time, its like going into a home you have never been in while it’s dark. It takes a few minutes to feel around to see what is running and where things are. We appreciate any help or insight you may have in the process.
8. Throw them a Bone – I am convinced that being a support technician is one of the most difficult and thankless jobs in this world. Every phone call, ticket, or chat involves a problem that must be resolved and the person on the other end is potentially anxious or agitated because downtime is bad. When you get to resolution, top off a ticket with thanks….great job…..or end the phone call with thanks for all the hard work. At the end of the day, we are all human and need a little recognition for a job well done.
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Wednesday, December 19th, 2007
We’ve decided to open a corporate blog for our current and potential clients. We can’t claim that it was an original idea, but we aren’t afraid to adopt an innovation if it proves advantageous to those we serve.
As with those we serve, we have invested significantly with our lives and money to insure that we are a successful team. Each client is a valuable part of our team and we hope we are part of their team.
A popular TV ad for cell phone service proudly boasts that they provide a network for their customers. We too, both literally and figuratively, know that we must provide a safe, secure, economical and efficient network to serve our current clients and attract continued business. So far that business model has worked and we want to improve upon it with the initiation of this blog.
The purpose of our blog is simple. We want to make sure we have as many lines of communication open as possible. After all, good communication is the basis for success. This blog does not replace any methods of communication we currently utilize, but simply provides another avenue to insure responsive and reliable support.
Our intention is provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, suggestions and comments. We want to tell you what we are doing – but more importantly we want to know what you are doing and how we can best serve you. We want to respond to questions, explain technological processes, introduce new ideas and services and get to know you better.
The ideas for innovation, evolution and change emanate from a variety of sources. We believe our customers are the best source for us to recognize and implement the changes necessary for continued efficiencies. We are 100% convinced that “your success is our success” and we want to travel that road with you.
So, welcome to our blog and your blog as well! Over the coming weeks we hope to share with you and hope that you will share with us as we seek to improve upon our mutually shared goal of success.
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Monday, December 17th, 2007
NOVI, Mich. (December 17, 2007) – Future Hosting (http://www.futurehosting.biz), an Internet Solutions provider serving small to medium sized businesses internationally, announced today it has added Seattle, Wash. as an additional datacenter location for its Virtual Private Server (VPS) offerings.
Seattle offers another geographic location with distinctive advantages to help the company target local businesses and vertical markets. Namely, Seattle VPS plans are ideal for customers in northwestern parts of the United States and southwestern Canada. The location also offers lower-latency connections to most of Asia.
(more…)
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