Picture this. 0000065007 00000 n Many companies are looking for efficiency in software development in terms of quality and development time. For me, staying connected with clients in every corner of the globe was always important. 0000065768 00000 n This Presentation graphic is eloquent and useful for the IT students, IT researchers, and IT specialists from various fields. Production sites involved in the software development are many time zones apart. Apart from the usual difficulties faced in globally distributed software development, FTS also has the additional challenges of managing daily job hand-offs. Calculation, effects, and prevention tips, Streamline call center BPO management with data-driven WFM, Why great CX is the doorway to success with open banking for financial services firms. PjYIh$ 3lKPt[?7\p rNt[n@rS +@G9z|t- ]P$>(h)tQ c5+${._~;i$ X~,h XOjcL^W? These questions will help you determine if you have enough tickets coming in from each area in the world and if it's a standard practice to offer 24/7 support. Now, what does this look like in action? But other companies may determine that they can meet their global support needs with other tactics. Based on these observations and the results presented in literature, it can be said that FTS approach is not widely used in practice because of its limitations and challenges. The result was that the project was completed in 5.5 weeks, while it was estimated to be completed in 6 weeks in non-FTS mode, so it reduced time. Test the plan before implementation to ensure that hand-offs between sites will run smoothly and make tweaks to the processes as needed. Start off by asking key questions. The work involved a software project developed by teams in Mexico, India and Australia, which followed Scrum. Another documented case of FTS application was by Infosys [20] in 2005 where FTS was applied to small subsets of the project cycle. A follow the sun model can help your organization provide 24/7/365 support to customers across the globe, regardless of time or location. Linear sequential approaches such as the Waterfall model seem to be inefficient for the FTS approach. We have also elaborated in depth about the real world examples where FTS was applied. Computer, 42(1):66-73, 2009. For example, a baseline work week is 30 hours after taking into account non-task activities. follow the sun workflow in global software development. Slide 1 of 2. To do this from a single office theyd have to aggressively staff up. The traditional follow the sun model is a type of global workflow in which issues can be handled by and passed between offices in different time zones, increasing responsiveness and reducing delays. Several reasons such as misinterpretation of specifications, multiple rework cycles, lack of proper coordination and communication between teams, time zone issues and cultural differences were attributed to the projects failure. Read on to learn what a follow the sun model is and how to implement it at your company. 0000002728 00000 n Believe it or not, the Covid-19 pandemic certainly influenced the decision to bring this powerful idea to life with local client support branches and personnel on every continent. The follow the sun model is a service and support method that is designed to address and satisfy customer needs without regard to geographic location or current time. Stars, 16 Agency Leaders Explore The SEO Trends Impacting Their Work In 2023, 15 Smart Ways To Address High Employee Turnover, How Vietnam's Entertainment Industry Can Increase Its Global Reach, 6 Best Practices For CEOs And Professional Leaders Using LinkedIn. When you keep everyone on the same page, service ticket times go down, security gets stronger, workflows become more seamless, and customers receive a better technical experience. 0000003713 00000 n FtVz:-zn>\M~J/CeTb{POj"}"yX-hD]0)u&Z?C4SX0;53mHp 8Q[M#A.l{ GrhhXE3rVY)^a. + endstream endobj 135 0 obj <>stream They also need to train employees on how to use the software and then respond to any service tickets upon deployment. At any given time only one team owns the product unlike other global configurations in which multiple locations can own different parts of the product. In this section we give a number of research themes within Follow-the-Sun software development research. I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery store. It is used mainly for school presentations and businesses. It was developed so companies can provide round-the-clock customer service, literally following the sun around the globe. For example, another Zendesk customer, Prezi, has teams in two locationsone in San Francisco and one in Budapest. z(nK9:QS%i$MEaab:a=KpLD;so@ This type of customer support can help you provide quality, on-time support to customers 24/7. Figure 3: Comparing FTS model with other global workflows [1]. Ultimately, the processes kept running, the staff were not forced to work overtime, and none of the offices were overwhelmed, and that is key when it comes to a successful business model. Organization Support: Role Incident Liaison (IL) Description For severity 1 incidents only. We operate a 24/7 global support team. Implementing follow the sun methods in your global organization can be challenging. But these steps will add to the increase in cost due to burnout and fatigue [2]. Presentation Mode allows you to show off the specific parts of your design that stakeholders care about most., There you have it. 0000013504 00000 n It was developed so companies can provide round-the-clock customer service, literally following the sun around the globe. If your business proceeds with follow the sun, managers should do their best to schedule meetings when its most convenient for both locations, and IT should adopt video conferencing and cloud-based solutions for everyone to work together. FTS feasibility study: In 2013 there was a feasibility study of FTS in the industry [18]. They are required to fill in a request form through a portal. 