Re: New Support Policy?
There are three tiers of Enterprise Support available. I believe that you are referencing tier 2. We currently have tier 3 which has a 1 to 1 customer to support engineer ratio. Thanks Kelly From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) on behalf of L. J. Head Sent: Thu 4/19/2007 4:34 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? I once worked at a site with Enterprise support and the Rep assigned to us had 2 other clients other than us...I don't know if they changed it to a 1-1 relationship since then (It's been awhile)but I would agree...that level of support was very nice and quick turn around when we had problems -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gatewood Kelly Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:08 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? Listers, I have never worked with a Tier 1 support partner as described below, but have been overwhelmingly pleased with BMC's Enterprise support program. We pay a standard uplift for Enterprise Support and get a 24x7 named BMC support representative to assist us whenever we need him. He is dedicated solely to our account. We have his cell # and home # and use them frequently. We have easy access to the resolution and engineering teams and get our found bugs resolved fairly quickly. Also, they get a set amount every year to create a mock environment which greatly helps in our troubleshooting process. We even get 7 on site visits a year. Before we had Enterprise support, we felt the pain that you guys are describing. After purchasing Enterprise, I cannot be anymore please with our support experience. I have to save that we now have the premier support relationship throughout our company. If anyone has any questions, please let me know with my individual account. Thanks Kelly Gatewood -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Halstead, Robert Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 15:36 To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? I've been following this topic for some time now, as we are looking on switching our support from BMC. We have been using BMC as our main support for just under a year now. We are getting tired of not having a 24/7 support line and when calling in, getting a person we have a hard time trying to understand. We also have to schedule our own maintenance around BMC's support hours when we apply patches to Remedy for the just incase scenario. In BMC's defense, the only time we really had excellent support was when we had a server down. We talked with a team lead personnel, who was from America, and seemed to be one of the engineers. She loaded up a webex session with us and walked us through the whole situation we were having. She walked us through on what we needed to show her, as I was the one she was talking with, I didn't know very much about the in's and out's of Remedy at the time. She had us on speaker-phone with her team, and I must say, it was like having her here at our facility right next to me helping us solve the problem. I was very impressed. In fact, I wish I got her for all of our problems. We are considering on switching to Column Technologies for our support. We're looking at getting a 24/7 support solution as most things don't happen during the day. I've took my Remedy training through Column Technologies with Dan Garrish and I've also visited their NOC headquarters in Downer's Grove, IL and their corporate office in New York City. Overall, I was impressed with what I saw. Bob Halstead Bresnan Communications -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dan Caissie Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:04 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? I would have to second this endorsement! We have used ColumnIT for support for just under 3 years now. I even was at there support center in a training class when we had a bit problem and they worked on it for most of the day with my backup until we got the problem solved. Dan Caissie United Natural Foods, Inc -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joseph Kasell Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:45 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? Here's another endorsement...but for ColumnIT. We switched to them late last year and I have to say that the change has been noticeable from our end. In the last year we had support from BMC, the quality of assistance had been uneven at best: sometimes getting support staff who was pretty knowledgeable, and other times getting support staff who seemed to have been a recent grad of the Admin class that would provide what appeared to be canned responses to questions (in one case
Re: New Support Policy?
