Benefits of a help-desk software solution

A help-desk software solution is designed to help you manage your help-desk operations systematically and efficiently. Its purpose is to enable you to easily track and follow customer calls. Installing a help-desk software solution will help to better manage your customer relationships as it provides processes that can systematically track calls thereby enabling quick responses.

The help-desk software will act as a database for all your customer issues. It provides features to store customer-call information such as the time a call was made, a brief description of the call and the person to whom the call was assigned. You can view the list of calls that need to be attended in the form of a sorted list, report or a graph. It will maintain a history of customer calls, which could be based on the product type and this can be used to collect information on which products received maximum customer call or enquiries.

Most solutions offer a knowledge base which will store of a list of problems or issues that customers have encountered, and the action or solution taken against the problem. Should the problem arise again with another customer, the same solution can be applied and your staff will be able to move on to attend the next call. This saves your organization time and money. Since your staff quickly resolves calls, you do not need more members to attend and service customer calls. Furthermore, the knowledgebase acts as a training device for new staff and you can also reduce money spent to train employees as the knowledge base stores solutions for problem encountered. Help-desk software solutions provide for better communication amongst organization members. It can be configured to send alerts or mails to the concerned staff so that they will respond to the issue in time. Administrators and authorized management personnel can view reports, sorted lists on customer calls and how issues were tacked by their staff at any time and so a constant communication is always maintained. Better communication flow provides way for quick problem solving and better work efficiencies.

Linda James - Benefits of a help-desk software solution

Technical Support Psychology - Dealing with Stress

Good people skills are essential.

Each job has its own level of stress, some more so than others. Providing technical support in the IT industry in particular can be extremely difficult because, as well as dealing with sometimes incredibly complex equipment, the engineer onsite must also try to pacify an irate CEO or business executive.

Don't get overwhelmed by the situation

In most companies, time is money and there could be anywhere between 2 and 2,000 people waiting for you, the engineer, to fix the problem. When faced with this kind of pressure it's very easy to be overwhelmed by the situation and go into a 'panic mode', trying various things at random, without any kind of definite plan. This is generally a very bad place to be, as more often than not, you'll make the problem worse and not better.

I have found that the best approach to this is to take a mental step back then a few deep breaths to try and calm your mind. It's going to be a tough day but it's only a few hours of your life so there's absolutely no point in getting too stressed out about it.

Do not confuse relaxing with not caring.

You still have a problem to solve with professionalism and expediency. Once you have control of yourself then you are ready to take care of your client.

Another situation that generates stress is that, during the course of troubleshooting a problem, you will run out of ideas. It's inevitable that at some point in your career this will happen to you. Again, the key here is not to panic or despair.

Go back over the facts and try to think 'outside the box'.

It's possible the solution to your problem is sitting right in front of you but you are simply too close to see it.

Try to get a second opinion if possible.

Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes on a problem is all it takes to resolve it. If this isn't possible then perhaps a sounding board will help - just someone to bounce ideas off to help get your mind back on track. They don't have to be technical or understand what you are talking about. In fact you can even talk to yourself (although I don't recommend this especially if there are other people around...). The main aim here is to get the situation completely clear in your head.

De-stress Your Client

It's quite common to receive a call for help some time after a problem has occurred (sometimes even months may have elapsed). Perhaps the client thought they could fix the problem themselves or maybe they thought the problem would just go away. Anyway, it hasn't, the client is in a panic and now it's YOUR job to fix it.

When faced with this situation your first priority is to calm down your client. Have no doubt that they'll be all over you on site, maybe trying to help or just trying to make you understand the urgency of their situation. Remember, they could be losing thousands of dollars an hour so make sure you respond appropriately. They will be stressed. If they want to know what you are doing, tell them.

Always speak to your clients at their technical level

If your client is a technician then talk technical, if not, then drop the 'jargon' as far as possible. Watch them as you are talking and make sure they're not phasing out. The blank look is a sure sign they don't understand what you are saying and have tuned out. It's very easy to fall into the habit of using technical jargon and acronyms that are completely obvious to people in the industry but mean absolutely nothing to your client. If they can't understand you, they'll just get more stressed.

Another thing you should be aware of is even if your client doesn't understand what you're talking about they may not say anything or ask any questions in fear of looking stupid. Make sure you're all on the same wavelength.