0000016106 00000 n The model you choose, develop, and refine should be the one that works best for you and your customers. The follow the sun model is a service and support method that is designed to address and satisfy customer needs without regard to geographic location or current time. Service and development sites are spread out across many time zones, allowing work to be passed from location to location. Research concluded that nine aspects of management are important for improving hand-offs efficiency [16]: improving communication quality, ensure knowledge transfer between team members and production sites, management of hand-offs information, developing teams trust before and along the project, ensure compliance of deadlines, establishing time rules, providing proper technology and tools, delegating responsibility and coordination of task allocation. A customer service platform with mobile access might allow you to stagger your shifts between home and work, and to cover different time zones, without having to hire a remote representative. [12] Miguel Jimnez, Mario Piattini, and Aurora Vizcano. 0000013744 00000 n A part of this may be attributed to the availability of efficient tools and enabling technologies for implementing the FTS model. They meet their global support goals by working together, providing a combined 18 hours a day of coverage. Their teams are based in Honduras, Romania and the Philippines. It is always noon somewhere, right? The initiative was unsuccessful, and the project was ultimately implemented using only the essential principles of global software development. In an Agile based methodology, all major development activities (design, code, test and integrate) are carried out in every iteration cycle. Some key assumptions in deriving the above principles are listed below: Follow the sun approach involves daily handoff of the work which suggests that there will be some reduction in the project duration. Because of the hand-offs, work is owned by and worked on by one site at a time. 7. 0000068561 00000 n There is also research that studied the impact of the number of sites on working speed and accuracy in Follow-the-Sun software development [9]. When a task is handed off from one engineer to another, there is an up-to-date, accurate architecture diagram to work from.. Our offerings for Salesforce include the same 24x7x365, follow-the-sun support with a guaranteed response of under 10-minutes for P1 critical issue . F9,Y%9Q@o:B"w7Fy||:R_q};gxJ2#'S2"8S$I(y'_`}WHw6(iEM:+9%Wl )ThVXNo"iN U=v f4. [7] Monica Yap. Challenges and improvements in distributed software development: A systematic review. Figure 2: Calendar Efficiency in different Working Modes [1]. Follow the sun: distributed extreme programming development. A follow the sun model can help your organization provide 24/7/365 support to customers across the globe, regardless of time or location. Background, main ideas and principles behind FTS were discussed followed by a brief review on Agile for FTS, advantages and limitations of FTS. Follow-the-sun support model is a very common paradigm for enterprise support companies wanting to deliver round the clock critical support for business critical applications. A follow the sun model keeps everyone on the same page, working towards the same project end goal., Lets walk through some best practices for setting up a follow the sun model., While a follow the sun model means teams in multiple locations could be involved, its important to define what the home base is for each project you take on, whether that is your site or another one. Regardless of where the bulk of customers are located, if you know that youre receiving a lot of tickets outside of your standard support hours, then its time to start thinking about a rotational support model. 0000065082 00000 n The main criteria to go for FTS is the reduction in the development time or time-to-market. Most employees do not want to be at work 12 or 16 hours a day. Collaboration between teams is very important in Agile, a trait which is also a characteristic of FTS model. Combine all of this with an efficient follow the sun framework, and youll be delivering best-in-class service to all of your users. We showed that there are three main research themes, namely challenges and best practices, location selection and hand-offs management. There are numerous advantages if the FTS implementation is successful which are reduced time-to-market, reduced software costs, increased international relationships leading to better diversity among companies, etc. Agile places a lot of emphasis on continuous integration (using automation) encouraging every team to maintain an updated and testable version of the code which can be used by the next production site. If youre using a customer service platform with great analytics, youll be able to make data-driven decisions about the right time to expand globally. It may take more time than anticipated to ask questions and receive answers. 