Lesson learned, if you are deciding to use a VAR for support, as stated before make sure they are AST Certified and if they are one of the many European firms be sure that they have the ability through BMC to support US Customers. We ran into that exact issue and it took 4 to 5 months for that VAR to get certified to support customer across the pond. ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
I would recommend TuringSMI support at this point and time. I've been working with them since October 2006. My first opinion of them was what the hell did my boss get us into. I was used to the excellent support I used to get from BMC, coupled with the fact that ITSM was (and still is) buggy and relatively few people were familiar, much less expert in it. Since those early days, Turing has hired some quality individuals (many familiar names from ARSlist) and I believe worked on their internal communications. I still think they have a bit more growing pains to work out but they've done an execellent job of turning around their support. Wilson, Bruce B [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent by: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) arslist@ARSLIST.ORG 04/18/2007 02:10 PM Please respond to arslist@ARSLIST.ORG To arslist@ARSLIST.ORG cc Subject New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted? Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
Now that is a 'customer' endorsement. The kind that counts. Not only are they paying, but they are using! Don't get caught up in the partner sell jobs. This is the type of information you need to base your choices on. Susan On 4/19/07, Ben Cantatore [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** I would recommend TuringSMI support at this point and time. I've been working with them since October 2006. My first opinion of them was what the hell did my boss get us into. I was used to the excellent support I used to get from BMC, coupled with the fact that ITSM was (and still is) buggy and relatively few people were familiar, much less expert in it. Since those early days, Turing has hired some quality individuals (many familiar names from ARSlist) and I believe worked on their internal communications. I still think they have a bit more growing pains to work out but they've done an execellent job of turning around their support. *Wilson, Bruce B [EMAIL PROTECTED]* Sent by: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) arslist@ARSLIST.ORG 04/18/2007 02:10 PM Please respond to arslist@ARSLIST.ORG To arslist@ARSLIST.ORG cc Subject New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted… Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
Here's another endorsement...but for ColumnIT. We switched to them late last year and I have to say that the change has been noticeable from our end. In the last year we had support from BMC, the quality of assistance had been uneven at best: sometimes getting support staff who was pretty knowledgeable, and other times getting support staff who seemed to have been a recent grad of the Admin class that would provide what appeared to be canned responses to questions (in one case the response did not directly answer the question posed...after repeated attempts for a response on point I had to go to management to get the information I was seeking). Naturally, I had no idea what we were getting into by engaging Column. I have to say I've been pretty pleased. They have been responsive; they don't rely on the crutch of send us your log files; they call back; if need be they will set up a WebEx session and walk through various steps to troubleshoot a problem (I had them on for an hour and a half in one instance...they were very patient in their approach). Overall, we've been happy. Joseph Kasell Network Management Integrator Telecommunications Division Navy Federal Credit Union Vienna, Virginia Susan Palmer [EMAIL PROTECTED] L.COM To Sent by: Action arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Request System cc discussion list(ARSList)Subject [EMAIL PROTECTED] Re: New Support Policy? ORG 04/19/2007 02:57 PM Please respond to [EMAIL PROTECTED] RG --=_Part_58343_509886.1177009053768 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Now that is a 'customer' endorsement. The kind that counts. Not only are they paying, but they are using! Don't get caught up in the partner sell jobs. This is the type of information you need to base your choices on. Susan On 4/19/07, Ben Cantatore [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** I would recommend TuringSMI support at this point and time. I've been working with them since October 2006. My first opinion of them was what = the hell did my boss get us into. I was used to the excellent support I used= to get from BMC, coupled with the fact that ITSM was (and still is) buggy an= d relatively few people were familiar, much less expert in it. Since those early days, Turing has hired some quality individuals (many familiar name= s from ARSlist) and I believe worked on their internal communications. I still think they have a bit more growing pains to work out but they've do= ne an execellent job of turning around their support. *Wilson, Bruce B [EMAIL PROTECTED]* Sent by: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) arslist@ARSLIST.ORG 04/18/2007 02:10 PM Please respond to arslist@ARSLIST.ORG To arslist@ARSLIST.ORG cc Subject New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted=85 Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, yo= u no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very goo= d English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledg= e they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previou= sly were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands
Re: New Support Policy?