De-stress Yourself

In order for you to fault find effectively you'll require a degree of peace and quiet to be able to think clearly. If your client is panicking or there's too much going on around you try using the following strategies:

Reassure your client that their problem can and will be fixed as quickly as possible.

Speak calmly and firmly so they know you are in control of the situation.

LISTEN to what they have to say. This will also have a calming effect on them and show them you care.

Try to organise one point of contact so you're not constantly disturbed by various people popping their heads in to see how the repair is going.

Once you have your client under control you'll be able to get more useful information from them regarding the problem.

The whole point here is to try to create an environment which is as stress free as possible.

Paperbark Solutions, Robert Verstandig

Robert is a Senior Systems Engineer currently under contract with Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia. He has over 25 years of experience in the Avionics and IT industry and has supported a wide variety of technology. Robert is also the author of the book, Secrets of Troubleshooting Systems, which describes the ins and outs of fault diagnosis in complex systems.

Website Hosting Technical Support - Common Misconceptions

Tech support is there to help, right? The reality is, it depends. Learn some common misconceptions about tech support's responsibilities.

You've just gotten a new website hosting account. You're excited to begin your journey onto the web. You're a novice to all this "web stuff", but you're confident and brimming with enthusiasm. Into it you plunge, opening the design program your friend suggested and trying to create some pages. There's a problem, though, and you can't make the program work, and you're not actually building any pages. Well, time to call technical support at your brand new hosting company, right?

Your hosting is providing you the space on its servers to put this information, so shouldn't they be responsible for making sure you can actually make a website?

This is going to sound disappointing, but the answer to that question is 'no'. Your hosting company is providing you space and transfer for a website, but the responsibility for populating that space is your's and your's alone. What is uploaded to the account and how it is uploaded is the responsibility of the client. The role of technical support at any hosting company is the diagnosis and repair of problems with a site relating to the server on which it is hosted. This article will cover the 2 most common "Tech Support Don'ts," training and content update, and offer alternate solutions to the "problems."

Content Update

Many novices enter website hosting with the idea that a hosting company's technical support is not only a troubleshooting organization, but a teaching and maintenance organization as well. These impressions are due mostly to a misunderstanding of what constitutes "technical support" problems. Customers may classify a need to update a web page with new information as a "problem", and perhaps, to them, it is, but it is not a problem for which technical support at your hosting company is responsible.

If you need someone to update your website on a regular or even intermittent basis, then you have 2 basic options. The first, and most economical, is simply to find an editing program with which are you are comfortable, learn it, and use it make your own updates. The program you need will vary according to the kind of site you wish to build or maintain. Many hosting companies even provide online "site builder" solutions that can be accessed right through your browser without the need to install separate program.

Alternately, if you lack the time or skills to update a site, consider hiring a outside web design services firm to perform your needed updates. Prices vary wildly, but you will probably be able to find a great number of resources in your local area, and beyond, by doing a search at your favorite search engine. Most web designers are generally knowledgeable, and, with information you provide, can update your site even if they themselves did not initially design it.

Training

Hosting and maintaining a website requires some basic knowledge. It isn't just another bill you'll pay monthly, like electric and water. It requires a knowledge both of the programs you'll use to create the site and of the programs you'll use to maintain and upload it. When someone arrives to hosting without this general, basic knowledge, they may find themselves lost and believe the only recourse is to call a hosting company's technical support for what amounts to free training.

Training on software, even commonplace software, is something many people pay a great deal of money to colleges and other professional organizations to obtain. Expecting this kind of service for what equates to a monthly hosting fee is, on reflection, a little unreasonable. In virtually every case, there will be resources associated with the programs you're using to provide answers and rudimentary training. Answers to more general questions, beyond those specific to a single program, may be found in a variety of places. Most hosting companies can provide an entry level training in website hosting through online resources, like manuals, knowledgebase, or even advanced video tutorials. Always check for these kinds of resources before immediately picking up the phone to ask your question of technical support.

Mr. Lester has served for 4 years as the webmaster for ApolloHosting.com and previously worked in the IT industry an additional 5 years, acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and search engine optimization. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers.

Established in 1999, Apollo prides itself on the highest levels of customer support.

 These articles are provided for general interest and content purposes only, and should not be construed as "support" materials. Apollo Hosting does not guarantee the information contained within. All articles are free to reprint so long as they remain unchanged, the "About the Author" section remains, all hyperlinks are preserved, and the rel="nofollow" tag is not added to the hyperlinks.

