Active Incidents: RIP AIM, Tech Talent, Top Inventions

It’s time to say hello to Star Wars, and almost time to say goodbye to 2017. For this week’s Active Incidents, we have some more “hellos” and “goodbyes” to cover, including some of the year’s biggest inventions (and potential last minute gift ideas).

Goodbye AOL Instant Messenger

Not “BRB.” No away message. Hear that? It’s the sound of a “closing door” for the last time on AIM. We will remember it as the original training ground for internet acronyms (and internet stalking… jk). We will fondly recall the days of cryptic AIM profiles and locking up our families’ landlines to message our friends.

We have evolved in 2017, so it seems like an appropriate time to say goodbye. For better or worse, there are superior ways to communicate online.

One such way that we’ve adopted at Samanage is through Slack, which includes the same individual or group instant messaging along with the ability to create public or private channels for individual departments or campaigns. If email is your enemy, Slack is your friend.

And, if you’re keen on sticking with the same line of internal communication for your service desk, it’s very easy to integrate. In fact, we’ve documented the benefits of internal service through Slack at length.

Talent Shortage

Many tech companies are running into a problem: they’re workforce demand is higher than the supply of experienced candidates.

According to TechRepublic, many companies are starting to look beyond computer science degrees to find candidates. The wider recruiting net means searching more for skills acquired through a range of experience rather than direct experience in technology. This means reworking job descriptions to include required tasks and skills instead of required degrees or experience. In other words, there may be effective code writers who acquired their skills outside of a traditional four-year college degree.

For candidates looking to jump to a new career ladder, there are a lot of options available that may not require any tech experience. Every company needs marketers, communicators, customer service skills, project managers, and researchers. Here are a few more ideas for job seekers.

The Change Management Award Goes to…

Time Magazine’s top 25 inventions of the year. We’ve included some of them in this blog series, but this is a fairly comprehensive list of achievements from 2017. The list includes the smartest robots, the most versatile elevators, football helmets, and drones. Perhaps a few on the simple side would make for good last-minute holiday gifts.

ITSM Links:

• Use your knowledge base to cut down emails
• 2018 IT Resolutions
• ITSM for the healthcare industry
• Prioritizing ITSM in 2018

Thanks for reading. Check out the rest of the blog to bring more ideas to your service desk as the new year approaches!