I would have to second this endorsement! We have used ColumnIT for support for just under 3 years now. I even was at there support center in a training class when we had a bit problem and they worked on it for most of the day with my backup until we got the problem solved. Dan Caissie United Natural Foods, Inc -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joseph Kasell Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:45 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? Here's another endorsement...but for ColumnIT. We switched to them late last year and I have to say that the change has been noticeable from our end. In the last year we had support from BMC, the quality of assistance had been uneven at best: sometimes getting support staff who was pretty knowledgeable, and other times getting support staff who seemed to have been a recent grad of the Admin class that would provide what appeared to be canned responses to questions (in one case the response did not directly answer the question posed...after repeated attempts for a response on point I had to go to management to get the information I was seeking). Naturally, I had no idea what we were getting into by engaging Column. I have to say I've been pretty pleased. They have been responsive; they don't rely on the crutch of send us your log files; they call back; if need be they will set up a WebEx session and walk through various steps to troubleshoot a problem (I had them on for an hour and a half in one instance...they were very patient in their approach). Overall, we've been happy. Joseph Kasell Network Management Integrator Telecommunications Division Navy Federal Credit Union Vienna, Virginia Susan Palmer [EMAIL PROTECTED] L.COM To Sent by: Action arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Request System cc discussion list(ARSList) Subject [EMAIL PROTECTED] Re: New Support Policy? ORG 04/19/2007 02:57 PM Please respond to [EMAIL PROTECTED] RG --=_Part_58343_509886.1177009053768 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Now that is a 'customer' endorsement. The kind that counts. Not only are they paying, but they are using! Don't get caught up in the partner sell jobs. This is the type of information you need to base your choices on. Susan On 4/19/07, Ben Cantatore [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** I would recommend TuringSMI support at this point and time. I've been working with them since October 2006. My first opinion of them was what = the hell did my boss get us into. I was used to the excellent support I used= to get from BMC, coupled with the fact that ITSM was (and still is) buggy an= d relatively few people were familiar, much less expert in it. Since those early days, Turing has hired some quality individuals (many familiar name= s from ARSlist) and I believe worked on their internal communications. I still think they have a bit more growing pains to work out but they've do= ne an execellent job of turning around their support. *Wilson, Bruce B [EMAIL PROTECTED]* Sent by: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) arslist@ARSLIST.ORG 04/18/2007 02:10 PM Please respond to arslist@ARSLIST.ORG To arslist@ARSLIST.ORG cc Subject New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted=85 Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, yo= u no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very goo= d English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledg= e they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previou= sly were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support= . I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service cente= r vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA
Re: New Support Policy?
I've been following this topic for some time now, as we are looking on switching our support from BMC. We have been using BMC as our main support for just under a year now. We are getting tired of not having a 24/7 support line and when calling in, getting a person we have a hard time trying to understand. We also have to schedule our own maintenance around BMC's support hours when we apply patches to Remedy for the just incase scenario. In BMC's defense, the only time we really had excellent support was when we had a server down. We talked with a team lead personnel, who was from America, and seemed to be one of the engineers. She loaded up a webex session with us and walked us through the whole situation we were having. She walked us through on what we needed to show her, as I was the one she was talking with, I didn't know very much about the in's and out's of Remedy at the time. She had us on speaker-phone with her team, and I must say, it was like having her here at our facility right next to me helping us solve the problem. I was very impressed. In fact, I wish I got her for all of our problems. We are considering on switching to Column Technologies for our support. We're looking at getting a 24/7 support solution as most things don't happen during the day. I've took my Remedy training through Column Technologies with Dan Garrish and I've also visited their NOC headquarters in Downer's Grove, IL and their corporate office in New York City. Overall, I was impressed with what I saw. Bob Halstead Bresnan Communications -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dan Caissie Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:04 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? I would have to second this endorsement! We have used ColumnIT for support for just under 3 years now. I even was at there support center in a training class when we had a bit problem and they worked on it for most of the day with my backup until we got the problem solved. Dan Caissie United Natural Foods, Inc -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joseph Kasell Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:45 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? Here's another endorsement...but for ColumnIT. We switched to them late last year and I have to say that the change has been noticeable from our end. In the last year we had support from BMC, the quality of assistance had been uneven at best: sometimes getting support staff who was pretty knowledgeable, and other times getting support staff who seemed to have been a recent grad of the Admin class that would provide what appeared to be canned responses to questions (in one case the response did not directly answer the question posed...after repeated attempts for a response on point I had to go to management to get the information I was seeking). Naturally, I had no idea what we were getting into by engaging Column. I have to say I've been pretty pleased. They have been responsive; they don't rely on the crutch of send us your log files; they call back; if need be they will set up a WebEx session and walk through various steps to troubleshoot a problem (I had them on for an hour and a half in one instance...they were very patient in their approach). Overall, we've been happy. Joseph Kasell Network Management Integrator Telecommunications Division Navy Federal Credit Union Vienna, Virginia Susan Palmer [EMAIL PROTECTED] L.COM To Sent by: Action arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Request System cc discussion list(ARSList) Subject [EMAIL PROTECTED] Re: New Support Policy? ORG 04/19/2007 02:57 PM Please respond to [EMAIL PROTECTED] RG --=_Part_58343_509886.1177009053768 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Now that is a 'customer' endorsement. The kind that counts. Not only are they paying, but they are using! Don't get caught up in the partner sell jobs. This is the type of information you need to base your choices on. Susan On 4/19/07, Ben Cantatore [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** I would recommend TuringSMI support at this point and time. I've been working with them since October 2006. My first opinion of them was what = the hell did my boss get us into. I was used to the excellent support I used= to get from BMC, coupled with the fact that ITSM was (and still is) buggy an= d relatively few people were familiar, much less expert in it. Since those early days, Turing has hired some quality individuals (many familiar name= s from ARSlist) and I believe worked
Re: New Support Policy?
