Rarely see any activity on support or past examples of how Broadcom has dealt with product support function in the past. How are the sentiments in our support org?
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none existent Skyline outputs
Uh, didn't you say that SSMs "use the output [of Skyline] just as much as TSEs"?
So which is it, skyline output is non-existent, or SSMs use skyline just as much as TSEs?
“ Of course it's not me that's at fault! It's everybody else's fault too! LOL. Listen SSM, you're the support quarterback for the customer? Then stop making excuses and start acting like one.”.
First, I’m not a SSM, secondly, I am not diverting blame from anyone. Simply outlining you can’t squarely blame Skyline issues on SSM. GS is a complex animal where we need everyone in sync. That is difficult to do, especially with the product range we support, across global regions and entitlements.
Do you think the SSMs sit there and sh-t on TSEs all day? No, because half our SSMs were TSEs at some point. They know the pressure TSEs are under
Skyline has its issues where multiple groups are trying to address. It’s far from perfect or even good. Either be part of the solution or not, up to you
In the meantime, feel free to step into a SSM role where you need to quarterback every product we service from none existent Skyline outputs, poor SR notes or being ignore when seeking updates. Serious, be my guest. By all means, have at it.
Skyline had fantastic potential when it was first introduced. The promise was to automate health checks and make them continuous, as well as help reconcile licenses between what the customer owned vs. what they had deployed. I don't know which set of leaders botched the execution over the years, but they sure did a fine job of it. Nevermind the fact that this kind of phone home functionality should have been built into the vCenter core at least 15 years ago. The amount of obvious mistakes this company has made over the years is absolutely stunning.
Haha nice to see people are jaded about all VMware topics equally.
Skyline is nothing more than a polished tu-d, it’s the most useless thing that VMware has ever ever developed.
Imagine in 2023 and we still can’t get a “phone home” system to work. Seriously, WTF.
Clearly TSEs are overworked.. 20+ cases at a time…. From my outward customer lens , Skyline Advisor is the best thing to come out of support since they started. Now if only the TSEs would use it to send logs up..
SSMs use the output just as much as TSEs, to help get projects on the go or proactive SRs opened.
BULL BISCUITS! If SSMs were using Skyline to report, why do they not notice that half the customer's inventory is missing? Or that log assist couldn't be used because of permissions or misconfiguration or some other issue?
As usual it’s a much more complex issue that some people are trying the address.
Of course it's not me that's at fault! It's everybody else's fault too! LOL. Listen SSM, you're the support quarterback for the customer? Then stop making excuses and start acting like one.
“ And I lay this squarely at the feet of the SSMs”.
SSMs coordinate with SPSS, Skyline Prod and TSEs (corrective issues with product) groups to have this installed, configured and repaired. They don’t install, configure and repair. SSMs use the output just as much as TSEs, to help get projects on the go or proactive SRs opened. Unfortunately many customers have opted out due to security, complexity, dark sites, product coverage and plainly have too many reactive issues to add proactive skyline SRs to their pile. Furthermore, customers simply don’t want SHD installed because or has Skyline in the name. And when TSEs simply ignore it and ask for logs via email . Then why bother. So go ahead and bury your head in the sand and blame the SSMs. As usual it’s a much more complex issue that some people are trying the address.
Say what you want about GSS, and I've witnessed the swirling combination of great >people forced into garbage processes and systems for over a decade, but one thing to >keep in mind is that no amount of technical support expertise will compensate for a >vendor that turns out half-baked software over and over.
Don't worry though - Karen said herself - she will stick with it until the bitter end .... Oh wait ..... that was Karen in a parallel universe .... Isn't she the new Betsy in Cohesity or something.
How many customers even know if they have Skyline? Or if permissions are correct? Or >what organization to choose? I have seen so many broken/incomplete skyline installs. >Why even bother checking?
Already forgotten what it was called, but we had a tool for service providers that was supposed to measure usage that then automatically creates the report so we know what and how many points to charge.