0000013868 00000 n As well, such expansion can always have a positive impact in terms of brand development and brand promotion. A systematic literature review of best practices and challenges in follow-the-sun software development. This schedule is determined by global stock exchange hours. The traditional "follow the sun" model is a type of global workflow in which issues can be handled by and passed between offices in different time zones, increasing responsiveness and reducing delays. working only during daylight hours. Because it is always daytime somewhere in the world, you need a way to support customers around the globe no matter what time zone they are in and without too much delay. Although the advantages presented above could take your business to the next level, adopting a follow the sun model comes with its own set of challenges and disadvantages. And that's where the follow the sun customer support model comes in. In traditional software development, global teams are less dependent on one another and usually do not pass on the work (hand-off). Organization Support: Role Communications Manager (CM) Description Coordinates emergency communication strategy across teams: customer success, marketing, legal, etc. One way to implement a follow the sun approach is to have customer support owned by one site at a time -- wherever the sun is up. The follow the sun model gives your employees their lives back to spend more time with family and recreation. With rising customer expectations around better service in todays macroeconomic environment, its important to lean on customer education programs to boost agent knowledge and productivityand to help your business retain customers. Customers who aren't in your timezone won't have to wait for you to wake up to receive service. As illustrated in Fig. This can be done by evaluating when your customers need you most, and carefully considering how to meet them where they are. Two case studies reported on the application of FTS in software development is elaborated below. PowToon is a free . hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(53, '12501f7c-8e26-4e3c-9642-7afbe078156a', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); The follow the sun customer support model is designed to address customer needs without regard to geographic location or current time. Federal Republic of Germany, 2017. And when the shifts switch, you'll have each site hand off work to the next shift. A global service model in place to keep every team member connected, consistent and making continual progress on projects, tasks, and bug fixes. Consider these basic steps and questions you need to ask before diving into a follow the sun methodology. Stand-up meetings: Hold stand-up meetings right when shifts are switching from one site to another, so your employees can give the new reps an overview of what's happened, and any outstanding issues that need to be addressed. To this end, the FTS research needs to be done comprehensively, so that companies start adopting it in real-time projects. This workflow model is specifically designed to help address customers' needs without regard to geolocation or time zone. At the same time, I can attest that it takes considerable investment, time and human resources. The specifics of this model require team managers to have constant control over the workflow because delays may result in the poor coordination of teams. The sun never sets for businesses that rely on remote support, and global support, for customer service. Join 64,500+ Customer-Facing Professionals, Pop up for FREE CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP TEMPLATES. In Global Software Engineering (ICGSE), 2010 5th IEEE International Conference on, pages 165174. When youve got teams working round the clock, your troubleshooting efforts become more efficient. The handoffs can be applied to any software development task. Cloud support model with customer responsibility. One of the cornerstone principles of FTS is that certain assets are repeatedly shared between the offices at the end of the production circle or a working day so that the second team can continue the production/maintenance. 128 0 obj <> endobj xref 128 43 0000000016 00000 n Calendar efficiency can be increased in a simple way by working overtime (overload mode), but this only improves the efficiency by 6%. Well explain how to calculate and reduce turnover in your organization. Project collaboration becomes immensely easier when the status of each task (and the progress made on the task) is clearly documented. Outline your company's customer journey and experience with these 7 free customer journey map templates. Follow the sun is also used in software, technology, and other sectors as a customer service model. Managing and continuing recruiting and growing regionally helped implement the FTS model for all departments and reinforced the ability to provide top-notch customer service. The "Follow-the-Sun" support model is a structured model that works best for service desks that work around the clock. With Lucidscale, you have a single source of truth for every project, feature, and bug being worked on by IT engineers. It is a model in which work from one site is handed over to another, which is many time zones away (for example, U.S.A to India), in order for the work to be advanced while one team rests for the night. If possible, these meetings could be conducted during the hand-off so that the team can better communicate and share knowledge with each other. IEEE, 2007. Adding more man power to the project is not of much interest in software development, because of the wisdom gained long ago from the seminal Brooks law adding manpower to a late software project makes it later [3]. With this intuitive, cloud-based solution, everyone can work visually and collaborate in real time while building flowcharts, mockups, UML diagrams, and more. Follow the Sun is a support model which works best for service desks that work around the clock, i.e 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. 