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I'm interested in your services. What happens next?
How much does it cost?
How long will it take?
How do I book you to speak at our conference?
Are you ITIL-certified?
Where do I get hold of your books?
Do you do in-house training?
Can I hire you as a stand-in manager?
Where can I hear you speak?
What training courses are you running?
What helpdesk software do you recommend?
- I'm interested in your services. What happens next?
Click the photo in the top right-hand
corner of the screen. That brings up our contact details. Call me or Email me. If
you have a clear and present consulting or training need, the next step is usually
a meeting at your premises. Ideally, that should be attended by all parties who would
influence the terms of reference and goals of any subsequent project and/or the decision
to proceed. My agenda at the meeting will be to understand the situation and your
needs well enough to submit later a written proposal. Go to top
- How much does it cost?
I charge a composite daily rate, which includes my fee, travel
and accommodation expenses. It is at the level you would expect to pay for a senior
management consultant. I use the same rate for training interventions, rather than
charge per attendee head, which can make training very cost-effective. Go to top
- How long will it take?
A consultancy engagement can vary in length of course, depending
on the scope and objectives of the project. My most usual engagement is to look at
a helpdesk and offer recommendations. This is quite involved, with measurement exercises
started before I arrive, the study itself, interviews with staff and users and a
management debriefing. Typically, it's about three weeks from start to finish.
Onsite training is slightly different. I usually take a day or two to understand
the situation and customise my training materials, then the course itself is typically
one or two days for up to sixteen attendees, followed by a management debriefing
of half a day. Go to top
- How do I book you to speak at our conference?
You can see some examples of previous
conference speeches by clicking on the 'Speaking' link on the left-hand sidebar.
Click the photo in the top right-hand corner of the screen for my contact details.
Call me or Email me and we'll discuss. There is usually a nominal speaker's fee which
also covers my expenses, unless it is outside the UK. Then I'll be asking you to
cover the airfare separately, which for long haul will be business class. Go to top
- Are you ITIL-certified?
In the specific area of improving helpdesk services, where
I exercise my specialisation, ITIL is virtually irrelevant. ITIL makes no attempt
to improve IT helpdesk and user support services. What it does is offer interlinked,
high level processes for the IT department as a whole. It's like if IT were a car,
ITIL would say it needed wheels, steering, engine, transmission, brakes, a passenger
cabin; while I would tell you how to drive quickly and efficiently while taking into
account the comfort of your passengers.
ITIL makes no attempt to do what I do. It
doesn't improve user support. It's only about overall processes, not procedures and
not practice. While process is important, to me it is just one tool that can help
to make practice work. ITIL processes can be taken into account - e.g. where Incident,
Change, Release management etc. are in place or needed. But I have found it unnecessary
to be certified by a framework that offers a different type of benefit to the one
I produce for my clients. Go to top
- Where do I get hold of your books?
Click on the 'Writing' link on the left-hand menu,
which will take you the books' entries here and from there to Amazon. Or you can
order via your local bookshop by quoting the details on the 'Writing' pages. Go to
top
- Do you do in-house training?
Yes. Normally, the arrangements are arrived at in the
same way as consultancy. Go to top
- Can I hire you as a stand-in manager?
Yes. See the ‘Interim Manager’ link on the menu
at the left of the page. Go to top
- Where can I hear you speak?
Click on the 'Speaking' link on the left hand menu, where
I announce where I'm next speaking. Go to top
- What training courses are you running?
From time to time I run public courses. They
will normally be announced on this site, and if we have your Email address, you'll
be the first to know. Go to top
- What helpdesk software do you recommend?
I have no affiliation with any helpdesk software
manufacturer that compels me to recommend one or other vendor's products. If and
when I do recommend software, it is on the basis of the most appropriate match to
the client's needs. Go to top
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