Something to think about
July 22nd, 2002 | Pieter Claerhout | allerlei |Don’t always feel that you should believe the vendor. Patches, vendor recommendations, and out-sourced hardware support engineers are some of the leading causes of breaking a system. There are times when you know your systems better then they do.
If something doesn’t feel right or doesn’t feel right , don’t let them do it. Ask a lot of questions and let them know what your experience is.
Cover yourself first, run full backups, ask them if the have ever done the task before. Ask them to confirm the procedure with a back level support person.
Many times vendors will out-source the hardware support to third party companies. When this happens, you may never get the same person twice, nor know what experience he has on your system.
If one of the first things a support person does is ask where a phone is, it is almost a guarantee that he will lack the knowledge he should have and will need to rely on someone else for answer. While we all have much work to do, DON’T LEAVE this type of person alone with your systems.
Trust no one, it is you job and reputation on the line.
July 22nd, 2002 at 19:20
And it’s also something to think about when you help out a customer, both in the field as well as remotely over the phone. The more confident and knowledgeable you are, the more credit you will get from your customer.