MISD Support Strategy Manager Certificate (SSMC)

At Support Strategy Manager, we no longer lead a team of operatives, but one of workgroup heads. Here, the strategic decisions are made, such as which workgroups even need to be called into existence, and what their mission must be. In many companies, IT Support does not exist as a function in its own right – yet the users see it as IT’s primary purpose.

The common IT approach to providing support is largely organic. By default, IT has groups of technicians, each specialising in given technologies. We front these with a universal call centre that has no influence over any of them, but must commission work from all of them. And when the call centre assigns a support request, often these otherwise-tasked technical groups deal with it when it is convenient to them (for typically, there is no strategy to insist otherwise). This is regardless of the huge, unmanaged, consequent impact on user and business productivity.

Under MISD, the Strategy Manager determines the IT Support strategy the business needs. The design of the service is considered and deliberate, not just an accident of o

You should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding and application of principles and techniques in the following areas:

• Research and scope a market (in the form of an acquired client or a new or existing user base) to anticipate needs in terms of types of support services required.
• Design flexible services appropriate to business needs with justification for chosen provision
• Define procedures and work instructions needed for the manufacture of those services
• Define roles and skillsets for managers, supervisors and operatives carrying out strategy; write job descriptions and recruit as appropriate
• Logistics: identify appropriate workload throughput paths, escalation routes, points of decision for reassignment, critical success factors, and skillset deployment along work-chain; define ongoing reporting strategy for all involved service owners
• Negotiate resources and service levels with host business, clientele, and other functions upon which service depends, and express these as Service and Operational Level Agreements
• Be able to justify all support services not just in principle, but financially in terms of Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Describe policy and practice of implementing above decisions
• Determine service and practice improvement strategy and instigate appropriate projects based on analysis of actual service behaviour.
• Managing managers – develop systems for cascade reporting to ensure all elements of the issued support strategy are catered for, regardless of rank or location

Our MISD Support Strategy Manager Certificate (SSMC) training course is aimed at Senior IT Managers with actual or potential cross-departmental responsibilities for support delivery.

Typically, organisations tend to try to get by without an IT Support strategy. This carries risks of uninformed management decision-making, waste, ineffective resource deployment, duplication and so on.

There is a strategic reason for the existence of any workgroup, any protocol, any service, any given level of staffing, any structure.

Our MISD Support Strategy Manager Certificate (SSMC) training course is the next step, to enable a longer term approach to professional support delivery across the whole of IT.

Our MISD Support Strategy Manager Certificate (SSMC) training course includes the formal examination and course materials.

You must hold the MISD Operational Manager Certificate (OMC) before attending our MISD Support Strategy Manager Certificate (SSMC) training course.

There is no recommended reading for our MISD Support Strategy Manager Certificate (SSMC) training course.

MISD Support Strategy Manager Certificate (SSMC) Examination:

• Format: 40 Multiple-Choice Questions + Essay
• Essay: Approach To Support Strategy Against Interpretation Of A Set Of Criteria Offered By Invigilator.
• Total Duration: 3 Hours
• Pass Mark: 28/40 (70%)
• Results: Within 3 Weeks, Examiners Decision Is Final

If you fail the MISD Support Strategy Manager Certificate (SSMC) examination, there is a maximum of two exam re-sits. After two re-sits, examination opportunities require you to retake the entire MISD Support Strategy Manager Certificate (SSMC) training course.

Our three-day ITIL® 4 Foundation training course is the starting point in your ITIL® 4 certification journey and is the prerequisite for the ITIL® 4 Managing Professional (MP) and ITIL® 4 Strategic Leader (SL) training courses.

Our ITIL® 4 Foundation training course is for anyone who needs to understand the key concepts of IT and digital service delivery, and who is interested in helping their organisation embrace the new service management culture.

At the level of Support Strategy Manager, we move beyond the considerations of the operational workgroup head into the more complex area of the management of managers. Here we are designing the whole service and how it must be delivered. This is potentially the ultimate job satisfaction, the absolute responsibility for the recognition of need and the creation of a mechanism to meet it.

Management of managers is a highly portable skill for the career-conscious. For the successful candidate in the smaller organisation, the skill is scalable to the larger organisation. Once there, the skill is still needed at the level of the corporate director.

The MISD Support Strategy Manager Certificate (SSMC) is more than just an education in high-level design and implementation, but a potential enabler for career advancement.