One way BMC promotes is for customers to work with BMC partners that have a certified support group I know that EMS and Column have this capability. The Partner is to work level 1 issues and use their knowledge and the Knowledge Base to close the issue. If it needs to go to level 2 they then submit a ticket to BMC Support. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Sent: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 2:10 PM Subject: New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted… Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com. ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
I was told by an anonymous bmc representative (how do the news sources always state that) because I doubt they would like to be named publicly to go to a partner for support, they probably could do a better job. I had a production server down on the weekend and could get NO help from bmc support even though I offered to pay extra. True I only have Fastrack that doesn't include weekends, but really ... there is a limit. One weekend call in five years and they could not even call back with a name to escalate my request to or take my credit card number! You know what they say ... bad service to a customer means ... how many people know about it ! I have a reliable tip from another anonymous source that Turing actually does a good job. I guess soon instead of partners paying bmc to have the right to be a partner, maybe bmc will have to pay them to want to be associated with them! u ... still bitter grapes on Wednesday! Susan On 4/18/07, Roger Justice [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** One way BMC promotes is for customers to work with BMC partners that have a certified support group I know that EMS and Column have this capability. The Partner is to work level 1 issues and use their knowledge and the Knowledge Base to close the issue. If it needs to go to level 2 they then submit a ticket to BMC Support. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Sent: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 2:10 PM Subject: New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted… Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ -- AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at *AOL.com* http://www.aol.com/?ncid=AOLAOF0002000437. __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
arslist Digest - 17 Apr 2007 to 18 Apr 2007 - Special issue (#2007-161)If you do want to go that route, make sure that the support center you are going to turn to, not just has the necessary certifications, but that your support with BMC would remain valid too for reasons of upgrades, etc.. There are companies around that act as primary support cells with conjunction to BMC, meaning that they are the 1st line of support. So basically when you buy support from them, you are paying not just for support from them, but also for future upgrades etc. The support fee thus might be marginally higher than you are if you are paying BMC directly for support. I used to work for a VAR (value added reseller) so I do vaguely remember that the markup prices for support was about 15% over the prices you might pay to Remedy directly if you buy it from them. Question of whether or not that is worth doing is entirely dependent on the credibility of that VAR. If they do have qualified experienced people working for them, that 15% markup is perhaps worth it. Remedy support is still liable to support you as 2nd line of support should you go that route, if your 1st line is unable to solve your issue for you. Hope this helps Joe -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Wilson, Bruce B Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 2:11 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted… Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 269.5.2/766 - Release Date: 4/18/2007 7:39 AM ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
Susan, that lack of ad hoc emergency night/weekend support has always amazed me. Every vendor of hardware and enterprise software with which I have been associated in over 20 years in IT has had a policy allowing for emergency outages to be paid for separately outside the normal support channels, but Remedy refused to, and BMC apparently does as well, though they have tweaked their support offerrings to make it so 12x7 coverage doesn't cost an arm AND a leg. Seems as though they could make some extra coin utilizing their overseas support centers this way. The lesson from this is to talk to your sales person, and find out what the options are for planned server cutovers and such - you might be surprised to hear some viable options. Probably not much that can be done for an unplanned outage except the list, though. Rick _ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Susan Palmer Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 12:17 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? ** I was told by an anonymous bmc representative (how do the news sources always state that) because I doubt they would like to be named publicly to go to a partner for support, they probably could do a better job. I had a production server down on the weekend and could get NO help from bmc support even though I offered to pay extra. True I only have Fastrack that doesn't include weekends, but really ... there is a limit. One weekend call in five years and they could not even call back with a name to escalate my request to or take my credit card number! You know what they say ... bad service to a customer means ... how many people know about it ! I have a reliable tip from another anonymous source that Turing actually does a good job. I guess soon instead of partners paying bmc to have the right to be a partner, maybe bmc will have to pay them to want to be associated with them! u ... still bitter grapes on Wednesday! Susan On 4/18/07, Roger Justice [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** One way BMC promotes is for customers to work with BMC partners that have a certified support group I know that EMS and Column have this capability. The Partner is to work level 1 issues and use their knowledge and the Knowledge Base to close the issue. If it needs to go to level 2 they then submit a ticket to BMC Support. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Sent: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 2:10 PM Subject: New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted. Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta , GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ _ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com/?ncid=AOLAOF0002000437 AOL.com . __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
