@dafyre said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@dashrender said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Folks, is 10% fair for a promotion in London from Systems Administrator, to manager of the customer helpdesk (not IT helpdesk but customer helpdesk, 2 staff, customer facing), and training manager (not internal but customer training, 2 staff again, and customer facing)?

In this case its going from 45k to 50k. From what I can see, a generic manager level job in London i in the 50k range. To go from doing what I do to management of those two teams, is that raise fair for London?

I mean, I've seen service desk managers get 5k bonus for hitting their targets... 5k seems low for taking on the actual jobs entirely x2.

That sounds incredibly low

Thats what I thought. What would you think is fair? I was expecting mind 50s in all honesty.

If you're actually a Systems Administrator you should be making a lot more than that, so I'm really not sure

That's decent for an SA in the UK. That's not US dollars.

65k in pounds right? Still on the low end here, but I guess it also depends on where in the US you are working

That's $88K at the current conversion, but that's not a fair comparison. Think of it more like $110K USD. All British wages are heavily suppressed because of the Brexit.

45000 GBP is 60827 USD.

This position would also still keep me doing my current system admin job. Its not a move to the helpdesk and training manager only. Its a 'heldesk + training manager + system administrator (which I currently do)'... why would that be bad?
I think I would enjoy the additional roles, but not worth doing for 5k.

In that case - OH HELL NO, I wouldn't take that new responsibility for only £5K more.

Exactly I think 10k makes it worth doing. But 5k isnt worth the extra stress. I see 5k as a really nice payrise, not a pay adjustment for taking on a lot of duties and oownership of two departments. Even 10k is low, but I thought realistic. Was suprised they said 5k.

I wouldn't take on the extra responsibilities of managing not one, but two different sets of people for less than 15k.

I know here that wont be possible. Ideally, yes - I agree. But I have to be realistic. I think pushing them to 10k would be possible. Maybe add in some sort of bonus based on KPIs too, but a 15k jump just wont happen.

5k would be hard to say yes to, but if for taking the experience then moving in a year - that is something I may be able to accept...

@dashrender said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Folks, is 10% fair for a promotion in London from Systems Administrator, to manager of the customer helpdesk (not IT helpdesk but customer helpdesk, 2 staff, customer facing), and training manager (not internal but customer training, 2 staff again, and customer facing)?

In this case its going from 45k to 50k. From what I can see, a generic manager level job in London i in the 50k range. To go from doing what I do to management of those two teams, is that raise fair for London?

I mean, I've seen service desk managers get 5k bonus for hitting their targets... 5k seems low for taking on the actual jobs entirely x2.

That sounds incredibly low

Thats what I thought. What would you think is fair? I was expecting mind 50s in all honesty.

If you're actually a Systems Administrator you should be making a lot more than that, so I'm really not sure

That's decent for an SA in the UK. That's not US dollars.

65k in pounds right? Still on the low end here, but I guess it also depends on where in the US you are working

That's $88K at the current conversion, but that's not a fair comparison. Think of it more like $110K USD. All British wages are heavily suppressed because of the Brexit.

45000 GBP is 60827 USD.

This position would also still keep me doing my current system admin job. Its not a move to the helpdesk and training manager only. Its a 'heldesk + training manager + system administrator (which I currently do)'... why would that be bad?
I think I would enjoy the additional roles, but not worth doing for 5k.

In that case - OH HELL NO, I wouldn't take that new responsibility for only £5K more.

Exactly I think 10k makes it worth doing. But 5k isnt worth the extra stress. I see 5k as a really nice payrise, not a pay adjustment for taking on a lot of duties and oownership of two departments. Even 10k is low, but I thought realistic. Was suprised they said 5k.

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Folks, is 10% fair for a promotion in London from Systems Administrator, to manager of the customer helpdesk (not IT helpdesk but customer helpdesk, 2 staff, customer facing), and training manager (not internal but customer training, 2 staff again, and customer facing)?

In this case its going from 45k to 50k. From what I can see, a generic manager level job in London i in the 50k range. To go from doing what I do to management of those two teams, is that raise fair for London?

I mean, I've seen service desk managers get 5k bonus for hitting their targets... 5k seems low for taking on the actual jobs entirely x2.

That sounds incredibly low

Thats what I thought. What would you think is fair? I was expecting mind 50s in all honesty.

If you're actually a Systems Administrator you should be making a lot more than that, so I'm really not sure

That's decent for an SA in the UK. That's not US dollars.

65k in pounds right? Still on the low end here, but I guess it also depends on where in the US you are working

That's $88K at the current conversion, but that's not a fair comparison. Think of it more like $110K USD. All British wages are heavily suppressed because of the Brexit.