The Bloody Service Desk

You know the scene… it is 9.15; the office staff are furtively munching toast and slurping tea (there is a no eating at the desk mandate in our office) and one of the staff is having a good old moan to his colleague…

“I just called the service desk for an update on that issue I raised yesterday and they can’t even tell me when someone will have a look at it! Bloody service desk, they’re all useless!”

His colleague replies…

“I know, you’re better just sorting it yourself…or asking that engineer with the long hair, he’ll just come and do it. I don’t know where they get that lot from…dismal!”

Remarkable, isn’t it? You would often think, when listening to this sort of feedback, that IT Managers have a knack otems, make sure they spend some time with your vital business functions and make this an ongoing activity.

Respect

Give them some! A great way to allow your desk staff to earn it is simple. Make sure that key people in each department and your senior mangers are obliged to spend at least one day a year on your desk. Thereafter they will hold your staff in high esteem. Believe me; nothing sharpens the mind to the plight of the service desk like the experience of taking a call from a user, or even listening in to one. It’s a magical vivification of understanding to watch. Former critics suddenly see the reality and for a short time at least, a newfound admiration for the service desk is born.

Governance

Then there is remit to consider. All IT functions need to know their delivery expectations: what they should do; for whom; how quickly; and when. The best way of consolidating this information is through Service and Operational Level Agreements (SLAs and OLAs). These define the expectations and requirements of the users and customers that IT staff and the service desk can reasonably achieve (with their resources and ability) and can be measured against.

Many organisations claim to be following ‘best practice’ and have agreements in place to govern the expectation of IT providers, but they tend to be documents that have been formalised by people who don’t use the service and don’t know what their users actually need to allow them to carry out their business process. Furthermore they define expectations that are neither achievable, nor measurable: SLAs that are wholly deficient. The final indignation is that these documents are often locked in a senior manager’s briefcase or cupboard and once signed, never see the light of day, get reviewed or become available to the users for whom they have been designed!

How can anyone feel anything other than annoyance for a service desk whose remit and objectives are shrouded in mysticism?

The key is to define efficient, ‘living’ SLA and OLAs that are continually reviewed; affirming that they meet business needs and are achievable and measurable. Making them available to everyone (including users and service desk staff) is also necessary.

Management commitment

Finally, Management Commitment: I know I have already mentioned this, but it is crucial in making sure that the service desk is venerated appropriately. By management commitment I mean more than funding the desk. After the initial investment it is imperative that senior managers ‘walk the walk’ not just ‘talk the talk ’on behalf of the service desk function. Support the service desk, understand and respect their remit. Back their decisions, extol their virtues and conform to due process like all other users.

The service desk will fail to be successful if senior managers (and their PAs!) don’t respect its position. The service desk should have a defined remit, critical and non-critical services to support, agreements to conform to, priorities to commit to and a host of activities to complete to keep the wheels in motion. Senior managers should not be allowed to ‘jump the queue’ for non-critical requests. It is essential in developing and maintaining a good desk that senior managers commit to and support the agreements that govern it. If the service desk is delivering service in accordance with the SLAs then they should be meeting the needs of all parties, even your senior management team, so there should be no need for nepotistic behaviours that will only serve to deliver the wrong messages to the rest of the organisation.

The great service desk

In summary, the most important factors supporting the creation of a great service desk are:

> Correct people
> Appropriate salary
> Tools
> Ongoing training
> Respect
> Provide governance
> Demonstrate management commitment!

So, next time you hear someone lamenting about the ‘bloody service desk,’ ask yourself…

Why is the service desk often perceived in this way? Are the staff really uniquely inane and deliberately obtuse or is it actually because we haven’t chosen the right people or provided them with the skills, tools and support they need to allow them to deliver service that meets the needs of their users.

Never underestimate the importance of the service desk. The correct level of investment in this uniquely important function can provide your organisation with an excellent asset.

If you can get it right they can serve you well, and not just by answering you calls for IT assistance. They can actually provide a broad range of services, everything from training and coordinating issues to providing a communications portal, collating management information and gauging that all important user perception.

If the investment in the service desk is correct so much can be achieved, a valuable support function, the window to your IT services. Let’s get rid of the ‘bloody service desk’ once and for all!

www.nes.co.uk

 

http://www.nes.co.uk

4 Easy Steps to Better Online Customer Support

Customer support is very important when you're running a business, whether your business is on or off the net. If your customer support is hopeless, you'll soon find your customers running away from you and worse, telling others to stay away too.