Bruce, Regarding the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve have you considered writing something that downloads all KBs into a Remedy form? Then you can search any way you want and it will always be fast. That's what I do. Stephen From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Wilson, Bruce B Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 2:11 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted... Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
My place of employment switched from BMC to TuringSMI last September. I've been pleased with the support I receive. Turing has a talented pool of people in the States and I have their numbers. That's a good thing. No more playing phone tag with people I don't know. The people that work at Turing that provide support have the Remedy ATS certification. They are provided with tools and knowledge that are not given out in regular training classes (debugging related info) through this cert path. Our turnaround rate (measured in fixes available in the form of binary patches) has come way off the floor since using BMC support directly. We still work with the BMC resolution team/engineers as needed, depending on the nature of the problem. The BMC site is also still used for all our licensing related issues (new licenses, purges, etc.) and we retain our supportweb logins for the kb, patches, downloads, etc. Just my observations. Axton Grams On 4/18/07, Wilson, Bruce B [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** The trail is becoming more twisted… Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
We've looking at using a VAR where would actually be paying them less for the same level of support that we currently have with BMC/Remedy. I wonder if BMC's intention is to reduce costs by reducing Support and Sales Staff by pushing us to VARs. Dave From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joe D'Souza Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:31 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? ** If you do want to go that route, make sure that the support center you are going to turn to, not just has the necessary certifications, but that your support with BMC would remain valid too for reasons of upgrades, etc.. There are companies around that act as primary support cells with conjunction to BMC, meaning that they are the 1st line of support. So basically when you buy support from them, you are paying not just for support from them, but also for future upgrades etc. The support fee thus might be marginally higher than you are if you are paying BMC directly for support. I used to work for a VAR (value added reseller) so I do vaguely remember that the markup prices for support was about 15% over the prices you might pay to Remedy directly if you buy it from them. Question of whether or not that is worth doing is entirely dependent on the credibility of that VAR. If they do have qualified experienced people working for them, that 15% markup is perhaps worth it. Remedy support is still liable to support you as 2nd line of support should you go that route, if your 1st line is unable to solve your issue for you. Hope this helps Joe -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Wilson, Bruce B Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 2:11 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted... Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
Rick, It's certainly true I should have planned in advance, but after mentioning I was doing this to numerous support people within 2 weeks of the day and no one once suggested, hey do you have support on that day? But alas I can blame no one but myself. They don't appear to offer 12x7 on the website, I guess it's a special offering. Although my account manager didn't mention it this week. Thank goodness for the list and the generosity of great posters! Susan On 4/18/07, Rick Cook [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** Susan, that lack of ad hoc emergency night/weekend support has always amazed me. Every vendor of hardware and enterprise software with which I have been associated in over 20 years in IT has had a policy allowing for emergency outages to be paid for separately outside the normal support channels, but Remedy refused to, and BMC apparently does as well, though they have tweaked their support offerrings to make it so 12x7 coverage doesn't cost an arm AND a leg. Seems as though they could make some extra coin utilizing their overseas support centers this way. The lesson from this is to talk to your sales person, and find out what the options are for planned server cutovers and such - you might be surprised to hear some viable options. Probably not much that can be done for an unplanned outage except the list, though. *Rick* -- *From:* Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of *Susan Palmer *Sent:* Wednesday, April 18, 2007 12:17 PM *To:* arslist@ARSLIST.ORG *Subject:* Re: New Support Policy? ** I was told by an anonymous bmc representative (how do the news sources always state that) because I doubt