45000 GBP is 60827 USD.

This position would also still keep me doing my current system admin job. Its not a move to the helpdesk and training manager only. Its a 'heldesk + training manager + system administrator (which I currently do)'... why would that be bad?
I think I would enjoy the additional roles, but not worth doing for 5k.

@dafyre said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@dafyre said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@dafyre said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Folks, is 10% fair for a promotion in London from Systems Administrator, to manager of the customer helpdesk (not IT helpdesk but customer helpdesk, 2 staff, customer facing), and training manager (not internal but customer training, 2 staff again, and customer facing)?

In this case its going from 45k to 50k. From what I can see, a generic manager level job in London i in the 50k range. To go from doing what I do to management of those two teams, is that raise fair for London?

I mean, I've seen service desk managers get 5k bonus for hitting their targets... 5k seems low for taking on the actual jobs entirely x2.

That sounds incredibly low

Thats what I thought. What would you think is fair? I was expecting mid 50s in all honesty.

Don't take the promotion if you aren't happy with the salary they plan to offer you.

Wont it look bad to refuse? 'Not a team player' type of thinking?

Possibly. But you can explain that you are not looking to move in that direction. To me, that seems like a step down, not a step up.

You can always negotiate your salary too.

Thing is, I want to move in that direction. I'd enjoy filling that role - i'm just not sure its worth doing for only 5k extra pay. I'm pretty sure it isn't; 10k, sure - 5k, nope.

If they were to recruit, its probably 5k in recruitment fees. Then they have to train the person, get them up to speed, pay them 40k - 50k, plus pension and employer taxes etc... surely its worth throwing 10k a year, rather than paying all the above.

If you want to move that way, then talk to then haggle over your salary. If they don't want to play ball, then keep your current job and dust off the resume.

I'm pretty sure that is the way I will go. Or accept it for the experience.

@dafyre said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@dafyre said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Folks, is 10% fair for a promotion in London from Systems Administrator, to manager of the customer helpdesk (not IT helpdesk but customer helpdesk, 2 staff, customer facing), and training manager (not internal but customer training, 2 staff again, and customer facing)?

In this case its going from 45k to 50k. From what I can see, a generic manager level job in London i in the 50k range. To go from doing what I do to management of those two teams, is that raise fair for London?

I mean, I've seen service desk managers get 5k bonus for hitting their targets... 5k seems low for taking on the actual jobs entirely x2.

That sounds incredibly low

Thats what I thought. What would you think is fair? I was expecting mid 50s in all honesty.

Don't take the promotion if you aren't happy with the salary they plan to offer you.

Wont it look bad to refuse? 'Not a team player' type of thinking?

Possibly. But you can explain that you are not looking to move in that direction. To me, that seems like a step down, not a step up.

You can always negotiate your salary too.

Thing is, I want to move in that direction. I'd enjoy filling that role - i'm just not sure its worth doing for only 5k extra pay. I'm pretty sure it isn't; 10k, sure - 5k, nope.

If they were to recruit, its probably 5k in recruitment fees. Then they have to train the person, get them up to speed, pay them 40k - 50k, plus pension and employer taxes etc... surely its worth throwing 10k a year, rather than paying all the above.

@dafyre said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Folks, is 10% fair for a promotion in London from Systems Administrator, to manager of the customer helpdesk (not IT helpdesk but customer helpdesk, 2 staff, customer facing), and training manager (not internal but customer training, 2 staff again, and customer facing)?

In this case its going from 45k to 50k. From what I can see, a generic manager level job in London i in the 50k range. To go from doing what I do to management of those two teams, is that raise fair for London?

I mean, I've seen service desk managers get 5k bonus for hitting their targets... 5k seems low for taking on the actual jobs entirely x2.

That sounds incredibly low

Thats what I thought. What would you think is fair? I was expecting mid 50s in all honesty.

Don't take the promotion if you aren't happy with the salary they plan to offer you.

Wont it look bad to refuse? 'Not a team player' type of thinking?

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Folks, is 10% fair for a promotion in London from Systems Administrator, to manager of the customer helpdesk (not IT helpdesk but customer helpdesk, 2 staff, customer facing), and training manager (not internal but customer training, 2 staff again, and customer facing)?

In this case its going from 45k to 50k. From what I can see, a generic manager level job in London i in the 50k range. To go from doing what I do to management of those two teams, is that raise fair for London?

I mean, I've seen service desk managers get 5k bonus for hitting their targets... 5k seems low for taking on the actual jobs entirely x2.

That sounds incredibly low

Thats what I thought. What would you think is fair? I was expecting mind 50s in all honesty.

