Zeroing in on a solution

In the "war" against support issues, we are facing a steadily growing opponent. The number of devices to support grows as the price of hardware falls and businesses expand their use of computers. The number of support issues grows as new ones appear but old ones don't go away. This growth will continue, and in fact, will accelerate, since it is being fueled by Moore's Law (see this Wikipedia article). In order to prevent a crisis, some sort of effort multiplier has to be part of the support process. Device HealthCare incorporates such a multiplier, called Support Multiplication.

A crude version of support multiplication has been in use for a long time, in the form of support knowledge bases:

• Observe - The end user observes issues on the device reports to helpdesk

• Orient - Technician searches the knowledge base

• Decide - Based on the KB and end-user information technician decides best action to be taken

• Act - Technician implements the solution with the help of end-user or by remote control

When an issue is encountered that is not in the knowledge base, it is typically handled by a more senior support technician who addresses it using other means. After review, if the issue is determined to be relevant and reproducible, it is added to the knowledge base but the support knowledge base has some serious limitations.

• Limit on scaling - Helpdesk staffing is based on the number issues being reported

• Critically dependent on search - Solution matches hinges on successful searches

• People skill dependent - More prone to human errors

• No true feedback loop - KB updates through ad-hoc review process

• No component assembly - There is no facility for rapid creation of support solutions

Despite these major limitations, the support knowledge base is usually an extremely high value resource. Private databases are guarded fiercely as precious intellectual property, and public databases (such as the Microsoft one) are one of the most heavily used resources of the company. This indicates just how valuable even a relatively modest multiplier can be.

Device Healthcare comprehensive Support Multiplication process

Device HealthCare architecture incorporates a comprehensive Support Multiplication process using key elements of the Boyd’s loop incorporating a multi-stage feedback mechanism:

• Observe - Rich and deep set of mechanisms for observing and recording device operation at system level

• Orient - Diagnosis without user assistance and automated diagnosis using database of known patterns

• Decide - With rich information compared against KB or automated notifications with complex diagnosis condition

• Act - A much less invasive action closer to the operating system

Device Healthcare database of known patterns ensures the entire cycle is done using local processing without any support technician interventions or end-user assistance.

• Feedback - The feedback process in Device Health Care is an important part of Support Multiplication. In that sense, it shares the same general goals and methods of the feedback process in the "knowledge base" support process, but that is where the similarity ends. The Device HealthCare feedback process is particularly unique, and reflects the structure of the decision making process. The feedback happens in stages:

  1. Configuring local observations to drill down

  2. Configuring notifications on server to detect further instances

  3. Recording issue resolution process using local support solutions

  4. Creating/configuring local support solutions for automated resolution

Benefit

Support Multiplication is without a doubt the most important single principle of Device HealthCare. For a support service organization, it provides immediate tangible benefits:

• Scalability - More issue handling per support technician

• Reliability - Issues are detected and addressed more accurately

• Consistency - The same issue is resolved the same (correct) way

• Responsiveness - Both initial response time and overall resolution time are improved

• Proactivity - Issues are addressed before they affect end users

• Adaptiveness - Resources are focused on the most important issues

Uniqueness

Reasons for uniqueness of Support Multiplication in Device Healthcare:

• Scale of Multiplier - True large-scale multiplication far beyond “scripting”
  1. Generalized flow control
  2. Integrated error mechanisms
  3. Local existence and management on device
• Depth of Tools - Integration with device far beyond “monitoring”
  1. Detection with deep hooks
  2. Resolution with full API access
• Feedback Loop - Multi-stage feedback mechanism unparalleled anywhere

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