they would like to be named publicly to go to a partner for support, they probably could do a better job. I had a production server down on the weekend and could get NO help from bmc support even though I offered to pay extra. True I only have Fastrack that doesn't include weekends, but really ... there is a limit. One weekend call in five years and they could not even call back with a name to escalate my request to or take my credit card number! You know what they say ... bad service to a customer means ... how many people know about it ! I have a reliable tip from another anonymous source that Turing actually does a good job. I guess soon instead of partners paying bmc to have the right to be a partner, maybe bmc will have to pay them to want to be associated with them! u ... still bitter grapes on Wednesday! Susan On 4/18/07, Roger Justice [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** One way BMC promotes is for customers to work with BMC partners that have a certified support group I know that EMS and Column have this capability. The Partner is to work level 1 issues and use their knowledge and the Knowledge Base to close the issue. If it needs to go to level 2 they then submit a ticket to BMC Support. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Sent: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 2:10 PM Subject: New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted… Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta , GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ -- AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at *AOL.com * http://www.aol.com/?ncid=AOLAOF0002000437. __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___
Re: New Support Policy?
Of course Axton, being the person he is(our reining ARS List MVP) , never has to call for support. They actually call him, along with a lot of the rest of us. Hello Axton. Roger A. Nall Manager, OSSNMS Remedy T-Mobile USA Desk: 813-348-2556(New) Cell: 973-652-6723 FAX: 813-348-2565 sf49fanv AIM IM RogerNall Yahoo IM -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Axton Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 4:07 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? My place of employment switched from BMC to TuringSMI last September. I've been pleased with the support I receive. Turing has a talented pool of people in the States and I have their numbers. That's a good thing. No more playing phone tag with people I don't know. The people that work at Turing that provide support have the Remedy ATS certification. They are provided with tools and knowledge that are not given out in regular training classes (debugging related info) through this cert path. Our turnaround rate (measured in fixes available in the form of binary patches) has come way off the floor since using BMC support directly. We still work with the BMC resolution team/engineers as needed, depending on the nature of the problem. The BMC site is also still used for all our licensing related issues (new licenses, purges, etc.) and we retain our supportweb logins for the kb, patches, downloads, etc. Just my observations. Axton Grams On 4/18/07, Wilson, Bruce B [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** The trail is becoming more twisted... Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
I just want to add that currently Column Technologies has largest team of ATS certified people in US. Also Column has won awards from BMC for last 5 years for best frontline support .One of the key factor is Column support team escalates very few issues to BMC so resolution is faster than any other VAR in field today. thanks, -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Axton Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:07 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? My place of employment switched from BMC to TuringSMI last September. I've been pleased with the support I receive. Turing has a talented pool of people in the States and I have their numbers. That's a good thing. No more playing phone tag with people I don't know. The people that work at Turing that provide support have the Remedy ATS certification. They are provided with tools and knowledge that are not given out in regular training classes (debugging related info) through this cert path. Our turnaround rate (measured in fixes available in the form of binary patches) has come way off the floor since using BMC support directly. We still work with the BMC resolution team/engineers as needed, depending on the nature of the problem. The BMC site is also still used for all our licensing related issues (new licenses, purges, etc.) and we retain our supportweb logins for the kb, patches, downloads, etc. Just my observations. Axton Grams On 4/18/07, Wilson, Bruce B [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** The trail is becoming more twisted… Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
Dave ... come on now ... reduce their charges no way ... reduce their costs ... probably ! On 4/18/07, Shellman, David [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** We've looking at using a VAR where would actually be paying them less for the same level of support that we currently have with BMC/Remedy. I wonder if BMC's intention is to reduce costs by reducing Support and Sales Staff by pushing us to VARs. Dave -- *From:* Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of *Joe D'Souza *Sent:* Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:31 PM *To:* arslist@ARSLIST.ORG *Subject:* Re: New Support Policy? ** If you do want to go that route, make sure that the support center you are going to turn to, not just has the necessary certifications, but that your support with BMC would remain valid too for reasons of upgrades, etc.. There are companies around that act as primary support cells with conjunction to BMC, meaning that they are