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ASPonline.com >
ASP Essentials
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ASP Essentials: Top Books on Support & Services
"Essentials" is a short list of books about key aspects of managing
a support organization and delivering high-quality services. The list
is based largely on recommendations by ASP members, and we expect to
expand the list as we hear about other great titles, either
newly-published or classics.
If you'd like to learn more about any of these titles, just click on
the thumbnail cover image and you'll be whisked away to an Amazon
page packed with reviews, sample text, and irresistible special
offers.
 
Click image for details.
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Spectacular Support Centers
Kristin Robertson
Orchestrating all the elements of a support center has become an
increasingly complex, tactical job. Workflow, people management,
data analysis, customer satisfaction metrics—there are
literally hundreds of tasks that have to be handled well to produce
great results. Kristin has a remarkable understanding of support
center best practices, and this book is full of hands-on advice
that will make any support organization run more efficiently.
(Publication date: July 2007)
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How to Talk to Customers
Diane Berenbaum and Tom Larkin
Support people spend a lot of time on the phone helping users solve
technical problems, but that's not quite the same as "talking to
customers." By looking at customer interaction as an ongoing
conversation, Berenbaum and Larkin provide essential tools for
building relationships and getting customers to talk about what's
really on their minds. (Publication date: 2007)
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Collective Wisdom: Transforming Support with Knowledge
Françoise Tourniaire and David Kay
No, this is not another academic treatise on the meaning of
"knowledge." Francoise and David have put together a collection
of practical ideas about how to manage the huge volumes of
information that support organizations have to deal with. There's
nothing superficial about their suggestions, moreover—the
detail and sophistication are exactly what a hands-on manager
needs. (Publication Date: 2006)
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The Ultimate Customer Support Executive
Phil Verghis
Phil has written by far the most intelligent
book on how to manage support organizations and leverage the
"power of the customer" to earn respect within the company as
a whole. (Publication date: 2005)
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S-Business
James A. Alexander and Mark W. Hordes
Just as technology companies are struggling with the transition
from product-centric to services-centric business models, Jim and
Mark come along with a solid blend of advice, best practices, and
hard numbers to show the way. (Publication date: 2003)
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The Help Desk Audit
Julie L. Mohr
This self-assessment workbook is the most comprehensive
tool we've seen for measuring how a support organization
compares against industry best practices. (Publication
date: 2003)
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Customer Surveying
Dr. Frederick Van Bennekom
If you've ever been frustrated by the weird results of a
home-grown survey, you'll appreciate why Dr. Fred's trusty
survey handbook is such a marvel. He walks the reader through
the whole survey process, from project planning and
questionnaire design to in-depth statistical analysis, with
lots of diagrams and sample surveys that make the hard parts
crystal clear. (Publication date: 2002)
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Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville
Though it's not specifically about support, Information
Architecture is a deep exploration of how to develop Web sites
that deliver large volumes of complex information. "Hands down,
the best book for structuring sites and thinking about Web support,"
according to one ASP member. (Publication date: 2002)
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Help Desk Practitioner's Handbook
Barbara Czegel
A sympathetic, helpful view of what it takes to succeed as a
support technician. (Publication date: 1999)
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The Art of Software Support
Françoise Tourniaire and Richard Farrell
This is an especially valuable resource for building a support
group that handles technically-complex incidents, and for
designing incentive and morale-building plans to get the most
productivity out of expert support technicians. (Publication
date: 1997)
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Microsoft Sourcebook for the Help Desk (Second Edition)
Meg Olsen, project manager
Microsoft put this 477-page book together with a team larger than
the headcount of most support organizations, and the results are a
remarkably detailed blueprint for designing and managing a tech
support department. Though it's a little dated (the second edition
came out in 1997), the models and templates—which are provided on
a bundled CD—are timeless. (Publication date: 1997)
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