Preparing for the Cloud

Thinking about moving to the Cloud?  Whether it is your RightAnswers system, or another system, there are some important factors to consider.  Most importantly, you don’t want to recreate the wheel.  Leverage experiences from others in your organization that may have previously moved an application they support to the cloud, or implemented a cloud-based solution.  What challenges did they experience?  (Common areas of challenge for enterprise applications can often occur in the area of authentication and integration.)

More than likely your organization has a standard in place for how solutions inside your firewall authenticate.  Do they have a standard for solutions in the cloud?  Many organizations have a list of supported approaches for the cloud that vary from there on premise list.  Others who see a future that involves more cloud activity are adopting authentication standards that work for both cloud and on-premise solutions or establishing new standards for the cloud.

Other questions to ask:

• What other systems does this cloud based solution need to integrate with inside your firewall?  
• What integration options do your other systems offer and are they available to you?  
• For example is your help desk system web based?
          - If so, can its web services be published to the Internet for a cloud
             based system to communicate with? 
          - If it’s not today, what will it take to get it there? 

Many of these systems have other systems integrating to them that you may be able to learn from or piggy-back on.

A few years ago Cloud based applications and company thoughts about them were much less mature than they are nowadays.  Very few companies are brand new to the idea of Cloud based solutions today, and many solution providers have lots of years of experience to draw from.  Not only should you leverage the resources and experiences you have internally but also the vendors’.   At the end of the day it’s in both parties best interest to make you Cloud project as successful as possible.

The Real Purpose of Web Self-Service

In the past few weeks I have seen a few demonstrations of self-service offering in service desk tools, and have been reminded how knowledge is just not their main focus.  Most service desk tools are still focused on helping users open requests and incidents, contacting the service desk, and managing their issues.  As a knowledge management provider, RightAnswers has always designed an experience that is focused on finding the answers to users’ problems. 

An example is when I recently bought a new TV and needed to figure out how to get my universal remote to work with it.  I went to the Internet and to my cable provider site looking for answers on how to do it myself, not wanting to request that someone to reprogram my remote for me.   I found a wealth of information including step by step instructions with screenshots, as well as videos — I was up and running in minutes.   For me, this just drove home the fact that web self-service should help you find the information you need to solve your problem.  If it’s about something else, it’s missing the mark.

To be successful in this the user experience needs to support the proper behavior flow.  Search needs to be prominent but non-threatening.  Knowledge needs to be visible even before you attempt to search.  Search needs to be seamlessly reinforced at every turn, including when you decide to open a ticket or other requests.  Following these simple rules provides users an experience that delivers a positive outcome for them and the service desk—and keeps them coming back for more.

The Story Behind the Headline

We just sent out a press release summarizing RightAnswers’ successes in 2011, and as I read it again I realized there was a deeper story behind those bullets. Having great results and continuing to grow in many exciting ways is only part of the story.  While end results are always important, as well as the way we measure corporate, team, and individual successes,  the means to those results and what ensures repeatable future successes (not just flukes or luck) – is what is newsworthy. 

For us at RightAnswers, this story rests in three specific areas of focus—the first being our laser focus on continually making knowledge the most valuable asset in supporting an organization.  I get up in the morning with that thought, and always look for how our platform, services, and best practices come together to make it a reality for each and every customer— a great focused energy that my staff all rally around.  Secondly, our desire to listen and collaborate with our clients is strong, and we are always looking for more ways to accomplish this.  So often in meetings and discussions we reference big and small stories, conversations, and triumphs our clients have had. It is our energy and responsibility to learn from clients’ stories, and leverage that learning into our products and best practices, which helps us marry our long term vision with practical solutions. Lastly, as experts in Knowledge Management and Self-Service, we check our successes and history at the door because we need to appreciate that we don’t know, what we don’t know. 

A factor in our growth is that the platform is being used in new and exciting ways, and our internal discussions are lined with a humbleness and openness so we can understand the fresh ideas and new uses of the platform from both new users and existing clients. So the story behind the story is really about the daily focus, energy, and thoughtfulness the RightAnswers team brings to the market, and how our clients are part of those processes every step of the way–both in action and in spirit.  To a great 2011 and to expecting more in 2012!

In the Wake of Oracle Acquisitions – Knowledge Management Frankenstein

So Oracle acquires yet another company and the social media goes all abuzz about what this all means. From the RightAnswers perspective, we have seen companies that we compete with be scooped up by Oracle.  The most recent acquisitions, and in rapid succession, of Inquira and RightNow have become part of the Oracle alphabet patchwork, not even mentioning ATG (Primus) acquisition a number of years back. There are a number of strategic reasons for Oracle to have done this – from creating a broad E-commerce to E-Support portfolio to creating a real cloud platform and filling in the product gaps to compete better. 