the 1st line of support. So basically when you buy support from them, you are paying not just for support from them, but also for future upgrades etc. The support fee thus might be marginally higher than you are if you are paying BMC directly for support. I used to work for a VAR (value added reseller) so I do vaguely remember that the markup prices for support was about 15% over the prices you might pay to Remedy directly if you buy it from them. Question of whether or not that is worth doing is entirely dependent on the credibility of that VAR. If they do have qualified experienced people working for them, that 15% markup is perhaps worth it. Remedy support is still liable to support you as 2nd line of support should you go that route, if your 1st line is unable to solve your issue for you. Hope this helps Joe -Original Message- *From:* Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of *Wilson, Bruce B *Sent:* Wednesday, April 18, 2007 2:11 PM *To:* arslist@ARSLIST.ORG *Subject:* New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted… Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
All BMC Partners that provide Level 1 support must have people that are ATS Certified. We accept calls 24 X 7 even if you do not have that level of support with BMC, as I am sure most other Level 1 providers do as well. Kim Langley generationE Technologies -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kulkarni, Gururaj Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:35 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? I just want to add that currently Column Technologies has largest team of ATS certified people in US. Also Column has won awards from BMC for last 5 years for best frontline support .One of the key factor is Column support team escalates very few issues to BMC so resolution is faster than any other VAR in field today. thanks, -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Axton Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:07 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? My place of employment switched from BMC to TuringSMI last September. I've been pleased with the support I receive. Turing has a talented pool of people in the States and I have their numbers. That's a good thing. No more playing phone tag with people I don't know. The people that work at Turing that provide support have the Remedy ATS certification. They are provided with tools and knowledge that are not given out in regular training classes (debugging related info) through this cert path. Our turnaround rate (measured in fixes available in the form of binary patches) has come way off the floor since using BMC support directly. We still work with the BMC resolution team/engineers as needed, depending on the nature of the problem. The BMC site is also still used for all our licensing related issues (new licenses, purges, etc.) and we retain our supportweb logins for the kb, patches, downloads, etc. Just my observations. Axton Grams On 4/18/07, Wilson, Bruce B [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** The trail is becoming more twisted. Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
Sadly true. Lower cost for our maintenance agreement. Standard discounts for software and licenses (no more discount dance). We even get a 10% discount for training at BMC/Remedy facilities if we book through them. A greater discount if the training is through their training center. Dave -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Wireless) - Original Message - From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) arslist@ARSLIST.ORG To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Sent: Wed Apr 18 16:37:21 2007 Subject: Re: New Support Policy? ** Dave ... come on now ... reduce their charges no way ... reduce their costs ... probably ! On 4/18/07, Shellman, David [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** We've looking at using a VAR where would actually be paying them less for the same level of support that we currently have with BMC/Remedy. I wonder if BMC's intention is to reduce costs by reducing Support and Sales Staff by pushing us to VARs. Dave From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG ] On Behalf Of Joe D'Souza Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:31 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? ** If you do want to go that route, make sure that the support center you are going to turn to, not just has the necessary certifications, but that your support with BMC would remain valid too for reasons of upgrades, etc.. There are companies around that act as primary support cells with conjunction to BMC, meaning that they are the 1st line of support. So basically when you buy support from them, you are paying not just for support from them, but also for future upgrades etc. The support fee thus might be marginally higher than you are if you are paying BMC directly for support. I used to work for a VAR (value added reseller) so I do vaguely remember that the markup prices for support was about 15% over the prices you might pay to Remedy directly if you buy it from them. Question of whether or not that is worth doing is entirely dependent on the credibility of that VAR. If they do have qualified experienced people working for them, that 15% markup is perhaps worth it. Remedy support is still liable to support you as 2nd line of support should you go that route, if your 1st line is unable to solve your issue for you. Hope this helps Joe -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG ]On Behalf Of Wilson, Bruce B Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 2:11 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: New Support Policy? ** The trail is becoming more twisted… Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta , GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___
Re: New Support Policy?