If you're like many of us out there, the last thing you want to do is to spend the whole day replying to customer support emails. Here are 4 easy steps to help improve your customer support and at the same time reduce the time you spend replying to queries. The trick here is to help your customers help themselves before you help them.

- Step 1: Start with a Knowledge base / FAQs

The first step to your support system is to set up a knowledge base or, if you have a quite straight forward product, a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section. This will save you a lot of time. Your customers will also be happier since they can find answers to their questions immediately. If you're just starting out, it is still a good idea to set up a knowledge base/FAQs. Just sit down and think of all the possible questions that your customer would ask. Maybe not all. Start with a few and you can always add more to it as time goes by.

- Step 2: Set up a Forum

A forum is a great addition to your customer support system. The forum should be the second place your customer would turn to for help. A lot of people associate a forum to discussions, moderating, a lot of work and a headache to maintain. This is only true if you use a forum as a discussion area.

Instead, you should use it as a customer support tool. Just create different forum categories for eg., pre sale questions, member questions, one category for each product. A forum is an excellent way to provide customer support because:

 

• There is a search function for the customer to find related posts
• You could easily set up a forum for free. Most good web hosts now has a one click forum installation function.
• You don't have to worry about your replies being caught by your customers' email filters
• If you get a question you've answered before, just give them a link to the answer in another post.
• Usually, other forum members are willing to answer a question that they've managed to solve ... for free.
• Hiring extra help is as easy as adding a new moderator.

 Step 3: Install a Ticket help desk

Not all queries can be handled via a knowledge base and a forum. Sometimes there is a need for your customers to send you private information such as usernames and passwords.

When a situation like this arises, you will need a way for your customers to send you the information without others being able to see it. One of the best ways to handle this is to set up an online ticket help desk.

A ticket help desk system will allow your customers to create a user account and log a ticket into your system. They can then send whatever information they need to send. You can even allow them to attach files. Most good help desks will also allow you to prepare pre-written responses for repetitive queries.

Again, a good web host would also have some kind of help desk script installation available at a click.

- Step 4: Use a good email software

And finally, you have the good ole e-mail. Which should be the last thing your customers resort to. After implementing the above three systems, you will find a remarkably reduced amount of e-mails you need to reply to. Customers are getting wiser. Most know that e-mails are seldom replied to. So, they would only resort to this as a last resort.

Don't make a mistake of putting your email address on your web site. Use a form. With email filters rampant on the net, also remember to inform your customers that your e-mail may be trapped by their email filter.

There you go. Just set these up and you'll find your customer support a lot easier to handle.

Bina runs the WebSite Workshop that provides tools & training to help newbies build web sites. Subscribe to Bina's ezine 'WebBriefcase!' & get your free course on "How to Make Your Own Web Site in 7 Easy Steps" mailto:subscribe@website-workshop.com

Ticket Management System - All The Customer Support Services?

You may already have a flourishing online business, but in case you believe that further progress is being curtailed due to the ever-increasing number of customer support requests, it's recommended that you opt for a ticket management system as soon as possible. Installing a ticket management system will help you a lot because it will automate all of your vital business tasks such as replying to customer generated queries and complaints. It will also be a great help to your customers because then they will easily be able to create support requests and monitor status updates by using any of the preferred mediums such as email, web forms, phone, support site, fax and postal mail.

A ticket management system offers varied benefits, but if we were to make a list of the most prominent benefits, it would most likely include substantial timesavings and increased efficiency. This would become a possibility because after you install the ticket management system, you will no longer be required to reply individually to each and every support request that reaches you. All you have to do is configure the system as per your needs and preferences. The system will then automatically classify each incoming support requests into different categories based on your set criterions. This way you will be able to concentrate more on the most important requests and post generic replies for less important support requests.

Another important benefit is that you will be able to make a substantial reduction in your operational costs as related to the management of customer support services. What is even better is that cost savings will always be a possibility irrespective of the size of your business. If you have a small business, you will be able to save by handling all the customer support services on your own whereas if you have a large enough business, you will save by limiting the number of support executives you hire. What's notable is that you will be able to do all these without compromising the quality of your customer support services.