 
Oracle is painting a picture that can only be recognized when seen from afar. Getting closer one sees lack of cohesiveness and lots of functional overlap. This functional overlap in one specific area is certainly most intriguing to me and that is Knowledge Management. Of the many Oracle acquisitions, the ones mentioned in this article all have historically had their own knowledge management capabilities and approaches. Primus was about managing knowledge, Inquira was about searching knowledge, and RightNow was about delivering knowledge. One of the fallouts out of merging these companies is deciding on a single functional solution for Knowledge Management. It does not make sense to maintain different repositories with different structures in the uber-Oracle platform. 

 
What will be the core of this uber-KM platform? Based on Oracle’s positioning it would appear to be the company formerly-known as Inquira, and this may certainly be a reasonable choice. Primus never developed into an option like many Primus customers were hoping, and many of who are now running for the exit. What will this mean for RightNow customers and the future, especially since RightNow offers its own search engine and requires much more structured knowledge designed for support-specific requirements than Inquira? Time will tell, but one can expect a fair degree of ambiguity and uncertainty. The Oracle Knowledge Management Frankenstein is a story that is being written, and unfortunately Mary Shelley is not around to ghostwrite it.

Thanks for a Successful IMPACT 2011

I can’t believe that IMPACT 2011 is already behind us.  It was a great event and I want to start by thanking all the people that made it happen, our presenters, everyone behind the scenes and mostly you, our customers. 

Over the course of the two and a half days we covered a lot of material, training, industry best practices for using knowledge, a peek into RightAnswers future plans and road map.  Plus, there was lots of networking and learning from each other going on in the Birds-of-a-Feather and Round Table sessions.  Not to mention all the fun we had at the Welcome Reception on the water looking out at the New York skyline, our BINGO games and even a few chuckles as the RightAnswers team attempted to add humor in our presentations.

Between last year and this, it seems that so many of you have expanded the use of RightAnswers in your organizations either by using more platform components and/or implementing beyond the IT department. We are so happy that we have provided you with a solution that is not only scalable in numbers but scalable horizontally across the enterprise. As new challenges arise throughout the year remember that we are your partner and can offer guidance on how to meet your challenges and make these projects successful. 

For me what resonated most was that so many of you either told me personally, included it on your evaluation forms, or sent an email to let us know that participating in IMPACT made you feel like part of a family.  As the marketing director, part of what I try to convey is that RightAnswers does really care about your success and that we each take on that challenge personally.  So for me, feedback like this means that we are succeeding in delivering on that promise.

We have already begun to look at what the next generation of this event will be.  We have a number of great ideas, some of which have come from you.  Your RightAnswers team will be in touch over the next several weeks to get your input what will serve you best as IMPACT evolves.  In the mean time, if you have any ideas you would like to share I would love to hear from you.  vmathieson at rightanswers.com

RightAnswers Featured in Client Presentation at Gartner IT I&O Summit

This past week I attended the Gartner IT Infrastructure & Operations Management Summit in Orlando, FL, the show was very informative and as in previous years is a great source to help verify our current direction and aid us in shaping our efforts for the future.   This year, however, the event had extra meaning for me as one of our clients was a main presenter on how knowledge has transformed its business and culture.  

Bill Purcell, Incident Manager at Paychex, gave a great presentation as he shared his experiences, stories of their journey, and best practices around their success with Knowledge Management and Self-Service.  Bill’s passion on the topic, and their success with RightAnswers was clear and his perspective truly engaged the entire audience.  Analyst talks by design are middle of the road in tone, often weighing pro’s and con’s of technology decisions and we as listeners come away unsure of the choice to make.   Bill’s presentation really stood apart from the other sessions due to his real world results, which left little doubt on the recommendation – Knowledge Management and Self-Service does work, does deliver results and when approached as a discipline will transform the organization to increase productivity and save lots of money – implement now.

It is hard not to be biased, as I was extremely proud of everything Bill had to say about his project’s success and about us, but many of the other attendees thought his presentation was the best one of the event.  Attendees got the real facts and experiences from one of their own and throughout the session Bill laid out a detailed plan and framework for others to leverage – a real home run.

Congratulations Bill on a great session.  You and your team should be proud of all that you have accomplished.

KMWorld 100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management

We are honored that KMWorld has recognized RightAnswers on their list of 100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management. As knowledge and the importance of finding ways to harness and leverage it increases in complexity and diversity, coverage like this is of value to everyone.

The diversity of the list speaks to the varied ways in which knowledge management is rising in importance with so many organizations having a unique focus on markets, technology, and overall value proposition.   I like the space we are in; it is squarely focused on providing organizations that specialize in supporting fellow employees, students, and customers with a knowledge platform solving the issues of today and just as important, addressing the challenges of tomorrow. 

As the user perspective continues to expand and users’ expectations for support services grow, the challenges and opportunities for everyone merge.  For us, delivering great technology targeted for this market is a piece of the puzzle, proactively working with our clients on the best ways to address these emerging challenges is where the real satisfaction is found.