0000063868 00000 n [20] ZONE, HOW INFOSYS MANAGES TIME. 2. Rather than making the customer wait several hours until you can get back to working on a solution, follow the sun allows you to pass on the work to the next site. @|Q%q_2.gINPQ1Aq!>(ob@d9I8j3.a(fdb@n@8nZk;aza azv(;@ r endstream endobj 129 0 obj <>>>/Metadata 126 0 R/Outlines 108 0 R/PageLayout/SinglePage/Pages 123 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences<>>> endobj 130 0 obj <>/ExtGState<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]/Properties<>/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/Tabs/W/Thumb 109 0 R/TrimBox[0.0 0.0 612.0 792.0]/Type/Page>> endobj 131 0 obj [/ICCBased 142 0 R] endobj 132 0 obj <> endobj 133 0 obj <>stream Ultimately, this means better customer service and improved customer experiences. I understand I may unsubscribe at any time. The various agile methodologies such as Scrum, Lean, Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), DSDM etc., share much of the same characteristics and practices and are widely practiced in Globally Distributed Software Development. Positive messages from current users make selling to new customers much easier, and if you can deliver consistent service around the clock and delight your customers, positive feedback is sure to come your companys way. If you have an online business or SaaS product, you probably sell your products or services globally. Open Scholars Know How to License Their Work for Maximum Impact<br /> 29. This process could take weeks if only one team in one time zone is working on the project. The implementation of FTS, if not practiced correctly, may result in failures and projects going over budget [10]. culture and language). FTS is a special case of GSD which aims to achieve a 100% workday in software projects. See pricing, Marketing automation software. Additionally, you won't have to hire any customer service reps to work a night shift -- meaning you'll have happier employees who are working reasonable hours. y&[vx_TsrbV_[tQoMPDv2[%Xq?>R ,&$[f5_vv=EW\p6{`A7ejw@aAs]9#~;.#%hw AVC$+p( Modern day software development is spread more and more across national and international boundaries. This workflow model is specifically designed to help address customers' needs without regard to geolocation or time zone. 0000015792 00000 n In fact, a study conducted by the CMO Council found that arranging technical assistance and 24/7 accessibility were the top two ways that companies could improve product experience for users.. System Sciences (HICSS), 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on, pages 331339. Agile seems to be the best and most suitable for FTS based approaches because the principles of Agile anf FTS complement each other. They are summarized in the table below. User interface data decision support system model with arrows and icons. [1] Erran Carmel, J Alberto Espinosa, and Yael Dubinsky. It is quite possible that hundreds of software developers and testers can be working on a project in cycles. Another consideration is the way you use technology. Another group could start at 8:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. to support the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones. Global software development (GSD) is now the need of the hour more than ever. In order to understand and use FTS, some key principles on which FTS is based are mentioned in this section. 0000066419 00000 n One of the important concepts evolved in the past decade or so is the " Follow the sun " (FTS) software development. But other companies may determine Working normal daylight hours keeps employees happy, healthy, and motivated to work while your company is still able to offer round-the-clock service. Tiered support model with queries and system administrators. Let your superior service and personalized support work as a marketing advantage to find new leads and sales. HWY1S%lI^t#ByFwOC+aPvrsjL Since these aspects above are reported to increase efficiency, it was also concluded that when these aspects are taken into account the duration of the project is reduced. Provide tools: Get your system set up with the right tools so your customer service teams can collaborate and communicate easily. Non-stop development can become a serious advantage when you need to reduce time to market or offer your clients better production, development and deployment terms. In creating a support structure based on this schedule, they examined the business units they needed to support and each region. Prezi, for example, has teams in two locations: San Francisco and Budapest. 2 traditional software development stresses on minimal job hand-offs, whereas FTS focusses on day-to day job hand-offs [1]. Entertaining and motivating original stories to help move your visions forward. Do you know where you fall in industry benchmarking when it comes to customer service? There was a 30 and 60 minutes overlap between locations to enable the daily handover of tasks. Make your own animated videos and animated presentations for free. Presenting support model PPT slide template. The above principles allow FTS to be used in any knowledge work (not just software development). The top three best practices that were found in research are agile methods, the use of technology for knowledge sharing (e.g. The three teams consist of 2 micro-teams (composite persona [17]), with at least one person from each location. Tools for estimating and planning schedules, allocation of project tasks, sprint management, progress tracking are essential utilities for front line managers. 