Printable versionWhile the installed base has become highly integrated through open systems and plug-and-play standards, our model for customer support has not.
The Virtual Support Communities Program team is developing a framework for interaction across organizational boundaries. The model is a standards-based business framework that will enable service organizations to efficiently interact by sharing knowledge and by facilitating analyst-to-analyst communications. The framework creates a managed plug and play capability for service and support that potentially includes all the players.
The Players
The supply chain for support is complex and unorganized. There is no standard format or mechanism to pass information between the players.
The VSC framework defines four relationship models
Information
Access to support knowledge
Collaboration
Prearranged relationship with known entities
Assistance
Just-in-time outsourcing
Alliance
Strategic partnership, customized
The VSC team has facilitated a number of pilot activities to bring the concepts of the VSC framework to an operational level. For example, the answer exchange pilot provided consumers with web access to information from multiple players through a single user interface and search mechanism.
The VSC team has evolved into the Multi-Vendor Support group and has recently transitioned to the Support Standards Working Group. Archives of the VSC team deliverables can be found in the Recommended Reading and Program Archives sections of the Library.