If you're actually a Systems Administrator you should be making a lot more than that, so I'm really not sure

Yeah, I should be. But I have never pushed for any certs or anything, and have only been in the industry for around 6 years.

You probably know more than I do and I made more than that the last job I had. You might want to look for a new job honestly.

Its all self learned and experience. Without the certs its difficult getting past the HR goons. Until now, im actually happy with salary. Im just not happy with 45 - 50... for taking on all that extra work

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Folks, is 10% fair for a promotion in London from Systems Administrator, to manager of the customer helpdesk (not IT helpdesk but customer helpdesk, 2 staff, customer facing), and training manager (not internal but customer training, 2 staff again, and customer facing)?

In this case its going from 45k to 50k. From what I can see, a generic manager level job in London i in the 50k range. To go from doing what I do to management of those two teams, is that raise fair for London?

I mean, I've seen service desk managers get 5k bonus for hitting their targets... 5k seems low for taking on the actual jobs entirely x2.

That sounds incredibly low

Thats what I thought. What would you think is fair? I was expecting mind 50s in all honesty.

If you're actually a Systems Administrator you should be making a lot more than that, so I'm really not sure

Yeah, I should be. But I have never pushed for any certs or anything, and have only been in the industry for around 6 years.

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@jimmy9008 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

Folks, is 10% fair for a promotion in London from Systems Administrator, to manager of the customer helpdesk (not IT helpdesk but customer helpdesk, 2 staff, customer facing), and training manager (not internal but customer training, 2 staff again, and customer facing)?

In this case its going from 45k to 50k. From what I can see, a generic manager level job in London i in the 50k range. To go from doing what I do to management of those two teams, is that raise fair for London?

I mean, I've seen service desk managers get 5k bonus for hitting their targets... 5k seems low for taking on the actual jobs entirely x2.

That sounds incredibly low

Thats what I thought. What would you think is fair? I was expecting mid 50s in all honesty.

Folks, is 10% fair for a promotion in London from Systems Administrator, to manager of the customer helpdesk (not IT helpdesk but customer helpdesk, 2 staff, customer facing), and training manager (not internal but customer training, 2 staff again, and customer facing)?

In this case its going from 45k to 50k. From what I can see, a generic manager level job in London i in the 50k range. To go from doing what I do to management of those two teams, is that raise fair for London?

I mean, I've seen service desk managers get 5k bonus for hitting their targets... 5k seems low for taking on the actual jobs entirely x2.

Trying to decide if a promotion is worth taking. Difficult.

@jaredbusch said in Focus Group Website/Software:

If you did not already have Slack and want to use it, I would recommend something like telegram or Rocket.Chat

I am looking at rocket chat now as it can be hosted on premises here. Could be useful.
I am pretty sure that I could script that when a new customer is added to the CRM, that they automatically get added to our local Rocket.Chat install so that if we want to add them to a 'dicussion/group' we can...

@jaredbusch said in Focus Group Website/Software:

@jimmy9008 said in Focus Group Website/Software:

@jaredbusch said in Focus Group Website/Software:

@jimmy9008 said in Focus Group Website/Software:

@coliver said in Focus Group Website/Software:

@jimmy9008 said in Focus Group Website/Software:

@jimmy9008 said in Focus Group Website/Software:

Hi Folks,

Anybody know of any focus-goup websites?
I'd like to be able to add a few customers to a group, and have them discuss a topic.

For example, say we were intesrested in developing our software in a particular direction, we could add 10 customers in to a group to discuss that particular thing...

Any ideas?

Quite loose on this, not exactly sure what is available...

Best,
Jim

Can either of these integrate with slack?

They are slack replacements. If you already have slack you could do the same inside of that.

Hmm, interesting idea. Does slack allow us to only give access to certain users to certain channels/groups?

Yes

We will need the paid version to allow guests/private channels though right?

No. When I was playing Ingress, a lot or regions used Slack (free) for communications and had various channels and groups and privacy setup.

I will investigate in more detail. Thanks folks.

@jaredbusch said in Focus Group Website/Software:

@jimmy9008 said in Focus Group Website/Software:

@coliver said in Focus Group Website/Software:

@jimmy9008 said in Focus Group Website/Software:

@jimmy9008 said in Focus Group Website/Software:

Hi Folks,

Anybody know of any focus-goup websites?
I'd like to be able to add a few customers to a group, and have them discuss a topic.

For example, say we were intesrested in developing our software in a particular direction, we could add 10 customers in to a group to discuss that particular thing...

Any ideas?

Quite loose on this, not exactly sure what is available...