Being part of the KMWorld 100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management is a reflection of our diverse, global user community of over 500 clients and nearly 5 million end users, our platform, and the great results our clients achieve.  Behind these results, is our technology, the services we offer, and the best practices we promote, as well as our constant collaboration with and listening to our clients.  My belief is that our clear focus on these elements fuels our success, and discovering new ways to strengthen these areas will continue to yield great results for our clients and RightAnswers.

Thank you to all our clients for your support over the years and for working so closely with us.  Lastly, congratulations to the RightAnswers team for making the list; it is yet another acknowledgement of your skills, and dedication.

RightAnswers Driving Growth in Government Sector

Over the first three quarters of 2010, RightAnswers recognized significant growth within the federal government sector.  The key drivers for this growth have been an increased focus by government agencies to streamline internal support and external service operations.

As the Director of Global Sales, I have the privilege of working with various companies across a number of different industries – including federal government and military organizations.  We recognize the unique challenges that these organizations are faced with in terms of providing support to diverse user groups, their unique security needs and limited resources.

To address the needs of the federal market, RightAnswers has fostered strategic partnerships.  In addition to Lockheed Martin, we have grown the number of channel partners that are delivering and integrating the RightAnswers Unified Knowledge Suite.   Some of these include General Dynamics, L-3 Communications, BMC, SRA and MITRE.

As I have emphasized to our government customers, the RightAnswers flagship product can be utilized to centralize support operations, reduce costs and deliver responsive service to employees and external audiences, known as constituents.

Moving into 2011, we will continue to build on this year’s momentum and anticipate making several announcements  showcasing how government organizations are embracing RightAnswers to streamline their internal and external support operations.

IMPACT 2010: Building a Foundation for Success

As most of you know, two weeks ago we held our first ever User Conference – IMPACT 2010.  I am proud to say that the event was a huge success.  The conference had an incredible amount of positive energy and interaction among all attendees.  The presentations that were delivered by industry experts, the RightAnswers’ team, customers, and partners were informative, thought-provoking, and fun to be a part of.

In speaking with our clients throughout the conference, they were really impressed at both the quality of the event and the professionalism with which it was coordinated.  I personally had dozens of people come up to me and tell me how great the conference was and how it was the best conference they have ever been to.  To receive feedback like that is truly what makes hosting an event like this worthwhile.

Two key items that we wanted to focus on during the conference were collaborating with our clients, and the idea of Enterprise Support Knowledge.  Over the past year, we have been working closely with clients to have them use our solution not only for their service desk needs, but also in other areas where knowledge can support their organization.   During the conference, we listened to stories about how our clients are doing just that.   We learned much more about how they are expanding their use of the RightAnswers solution, and it was very exciting to hear.

When you see and hear the enthusiasm of our clients together in this type of setting, it confirms the good work we are doing, as well as the impact we are having on all of our customers.  This was truly a great feeling.

On behalf of the entire RightAnswers team, I would like to thank all of our customers who attended.  In addition, I’d like to thank our keynote speakers – Eveline Oehrlich, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research and Jerry Markbreit, former NFL referee.  Our partners were also a big part of making this event a great success.  HCL was presented with our Innovative Partner of the Year award during day #2.  The award honors the fastest growing alliances within the RightAnswers partner program.  We thank all of our partners that attended this event.

IMPACT 2010 was a great milestone for our company, but it is only the beginning.  I am excited about the customer advisory committee we kicked off at the conference, and look forward to planning IMPACT 2011 which will be held in New York City.  Thanks again to everyone, and we look forward to seeing you next year!

HCL Awarded Innovative Partner of Year at IMPACT 2010

At IMPACT 2010 this week, we announced that HCL won our Innovative Partner of the Year award.  The award honors the fastest growing alliances within the RightAnswers’ partner program.  We are pleased to present this award to HCL as our partnership represents the unique value proposition that RightAnswers and HCL’s solutions offer the marketplace.

As a partner with RightAnswers, HCL has implemented knowledge-driven solutions utilizing the RightAnswers Unified Knowledge Suite.  The companies jointly handle several accounts across the globe in the US, UK and Singapore serving the needs of financial services, media/entertainment, utility/energy, and manufacturing organizations.

Mr. Anubhav Saxena (Vice President – Global Marketing, Strategy and Alliances, HCL Technologies) had this to say regarding the achievement:

“We are delighted to have been chosen as the ‘Innovative Partner of the Year’ by RightAnswers.  At HCL, innovation has been identified as the key driver for sustaining a competitive edge in the market.  This award is a testimonial of our continued efforts towards providing innovative business solutions that have been applauded by our customers globally.”

We look forward to continuing a long and prosperous relationship with HCL, as well as all of our current and future partners.