Never worked, never completed and despite Usage Meter supposedly do the work for us - we still need to fu-k around with spreadsheets.
Oh yea clearly remembered by accident - usagemeter ...
Kind of funny when we have a product called Skyline that is supposed to help allow >Support to request the logs for tickets but is rarely used. Instead we just get email >responses just before SLA commit to send logs or even resend logs…
Yep
worked in support for many years. It is actually hard to find tses that care and actively think about customer problems. Outsourcing would be easy but the complexity if vmw product is no easy task to master. broadcom should keep top TSEs and have them support multiple products rather than a silo’d approach.
Say what you want about GSS, and I've witnessed the swirling combination of great people forced into garbage processes and systems for over a decade, but one thing to keep in mind is that no amount of technical support expertise will compensate for a vendor that turns out half-baked software over and over. And if you are will to put said half-baked software into the hands of half-@$$ed customer teams, you cannot act surprised that the constant breaking of things. Never mind that the fact that the root cause is so often not a VMware issue.
You need a product called skynet instead. Indians and AI will replace 80% of the current staffing in these roles. Welcome to the future.
Engineers are facing immense challenges, with many juggling 20 or more service requests and a constant influx of high-priority P1 issues. The situation becomes even more demanding when we're expected to make commits while on calls. This chaotic state has persisted for years, and it's clear that management has not effectively addressed it. I would personally be empathetic if Broadcom were to opt for outsourcing the GS.
Most of the time the issue is resolved by reading the fu----g logs in the first place.
we have a product called Skyline that is supposed to help allow Support to request the logs for tickets but is rarely used.
I'm in GS, have been for years. And I can tell you that Skyline is just another half-attempt by this company, lacking follow through, and accomplishing 10% of what what promised.
How many customers even know if they have Skyline? Or if permissions are correct? Or what organization to choose? I have seen so many broken/incomplete skyline installs. Why even bother checking?
And I lay this squarely at the feet of the SSMs. They were supposed to work with their customer to get skyline running and right in their environment. They didn't. Now it's a half system that works sometimes and not others. And now that the Skyline team has moved on to other things (Helios?), these skyline problems will never get fixed. Welcome to VMware!
Yes you need logs. Yes logs get corrupted all the time and need to be resent. Yes customers upload logs from one node instead of all nodes / whatever is needed. Yes they upload log snippets instead of the whole thing. Hence the multiple asks.
But also, yes engineers ask for logs without even checking if there are logs already. It is standard to use templates now to mail customers (which may request logs)
Kind of funny when we have a product called Skyline that is supposed to help allow Support to request the logs for tickets but is rarely used. Instead we just get email responses just before SLA commit to send logs or even resend logs…
The products are designed that you need logs to troubleshoot, so yes logs are requested sometimes in multiples, if anyone thinks working in technical support is easy try working in it
Years !! I worked years in support and I have seen more often then not that colleagues literally just asked to re-send logs 2 minutes before their shift ended. When I left GSS and went to PSO I heard a lot of times that this was a running joke that support just asks for logs.
I have then opened support tickets myself and coming from GSS you can BELIEVE me I submitted all the right stuff needed as I knew what was required ...
First response on my very first support ticket on behalf of a customer rather than working at GSS : Can you please send logs.
Just can't make that sh-t up (well you can, but I didn't).
Clown
The products are designed that you need logs to troubleshoot, so yes logs are requested sometimes in multiples, if anyone thinks working in technical support is easy try working in it, daily customer heat, site down situations with C Suite execs on calls shouting, dealing with quality issues/defects - those guys are rock stars holding it all together
Outsourcing support to India results in ruin, seen it multiple times
Sadly though, BCOM do seem to like moving things lower cost so we can expect some of that.
'If I were Hock I'd outsource tech support to India. A lot cheaper and you don't need much to constantly just ask to have logs send over.'
How about PSO UK? HCL?
Outsourcing is coming
If I were Hock I'd outsource tech support to India. A lot cheaper and you don't need much to constantly just ask to have logs send over.