Take a tour of Computer Service Partners’ network operation center (pictured), and you’ll find all the key tools you need to remotely manage and troubleshoot customer networks. Plus, a putting green. Yes… a putting green. It’s part of Computer Service Partners’ effort to recruit and retain hard-working, talented employees. Here’s the story.
Based in Raleigh, N.C., Computer Service Partners has roughly 50 employees. When you find a stellar engineer who truly understands pro-active managed services “you want to hold onto them,” says John Kilgore, director of managed services at the company. With that goal in mind, CSP spent roughly $3,000 in extra “upgrades” and “perks” in and around its Network Operation Center (NOC).
The story starts last summer, when CSP began a two-student internship program with Eastern Carolina University. “Having the interns from a college nearby really opened my eyes to what new recruits were looking for in a company culture after they graduated college,” recalls Kilgore. “We saw with our own eyes the new breed of engineer that was coming down the pipe and made a decisive action to prepare for the future.”
Toy Story
When CSP asked the interns in their exit interview what they wished they had more of during their tenure at CSP, they said “More toys.”
“More Toys?,” recalls Kilgore. “We’re a technology company – what else could you want? We couldn’t understand.”
But the light bulb came on when CSP began to build out its NOC. Engineers received the typical tools — PCs, dual-monitors, and Bluetooth headsets. Then the engineers asked for 50-inch LCD screens.
“When the 50’ screens arrived, they were speechless,” says Kilgore. “Again we asked them what else they would like. Jokingly, they said, ‘A putting green.’ Again we said, ‘Yes.’ ”
Some of the NOC engineers asked to work from home a day or so a week. CSP bought them a VOIP phone, a router, and said “Here you go,” recalls Kilgore.
Drawing the Line
Pushing their luck, employees asked if they could play Nintendo Wii on one of the extra 50’ screens during downtime. Kilgore said, “On your lunch hour.”
“All of this may seem like a lot, but for about $3000.00 we created a NOC team,” asserts Kilgore.
Previously, the “team” was scattered around cubicles and sat next to each other sometimes asking each other for help. “There’s been a culture shift here – and it’s a good one,” says Kilgore. “We get more done proactively than ever before because of the brain-share. Now they spend the day closely helping each other and our clients – and it’s a win-win for everyone. It truly embodies what Managed Services is.”
Oh, and about that putting green: The internal record is 21 consecutive putts in the cup. “The NOC staff challenges you to visit and beat it,” quips Kilgore. “But be warned they have a lot of pride and practice.”
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Here at Network Depot, we have an XBox 360 in the conference room, connected to our 65″ LCD. We do our interviews in the conference room, and it almost never fails that it gets mentioned. We tend to try to “hire for life”, so the quality of that life is important. What’s somewhat impressive to me is how CSP actually monetized that value.
However, one thing keeps me from being fully impressed. “Nintendo Wii?” What do they play, Mario Kart?
C’mon. We play Halo 3. That’s a gamer’s game. Guys, let’s see what you’re made of. We hereby challenge the Wiinies at CSP to an Xbox live Halo 3 match. If they beat us, THEN I’ll be fully impressed.
Rich Forsen
Gamertag: Depot Master
Rich: I’m trying to write a witty reply but I’m a bit distracted with our own XBox 360 here at home…
Joe: Please get back to work.
I’ll add that these “toys” were quite functional (sans the putting green). Immidiately after investing in top notch technology for our engineers, we saw immidiate improvement in resolution and response time. What first thought to be perks actually turned into productivity tools for our team.
Morale is a huge thing to contend with in a NOC. When things go wrong in a client’s infrastructure they -all- feel the heat and pressure. Our strategy is just to go that little extra mile to make their working environment as stressless as possible so they provide stellar customer support. It’s all about ROI for your employees, and providing the best Managed Services you can to your customers.
The best RMM tools, PSA tools, alerting software, ticketing systems, flashing lights and the bat-phone combined don’t compare to a team of great quality engineers. We’re just investing in our most valuable asset for us, and our clients.
John Kilgore
Director, Managed Services
Computer Service Partners
I completely concur with your findings and your philosphy, John – I wish more shared it.
Rich
P.S. My NOC team can still beat up your NOC team
Rich, John: Email me a photo of your NOC teams playing the original Atari 2600 or Intellivision and I’ll send you a $50 gift certificate to Starbucks. First NOC team to email me the photo gets the gift certificate. No joke…
Amy made me laugh out loud, literally.
All: Regarding the contest in Comment #6. John is the winner — in a very creative way. I’ll explain more later.
Jeannine: Happy to see the world laughing with (at?) me. See you at WPC09. Safe travels.
I am feeling a bit like the grinch in comparison Rich and John. I thought we were being good to our NOC when we ran a cable feed to our 50 inch LCD.
I am sure once they read this post the requests for toys will be on my desk.
I may have to stop at the Pro shop on my way home!
Brian Doyle
http://www.fandotech.com
Brian: Yes, but your web site’s blog has cool illustrations of your employees.
We bought two Wii’s for our last annual celebration and have them hooked up for projection at our two offices – it’s a great way to close the week with a few beers and some laughs.
Mike Cooch
http://www.everonit.com
Mike: greetings from Hershey Park. Coasters are still my great escape from work.
Ha! That’s awesome! Hope you had fun.
Mike