Looking at the benefits, you might be tempted to believe that ticket management systems are costly, but you can rest assured because most of the highly effective ticket management systems are quite affordable. What is even better is that free trial versions are available, which you can use to select the most appropriate ticket management system. You have basically nothing to lose, so just go for it.

If you need a powerful solution for your support make sure you check out the Premium Response Ticket Management System for more info.

Trends In Customer Support Software

A Customer Support Software is a software solution that promotes easy and rapid interaction between the potential and existing prospects and the entrepreneurs in different business domains. A robust and aggressive business environment thrives on customer relationship. If you are able to satisfy your customer then you sustain to be a part of the rat race. A device that enables this effort is tailor-made CSM.

Thriving proper customer relationship is dependent on profound knowledge base that the program provides. This knowledge should also be common knowledge easily reached by support groups including self-service. This should make space for 360-degree analysis of the prospects as well as handle purchases and service contracts. Efficient CSM should be able to route customers and escalate troubled ticket routinely, without human intervention.

A good management program is the tool customized to meet exclusive entrepreneurial needs in service and maintaining customer relations.

Any solution you look ideally assign new tasks/activities to member depending upon their skills and sustain a sophisticated workflow, prompting automatic warning and re-assignment of tasks if these are running behind schedule. Good customer support software is enabled of activity tracking, monitoring, and translating the relevant task to workflow and course automation. Integrated reports and relevant analysis, automated communication options through emails and/or cellular phones are the added advantages of installing such a program.

This is usually developed to extend mutual support to the entrepreneur, users, support and technical segments and customers. The web portal supported is customized for task submission and management. Real-time communication with the support team is the USP of any good program. The centralized information base with self-compatible tools/directives, useful URLs and specified access to sites are distinctive to a quality CSM.

Software solutions are customized for call centers, IT needs to track support requests from department and users. Call centers are now using software that enhances Customer Relation Management (CRM) as a holistic approach to customer retention and escalation. Therefore, software that performs beyond tracking task requests is the need of the hour that such a program should integrate.

There are software solutions that focus on internal support. It is designed to facilitate IT operations and ensuring quality IT service. It also ensures the ability to set and monitor service level agreement (SLA) that reflects customer priorities. Many others have multimedia routing dovetailed with tracking requests. Most Customer Support Software is capable of distributing tasks analyzing the workload. These help in uniform designation of tasks throughout the group. Many CSM's incorporate interactive voice response (IVR) systems that are speech-enabled.

Customer Support Software that might be helpful:
Premium Response
BMC Software
TechExcel
Genticity
Numara Software
FrontRange Solutions
GWI Software

If you need a powerful solution for your support make sure you check out the Premium Response Customer Support Software for more info.

How I Got Rid of Customer Support and Saved 8 Hours a Day

You may not be aware of this, but customer support can very easily be your main time consumer. Yes, those emails that you get, and answer one by one, they end up taking a LOT of your time.

Now, how would I know that?

The reason I know that is because this happened to me. Except doing my company’s customer support got to a point where I was spending around 8 hours a day doing it. Every SINGLE day.

But even if you are not spending 8 full hours a day doing support, let’s pretend that you’re only getting 25% of the support I was getting, that would mean you’d still be spending 2 hours a day doing support. That’s 10 hours a week, and if you work on the weekends (and which online business owner doesn’t these days) you’d be spending 14 hours a day. Almost two full business days just on supporting your client base.

Now, on the other hand, imagine that you'd have to do NO support at all. Imagine that all your customers are satisfied with your product and all the emails you get are the ones from all the sales that are coming through.

What if this was possible?

The way I turned this whole thing around was by getting smart and deciding to install a brand new customer support software in my website. At first the whole thing seem like I was trying to speak alien, but after a while I realized using a script definitely has a lot of value.

For example, most people don't know this, but some scripts will have a function that will allow you to present all the answers in front of your customers, EVEN BEFORE THEY ASK FOR IT.

How does this work?

Simple, all you do is fill out your databases with the questions that you get answered over and over (there's always a pattern to the questions you get). After you fill that database, your customer selects the topic he wants to ask the question about, he will see a list of possible answers. If you did your homework right, that's as far as your customers will go. They now get their answer in front of them.

Well, this is how I did it. Trust me, it's way simpler than you think, it will clear out a lot of your time, and like people say "Time is Money", so in this way this will pay off in a big way.

Discover the Support Ticket System that I used to reduce my support workload... down to almost zero!