Best,
Jim

Can either of these integrate with slack?

They are slack replacements. If you already have slack you could do the same inside of that.

Hmm, interesting idea. Does slack allow us to only give access to certain users to certain channels/groups?

Yes

We will need the paid version to allow guests/private channels though right?

@coliver said in Focus Group Website/Software:

@jimmy9008 said in Focus Group Website/Software:

@jimmy9008 said in Focus Group Website/Software:

Hi Folks,

Anybody know of any focus-goup websites?
I'd like to be able to add a few customers to a group, and have them discuss a topic.

For example, say we were intesrested in developing our software in a particular direction, we could add 10 customers in to a group to discuss that particular thing...

Any ideas?

Quite loose on this, not exactly sure what is available...

Best,
Jim

Can either of these integrate with slack?

They are slack replacements. If you already have slack you could do the same inside of that.

Hmm, interesting idea. Does slack allow us to only give access to certain users to certain channels/groups?

@jimmy9008 said in Focus Group Website/Software:

Hi Folks,

Anybody know of any focus-goup websites?
I'd like to be able to add a few customers to a group, and have them discuss a topic.

For example, say we were intesrested in developing our software in a particular direction, we could add 10 customers in to a group to discuss that particular thing...

Any ideas?

Quite loose on this, not exactly sure what is available...

Best,
Jim

Can either of these integrate with slack?

Hi Folks,

Anybody know of any focus-goup websites?
I'd like to be able to add a few customers to a group, and have them discuss a topic.

For example, say we were intesrested in developing our software in a particular direction, we could add 10 customers in to a group to discuss that particular thing...

Any ideas?

Quite loose on this, not exactly sure what is available...

Best,
Jim

Connect to your Watchguard with WSM. Go to Policy and check the rules.
Do you have a policy for TCP(0)/UDP(0), From 'Any', to 'Any-External'.?
If so, then 443 request out from the device will be allowed.

If you do not have that rule, or a similar rule but with the IP of the device withing the 'From' column, TCP/UDP will not be allowed out.

I believe Watchguard standard configuration is to stop all out, then allow only particular things out that are allowed. Rather than allow all out.

@scottalanmiller said in Helpdesk/Training Department:

Bonitasoft doesn't look like an ITSP. Can you tell us how their tiers work?

They call theirs their SLA. Essentially, the gold tier was from memory 15% of subscription yearly. The platinum was 25%, or something in that range...

SLA

@scottalanmiller said in Helpdesk/Training Department:

@jimmy9008 said in Helpdesk/Training Department:

@scottalanmiller said in Helpdesk/Training Department:

@jimmy9008 said in Helpdesk/Training Department:

@scottalanmiller said in Helpdesk/Training Department:

@jimmy9008 said in Helpdesk/Training Department:

@scottalanmiller said in Helpdesk/Training Department:

@jimmy9008 said in Helpdesk/Training Department:

Being able to charge for this means I can build the team faster to improve support. As we get more customers, the number of personnel will need to increase offering support... at cost. Currently, this is met with no charge to customers at all, and were just about able to make the finances work. However, It needs to be monetized to make it sustainable...

Do you think such a way is sensible?

Edited: to explain a little.

It is extremely hard to do in practice. If you really want to do this, the only way that I have seen it work is to offer phone support at one tier, email at another, etc.

Hard, nothing wrong with that. Worthwhile - yes. Worth being hard, yes. If were able to monetize some of the support, that will help financially - a lot actually.

But just to be clear... I mean hard in the "never seen it work, ever" sense. Support and SLAs are very tough things to put together. I can't even picture how it's possible to make it work.

Then, how do other companies stop support services for customers from burning through cash?

Single SLO / SLA level, not tiers that depend on intentionally lowering quality to lower tiers. Have you seen any support company with a model like this? This works for shipping and stuff with hardware, because you use cheaper shipping options to make the tiers. But for support, you can only make this work by ignoring customers to make them "suffer" for not paying for the better service.

A few, such as Bonitasoft, a BPM solution. They offer such a setup. I don't see a single SLO/SLA working - for our typical customer, the free tier will work. Say 70%. For the other 30% or so, I could picture a premium service, if offered, being accepted. If the only option was that service, paid, we would lose 70% of business.

How would the premium work? And don't say SLA, how will the helpdesk behave to make it work?

I could see the phone option like discussed working. For example, if free, you email and that goes in to something like Helpscout, and well respond as and when we can. Typically within a day (although, that information could be internal only). If paid, you get email/Helpscout, but also a phone number to get straight through to us, and a support desk member you've been assigned as a main point of contact, perhaps quarterly reviews to see how we can further help them etc...