24/7 Software Blog

It’s been a long year for you.

But, it has also been a productive one.

You’ve really stepped it up in 2018.

Plans to take your operation to the next level in 2019 are underway.

You’re busy making the needed changes and improvements.

But, it wasn’t always like this.

Your predecessor did not leave you with much of a legacy to build.

You were forced to start over.

This circumstance terrified you.

From inefficient processes to high staff turnover, to non-existent technology, you had your work cut out for you.

Agree?

Everything was your responsibility from the start.

Your team was looking at you to change things around for the better.

You were ready for the challenge because you knew a change was necessary.

But, you weren’t so confident and clear on how to get started.

You spent several weeks researching and reaching out to colleagues that have done it right. 

The consensus led you to 24/7 Software’s blog.

Here is where you discovered the Proactive Operations methodology.

That’s when the real work started.

Right?

Now, you sit at the head of the table, not only at home for today’s feast but for your operation too.

We’re thankful for this.

You’ve earned it.

“Today, we celebrate another year and a mission for 2019 that we’ll accomplish together,” you say to your team.

“I give thanks to each one of you for your contribution to us becoming a proactive operation,” you conclude.

Your team breaks out in cheer!

Today, everyone gets to enjoy the fruits of everyone’s labor.

So, enjoy your success.

Your day is starting.

Your property is packed.

You can feel the energy moving through the halls.

The team did a great job filling the place.

Your revenue projections for this month look stellar.

But, you’re still nervous about service, even with the potential for revenue generation this holiday season.

Why?

You know what’s going to happen an hour from now.

Your customers will need stuff.

But your staff won’t be able to handle the influx of special customer requests coming through the phones.

How do you know this?

You don’t have a scalable way to handle special requests.

If your staff is running around doing other important tasks, your customers will have to wait.

You need to get your customer requests under control.

So, how can you do this?

You need request tracking software.

It lets you handle special customer requests with total efficiency.

Keep reading; we’ll show you.

Put your pen down.

Stop writing.

You know what you’re doing is terrible for your operation.

But you’ve been doing it so long it’s hard to stop.

You’re using pen & paper.

Not just to write notes and doodle either.

You’re using pen and paper to record everything vital to your operation – especially incident reports.

The recording device that you’re using to capture important incident details is pen and paper.

How could you!?

Please, put your pen down, step away from the incident report on your desk, and read this article in its entirety.

Because we know you’ll tell us you’ll stop writing.

But we don’t believe you.

Why?

Because while many operations have moved on, you’re still holding on… to that pen.

It’s why we need you to know why it’s terrible for your business.

That pen is crippling your personnel, affecting liability protection, and destroying your operational performance.

This practice of handwriting information is miles from Proactive Operations.

But, here’s the good news.

You can change it.

Yes, it takes effort to move away from using pen & paper.

Trust us, though.

Once you make the switch – your performance will skyrocket, and your stress level will drop.

You’re amid a hundred things going on right now.

“We’re out of toilet paper in restroom 100-A,” comes over the radio.

Then, you hear another call.

“We need a wheelchair for a lady.”

It’s one after another.

You’re doing great too.

Your team is using the incident management and request tracking software seamlessly.

They’re a big part of the unified solution you use.

But, now it’s late into the event, and you forgot to reverse the escalators.

“Oh no, the escalators,” you shout as you hustle to tackle this series of tasks.

Why do these tasks always slip through the cracks?

It’s because you’re still writing them down and relying on your working memory!

You’ve got to stop, right?

And, you can.

There’s a way to manage these critical tasks with ease.

You can take control of your essential tasks the same way you’ve maximized your issue, incident, and customer request abilities.

Keep reading; this article is going to explain how to manage your operational tasks efficiently, and how to accomplish this using task management software.

We’ve got a lot to cover.

Let’s get started.

“On the eve of midterm elections, Facebook said Monday that it had blocked 115 social media accounts after receiving a warning from federal law enforcement officials of ‘coordinated inauthentic behavior’ that could be linked to foreign entities,” writes Giles Snyder in their recent NPR article entitled “Facebook Blocks More Than 100 Accounts, Citing Possible Foreign Influence.”

“In a blog post Monday night, Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy, said 85 of the accounts were on the company's Instagram service, with the remainder on Facebook itself,” the article continues.

According to Snyder, “Gleicher wrote that the accounts were immediately blocked after the company was notified Sunday evening of suspicious behavior and that the questionable accounts — potentially linked to foreign entities — are being investigated ‘in more detail."

"[Almost] all the Facebook pages associated with these accounts appear to be in the French or Russian languages, while the Instagram accounts seem to have mostly been in English," Gleicher said, according to the NPR piece.

Snyder explains, “Gleicher said the company typically waits until it is further along in such a probe before publicly acknowledging the steps it takes to remove suspicious accounts, but ‘given that we are only one day away from important elections in the U.S., we wanted to let people know about the action we've taken and the facts as we know them today.’

Immediately, we recognize an essential lesson for you – and your operation.

• You need a proactive operation that lets you recognize, prevent, and stop foreign (or external) threats from impacting your operation

This lesson has many components and would require your team to understand various aspects of your operation further.

But, the critical takeaway is: having a well-organized operation with processes, agile teams, and technology in place to thwart the “bad guys.”

Agree?

You need Proactive Operations.

All your teams are on track.

They’re knocking it out of the park.

From one incident to the next, they’re moving with high-speed efficiency.

You didn’t realize what you were missing out before you implemented your incident management system (IMS).

But, now you’ve uncovered a new problem.

You thought you’d be able to handle incidents like a proactive operation.

You always wanted to lead a world-class operation.

Unfortunately, you’re not quite there yet.

Implementing your IMS exposed another weakness in your operation.

Everything was out of control because you didn’t have a system before.

But now, you’ve noticed an influx of incident reports being created later.

This disparity didn’t draw your attention previously because you were used to a large number of calls after hours.

It was ‘normal’ for your operation.

You were confident that implementing an IMS would eradicate this weakness.

It didn’t.

Your team never finds out about these incidents until the next day.

“Why is this happening?” you ask yourself.

Several hundred incidents are being handled following the implementation of your IMS, so you thought things were running smoothly.

Yes, your operation improved.

The only issue now is that you’re “aware” of what your team has not been aware of until it’s too late.

You had no idea this shortfall existed prior to deploying an IMS.

Incidents can occur at any moment, and if no one sees or reports them – they slip through the cracks.

It’s hard to notice this when everything is out of control, right?

It’s a tough problem to overcome too.

But, you can resolve this.

You need a time-of-need system.

You need text communication to increase your awareness of all incidents as they’re happening.