But it's hardly the same when you tout your own horn. Your customers should be doing it for you !! Susan On 4/18/07, Kulkarni, Gururaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I just want to add that currently Column Technologies has largest team of ATS certified people in US. Also Column has won awards from BMC for last 5 years for best frontline support .One of the key factor is Column support team escalates very few issues to BMC so resolution is faster than any other VAR in field today. thanks, -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Axton Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:07 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? My place of employment switched from BMC to TuringSMI last September. I've been pleased with the support I receive. Turing has a talented pool of people in the States and I have their numbers. That's a good thing. No more playing phone tag with people I don't know. The people that work at Turing that provide support have the Remedy ATS certification. They are provided with tools and knowledge that are not given out in regular training classes (debugging related info) through this cert path. Our turnaround rate (measured in fixes available in the form of binary patches) has come way off the floor since using BMC support directly. We still work with the BMC resolution team/engineers as needed, depending on the nature of the problem. The BMC site is also still used for all our licensing related issues (new licenses, purges, etc.) and we retain our supportweb logins for the kb, patches, downloads, etc. Just my observations. Axton Grams On 4/18/07, Wilson, Bruce B [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** The trail is becoming more twisted… Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
Re: New Support Policy?
ROFL, thanks Roger, I needed that, though the people on the other end of the phone may beg to differ. Every time there is no way for me to fix a problem (aka, I need to access to modify and recompile remedy), support gets a call from me, which seems to correlate to the number of new features in the release I'm working with. Axton On 4/18/07, Nall, Roger [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Of course Axton, being the person he is(our reining ARS List MVP) , never has to call for support. They actually call him, along with a lot of the rest of us. Hello Axton. Roger A. Nall Manager, OSSNMS Remedy T-Mobile USA Desk: 813-348-2556(New) Cell: 973-652-6723 FAX: 813-348-2565 sf49fanv AIM IM RogerNall Yahoo IM -Original Message- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Axton Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 4:07 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: New Support Policy? My place of employment switched from BMC to TuringSMI last September. I've been pleased with the support I receive. Turing has a talented pool of people in the States and I have their numbers. That's a good thing. No more playing phone tag with people I don't know. The people that work at Turing that provide support have the Remedy ATS certification. They are provided with tools and knowledge that are not given out in regular training classes (debugging related info) through this cert path. Our turnaround rate (measured in fixes available in the form of binary patches) has come way off the floor since using BMC support directly. We still work with the BMC resolution team/engineers as needed, depending on the nature of the problem. The BMC site is also still used for all our licensing related issues (new licenses, purges, etc.) and we retain our supportweb logins for the kb, patches, downloads, etc. Just my observations. Axton Grams On 4/18/07, Wilson, Bruce B [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ** The trail is becoming more twisted... Apparently, when you now call the BMC support center with a new issue, you no longer speak to a support technician. Instead, you speak to someone who takes some cursory notes and creates a ticket for you. Basically, it is the same thing as if you were to go online via Remedy support and create your own ticket. I remember previous to this, you got someone who could not speak very good English and would attempt to solve your problem with the limited knowledge they had and would then TEXT MESSAGE the BMC support engineer you previously were able to speak directly to. Add the fact that the on-line Remedy knowledge base is incredibly slow to search and retrieve and you basically complete the poor support. We are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for incredibly poor support that seems to continuously get worse. What is next? I am seriously considering utilizing a non-BMC service center for support. I am told at one vendor, the technicians go through a certification program. You get the same person each time you call so they get to become familiar with you. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with non-BMC service center vendors? Sorry for venting, but enough is enough! Bruce Wilson CS Remedy Administrator Norfolk Southern Corporation Atlanta, GA __20060125___This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:Where the Answers Are