0000013630 00000 n The tools you use should emphasize team collaboration and the automation of reporting, scheduling, planning, and progress tracking. ', Successful businesses satisfy customer needsand for some businesses, especially those that have expanded globally, that means providing superior customer service and support 24 hoursin a row. The traditional "follow the sun" model is a type of global workflow in which issues can be handled by and passed between offices in different time zones, increasing responsiveness and reducing delays. You can, however, start planning for it. After considering your demographics and volume, could you make up some of the support volume by using a mobile app? We've got a true, "follow the sun" model, allowing access to support engineers [.] Slide 1 of 2. Business and operational support model. But as you grow, you begin to standardize, build out streamlined processes, and build teams. Oops! 0000002842 00000 n Your global customers will appreciate that bugs and other issues can be resolved quickly and that they dont have to wait for a team in a different time zone to fix the problem. A survey of major approaches for accelerating new product development. Several workflows seem to be using the FTS model, but in reality this is not always the case. 'r( bU:nL,/C^=E#$c;kNaw ] ^6JaI-~5%)IScN8D!MZl1?/*8(Y 7 3go>".X@`kDe!K The effective utilization of code repositories and version control management systems is crucial to the success of the FTS approach. Establish goals: Define your goals around your customer's needs in each location you service. FTS is a global software development strategy. Determine when your customers need you the most so you can define your goals around their needs. Fourth IEEE International Conference This facilitates easy job hand-offs and fits nicely within the FTS model. The first one involved a software development project consisting of teams in the United States and Australia and met with high degree of success. Organization . You may opt-out by. HubSpot uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our relevant content, products, and services. That means customers requests and communications are coming in quickly and oftenand these businesses must meet that demand. Agile also provides an opportunity for every team to maintain a sustainable pace of development i.e. However, FTS is not. Are you using a tool that makes it easy to scale, and to quickly hand off support tickets? Every time you learn you have a new customer base, you find someone to support them. The war in Ukraine also impacted us personally. Most agile practices emphasize face-to-face communication. These are reactive in nature. 0000001891 00000 n In theory, FTS can increase time to market by approximately 60%, which seems attractive. Granted, once the pandemic restrictions started to lift, we followed suit with offices. Software tools used for actual FTS implementation must include both managerial and technical aspects, to adapt to the changing requirements of the software development process. Adopting a follow the sun support methodology can help you provide high-quality, on-time service and support when your internal and external customers need you.. Multiple teams may be working on the product over a certain amount of time, but one defined team is responsible for overseeing the process from start to finish. Response times are increased, delays in problem-solving are reduced, and customers are satisfied. Sorry something went wrong, try again later? 42nd Hawaii International Conference on. Global software development: never mind the problems are there really any benefits? That means you need global customer service. Focus on those regions first. The follow the sun customer support model means that you have customer service representatives available whenever the sun is up -- so as it becomes daytime for different parts of the world as we orbit around the sun, you'll have various customer service sites beginning their day and handing off their issues to another site. As described by Carmel [1], the agile methodology is best suited for FTS. Your team needs to deploy a brand-new, process-defining software to all the computers and devices on your companys networks. Companies large and small are able to provide 24-hour service without putting the burden on one site and requiring employees to work late shifts or overtime. Project handoffs are done on a daily basis at the end of each shift. Essentially, it's 24/7 support, no matter where the sun is up, without needing any customer service department to work late shifts. In Global Software Engineering, 2009. IEEE, 2009. The University of Dar es Salaam Computing Centre is going to offer you in-class facilitation of all of the openEd 2.0 course modules against a moderate fee.<br /> 28. If a system goes down or a major bug cripples workflows, employee productivity and customer experiences can plummet quickly., More than ever, customers expect instant action and response when they experience a technical problem with a product theyre using. To make collaboration and handoff even easier, engineers and process owners can @mention each other to focus attention on specific shapes of the diagram. The various composition features of this PowerPoint image like the design, color, text, etc. This can be achieved in a variety of ways. This model ensures that none of your service locations are neglected or receive preferential treatment, especially if you work at a global company.