Communication through emails and Slack with 16+ hour gaps between responses can lead to deployment missteps, security breaches staying open longer, and IT engineers completing redundant work., With a follow the sun model, on the other hand, daily handoffs of projects and tasks build better communication lines between global offices and their network engineers. Understand and optimize your cloud infrastructure today with Lucidscale. I am talking about the follow-the-sun model, or FTS for short. Think of the home base as the product owner. Because of its uncommon nature, FTS is also least practiced in the industry and has very few documented examples of success. 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. I am talking about the follow-the-sun model, or FTS for short. December 20, 2021. It can also be achieved in a variety of ways. Our offerings for Salesforce include the same 24x7x365, follow-the-sun support with a guaranteed response of under 10-minutes for P1 critical issue . Project handoffs are done on a daily basis at the end of each shift. IEEE, 2014. The various composition features of this PowerPoint image like the design, color, text, etc. Plus, with a follow the sun model established, your company will be better prepared to support customers around the world, allowing your business to branch into new markets. 0000013504 00000 n For example, another Zendesk customer, Prezi, has teams in two locationsone in San Francisco and one in Budapest. This project involved five global teams distributed across five different countries. We have underlined some of the essential concepts of FTS such as use of Agile for FTS, tools required and learnings from past experiences for the efficient implementation of FTS. 0000067044 00000 n When a task is handed off from one engineer to another, there is an up-to-date, accurate architecture diagram to work from.. Its also important to have daily stand-up meetings. on, pages 185194. Read on to learn what a follow the sun model is and how to implement it at your company. Some sites could feel isolated and out of the loop. Figure 5: Successful implementation of FTS depends on reliable software tools and utilities. What Is Follow-the-Sun and Why Should You Care? Now that youve done all the groundwork of defining workload capability, visualizing infrastructure, and hammering out the handoff process, youre ready to get your new model signed off by stakeholders. @|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 This will help avoid any confusion on who ultimately owns the process., Take stock of all the team members available to maintain your IT architecture. Do we get enough tickets from each timezone to support a customer service agent. In other words, Follow the Sun is a 24/7 customer support approach for local and international clients. 3 levels of support delivery model. Oops! Note that it will only suit some business models. In Global Software Engineering, 2009. Do I qualify? 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. The organization which we are using in our example has offices spread worldwide and the Follow the Sun support model works wonderfully well for it. culture and language). To manage the workflow efficiently the principles shown in Fig. Let's review the diagram below. Or, consider the approach at Solium, which provides an equity management platform that performs real-time trades 21 hours per day. For me, staying connected with clients in every corner of the globe was always important. In Agile Conference, 2005. In this distributed model, the CIA [8] (the triad of Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of service and data) assumes paramount importance. Shifting to a remote-based model streamlined our FTS approach with the ability to provide client services without opening an office location first. Based on the discussions in the Principles of FTS section which explains the minimum criteria for a work flow to be considered as a FTS approach, the following do not fit in this category [1]: Agile software development practice consists of a set of principles which advocate continuous improvement, adaptive planning, early delivery and flexibility in responding to change. This is a BETA experience. As a result, the benefits of FTS tend to be concentrated around isolated phases rather than having an overall impact on the development cycle. To make collaboration and handoff even easier, engineers and process owners can @mention each other to focus attention on specific shapes of the diagram. Agile has several characteristics which support FTS adoption [6]. Slide 1 of 2. Increase response time to solve problems more quickly, and reduce development and production times to get products and services to market faster. 2008. Every time you learn you have a new customer base, you find someone to support them. 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. This means that one team takes over the task when the first team is over. There is only one site that owns the product at any point in time. A typical ITSM process can involve something as simple as an employee asking for a new laptop. 0000008134 00000 n Several workflows seem to be using the FTS model, but in reality this is not always the case. Quarterly Executive. (2006). 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. Tiered support model with queries and system administrators. With this model, none of your locations are neglected or receive better customer service. Essentially, it's 24/7 support, no matter where the sun is up, without needing any customer service department to work late shifts. Follow the Sun is a customer support method that focuses on providing consistent customer support without regard for geographic location or time restraints. You can turn light-speed production and service delivery into one of the signature advantages of your brand. To do this from a single office theyd have to aggressively staff up. Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. 0000067800 00000 n Network Security in Theory and Practice. [14] Josiane Kroll, Sajid Ibrahim Hashmi, Ita Richardson, and Jorge LN Audy. Because of these reasons FTS is best suited for Agile. The work involved a software project developed by teams in Mexico, India and Australia, which followed Scrum. For example, you may need skilled bilingual managers and associates to help with international communications. To get a proper picture of the background on FTS, there is a need to understand a development pace and its associated concept of time to market, which are the main drivers of the development of FTS. Collaboration between teams is very important in Agile, a trait which is also a characteristic of FTS model. Teams must be able to define what work has been done and what work is expected next in the process. trailer <]/Prev 478482>> startxref 0 %%EOF 170 0 obj <>stream What could shorter department turnaround times mean for what youre trying to achieve globally? Let's talk about providing 24-hour support without overwhelming one location and forcing staff to work overtime. In Management of Engineering and Technology, Portland International Center for, pages 24582466. Tools to support data security and encryption such as VPNs are also important. 0000003713 00000 n [15] Christian Visser and Rini van Solingen. As an agency with many Ukraine-based staff members in February 2022, it was the kind of situation none of us wanted to believe would ever happen. No one prepared us for the pandemic, but it changed the world and how we look at work tremendously. The effective utilization of code repositories and version control management systems is crucial to the success of the FTS approach. Most employees do not want to be at work 12 or 16 hours a day. 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.