We Did It! IBM is one of the Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2014!

We Did It!

IBM has been recognized as one of the Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2014 by the Association of Support Professionals!

One of my last projects I completed before leaving IBM was to lead the application team for IBM's entry in this year's Ten Best Web Support Sites competition. I can't begin to describe how proud I am of our team of writers, editors and reviewers - all whom ensured the judges were well aware of all the improvements IBM accomplished over the previous year. I must additionally praise the IBM web development team for giving us such a great support site to work with!

Award Background

Now in its 17th year, the annual "Ten Best Web Support Sites" competition is one of the most prestigious awards a company can receive for its online support efforts. It requires a 12 page paper as part of the application process, documenting your company's greatest challenge, how you overcame this challenge, the metrics process used to measure success of your support site and 3 feature highlights of your support site. Then volunteer judges, who are subject matter experts in support site design and functionality, take over a month to score the submitted websites based on 25 specific criteria.

What is the Association of Support Professionals?

The Association of Support Professionals (ASP) is an international membership organization for customer support managers and professionals. In addition to its annual "Ten Best Web Support Sites" awards, the ASP publishes research reports on a wide range of support topics, including support compensation, fee-based support, and services marketing. The ASP also provides its members with discounts and career development services. Visit asponline.com for complete association details.      

Next steps

In the near future, you'll see a press announcement from IBM. IBM will also place the following logo on its support site in various areas.

Additionally, the ten winning sites will be profiled in a book called "The Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2014", to be published by the ASP in July - I'm looking forward to seeing my name in that book! 

Also, I was one of the judges this year - no, I didn't judge IBM's site...

Overall, very exciting news for my friends at IBM - I can't wait to read the ASP book this summer!

It's Time for a New Adventure!

I'll miss my parking spot!

Goodbye IBM...

This Spring, I left IBM and now find myself trying to figure out what I really want to be when I grow up.

While I will very much miss being an "IBMer" and I miss my IBM colleagues terribly, I am looking at this change as an opportunity to explore some new things and reconnect with some older interests.

New things

I'm still very interested in social business and all aspects of technology. I will comment on the latest tech news and trends as often as possible. 

Older interests

I plan on returning to the university, focusing on information technology and project management studies. 

I've always wanted to write a book about my parents - they grew up in the Great Depression and personally experienced WW2 and the Cold War. I want to capture those stories before it's too late. Now I have some time to start this project.

I also have a new role in my military career. For over 20 years now, I have been a member of my state's Air National Guard. Recently, I was selected for a new role, concentrating on Massachusetts' emergency management and critical event planning. This is an area that I find extremely interesting and rewarding. Who knows, maybe this will be my new career...

Blog Background

I'm starting this blog because while I've written a blog for IBM Electronic Support for years, it was all about IBM tools and sites, not about the lessons I've learned doing marketing, social business, and emergency management for over a decade now.

I can't promise I'll keep this blog always focused on business - my other love, Jeeps, may sneak in once in a while along with some military articles.

Well, let's see where this takes us - I hope you'll find my ramblings useful and possibly entertaining...

Thanks,
 - Pat O'C