While there will be times for pinching pennies, rather than build something yourself and have to support it and rely on developers to make the needed changes down the road (been there, done that), go search the web for a SaaS solution that is cost effective.

I would much rather my development team focus on products we can actually sell and generate revenue from and not strap them down to a “home grown” solution.

Before SaaS – sure, I would tap the developers because the older non-hosted solutions were very expensive and had a severe impact on IT and adoption.

There are great SaaS support solutions that may add as little as (depending on the support need) 2-3k a year in operational expense. Much less than the dollars and time needed for a home grown solution when you think about it.

Based on my experience – this is very important but keep in mind, it is placing a bet – and in some cases a big bet that does not pay off.

I have been though this process before as the executive that moved into a different role based on a company acquisition and had to fill my position quickly. Lucky for me, I treated my employees with openness – so for the most part, they knew what I knew unless the content was classified.

We came out on the positive side of this speedy process and I was able to put the right person in place. Actually, I had a few people in mind that were capable.

One thing that is not mentioned here is how to handle the resentment among the employees that felt they should have been chosen or feel they are more qualified than the one selected. We did have a slight issue there and ended up having to fix it with money but it is a reality none the less. Tons of HR issues to keep in mind with all of this – and it is not all positive and 1-2-3 either.

I am not so sure about saying there must be a commitment between executive mgt and the individuals because you are lucky these days to keep an employee for any long length of time. People do not hang out in the same gig as long as they used to. Pretty rare to find the younger folks staying with a company more than 5 years these days.

Also, the carrot on the stick (“you will be running the show one day”) is less attractive these days. You can make all of the commitments you want with an employee but if they are approached to fill that higher position with more money long before you can provide it to them, they are going to leave and take the other job. Then all that time, money, etc that was spent is gone. Like I said, it is a bet – and people are going to do what is best for them.

I think the plan needs to be defined and the super stars identified. All you can do is try to keep the individual(s) next in line with the company until the time comes to promote – but there is no black and white to this at all.

I had an employee that should have taken my spot, and he knew the job as well as I did but he did not see a change coming anytime soon enough to please his personal goals. So he left, got the position he was after and more money.

Companies should always be ready and prepared on some level for super stars to leave with a 2-3 week notice. That goes for the executive side as well. “What do we do if our CTO comes in tomorrow and gives notice?”. Happens all the time so just be ready to move on the fly.

The best advice I can give is to know who your super stars are (that means getting to know your people), expose them to as much as you can, nurture the ones that show desire and interest – and should the time come and they are interested (or still at the company), they know the job and can jump right in.

12 years in this industry, first SSPA and now a consolidated group has provided means to excel and spread the skills and expertise across my teams and myself personally.

Rich Gallagher

Having worked in technical support both as a rep and a director, I learned early on that the gap between support and development must be closed and they must use the same piece of software in order to be effective.

To me, one of the biggest and most common problems is this; The customer calls or emails the Support staff but the problem is beyond what they can handle and must be passed over to the Developers and Engineers. Unfortunately, those groups use a different piece of software.

At this point, the support staff, management and the customers lose visibility.

It really depends on the nature of the first call. If it is something support can handle, such as operator error or changing a configuration file, that is great. But in many cases, the issue needs to be passed to someone that can actually solve the problem or add the feature – and if an organization has silo’s, this can be very frustrating to everyone, including the customer.

When do you plan on posting your factors?