When the world changed in 2020 and workers were sent home to do business just as they would have at the office, professional services firms — like accounting firms — became virtual overnight. It’s safe to say that this situation is decidedly more “unique” than most. Offices were empty, lights off, and businesses started to operate exclusively via the power of the internet for collaboration, communication, and business operations.

It's no secret that customers prefer to be autonomous and solve their problems on their own. This has been true for a while now: 67 percent already said they rather self-serve than speak to an agent in 2013. But today, customers don’t just expect businesses to simply offer self-service.

Field service management (FSM) has changed in the last two decades. Gone are the days when dispatchers used legacy systems and spreadsheets to track the field service agent’s activities, and field service agents, on the other hand, used pencil and paper to complete their orders. Though these were ‘established’ processes, organizations found it difficult to keep up with increasing customer demands while staying competitive.

Studies show that 70% of people around the world work remotely at least once per week. To accommodate that, most businesses started using enterprise collaboration software to improve remote communications. There’s no reason government agencies shouldn’t follow the private sector’s model, especially since it would offer taxpayers a more efficient public sector.

Regardless of the industry, anyone working with clients will eventually deal with rude or mean customers. These customers can be very tricky to handle. But if you deal with them properly, it can make the difference between a satisfied customer and a lost customer. So what are the best ways to deal with rude customers? And why are customers rude to begin with?

Asking good questions is one of the hardest skills to master. Anyone who’s ever given an interview, participated in a panel or webinar, or even gone on a date knows that an uninspired question can really kill the conversation. When it comes to brainstorming, good questions are everything. We’ve all been in brainstorming sessions that started out fine but quickly lost steam, or that never took off at all.

Showing appreciation for a team member’s hard work is one of the easiest ways to make them feel seen and valued. That’s why we’re excited to announce the launch of in-product Appreciations. Whether your team is distributed or slowly returning to the office, Appreciations can help you connect, celebrate wins, and bring a little joy to your workday—from anywhere.

We released Zulip Server 2.1.5. This is a security release, containing a dozen cherry-picked changes since Zulip Server 2.1.4.