Make sure you have a stellar team sitting on your IT support hotline and that callers are as satisfied as possible. At a time when organisations are more reliant than ever on the digital workplace, IT support is absolutely essential for smooth business processes and good customer relationships. We've got 6 actionable tips to help you fine-tune your IT support to perfection.
Communication is the cornerstone of successful IT support
At a time when most companies are in the process of Digital transformation (some have already successfully completed it - congratulations), is a consistent approach to the digital workplace a necessity. To make sure everything runs smoothly, make sure effective IT support. It's important for ensuring a good employee experience, a positive client experience, and for meeting your business's key performance indicators.
Whether you are supporting colleagues in the "business" divisions or providing IT support as an IT supplier to your customers, we have six recommendations for you to be more successful and effective.
1. Effective communication is about avoiding trouble and being regular
Everyone expects and requires a different level of information from technical support. It is sometimes difficult for IT support to balance making sure the customer or other inquirer gets enough information to help them, but at the same time not be overwhelmed. Effective communication keeps users informed and teams working productive.
It is not only the way of solving the problem that is important, but also the prevention of problems. Information campaigns during the year reinforce the correct procedures to be followed so that IT support staff can tackle more important tasks.
Tip from Blue Dynamic: On our projects, we have found it useful to set up regular contact between project manager and customer, where together they discuss the current requirements each month and set the next direction for IT support. Getting feedback is also an essential part of this.
2. Every customer contact is important
Every contact counts. Do not underestimate any form of communication with the customer. Every interaction can earn you plus points or lose you points. Every IT support team member should know the rules for email and phone communication, which should be ideally set up and defined in the communication manual.
Tip from Blue Dynamic: Don't just focus on emails and phone calls. Your IT support needs to realize that communication happens on all fronts and needs to work the same way everywhere. If you don't set clear rules, it can be easy for a customer trying to call to receive a text message that reads: "I can't, I'll call you later." That's wrong. If such a situation occurs, the IT support person should write rather: "Hello, I am currently in a meeting, I will get back to you after the meeting. Thank you, Lucie," or something else that fits the rules in your communication manual.
3. Quality IT support is always moving forward
Functioning transfer of information and knowledge is one of the most important conditions for the successful provision of IT support. Not only does it allow for the transfer and storage of information, but it also strengthens team collaboration as a whole, which is invaluable, for example, in uncovering the cause of a problem.
Tip from Blue Dynamic: In addition to regular team meetings and email communication, we recommend using tools such as Sharepointthat can be accessed by all team members from anywhere, without the need for special applications or tools.
4. Does your team understand what you want them to do?
Most managers know what they want from their people. The problem is most often in the transmission of this information. Either the manager doesn't have the soft skills to deliver the message effectively and clearly, or he doesn't have the time capacity, or he assumes that his subordinates should know that themselves.
Tip from Blue Dynamic: Don't assume, check it out. When setting (any) goals, it is always necessary to make sure that they have been understood by all partiesi.e. everyone knows what the team is working towards together, what the goals are, how they will be measured and what team members are specifically responsible for.
And how do you confirm that you're all on the same page? A question like "Do you understand?" leave it alone. It's not very appropriate because people tend to nod even if they don't understand. Ask instead, "What's the first thing you're going to do?" Ask questions that don't just get a nod.
5. Knowledge should not only be acquired but also tested in practice
The world of IT is changing at such a rapid pace that a company that doesn't allow its employees to access new information is teetering on the thin edge. Give employees regular access to training, conferences, workshops or webinars.
Tip from Blue Dynamic: Let your employees choose the training they are interested in. They will enjoy them all the more and will spread the information among the other team members.
6. Feedback to IT support is always the first priority
It's understandable that positive feedback from a customer can make you happy and motivate you to keep working. Just like a positive reference is important to you negative feedback.
Welcome her with open arms. Really. Negative feedback tells you that the customer wants to do something about the current situation - change it. It means that he does not let his dissatisfaction grow silently, so that one day he will leave you without a word.
Tip from Blue Dynamic: Treat negative feedback as a source of valuable recommendations and always respond to it in adequate time. The sooner you respond, the less likely it is that a bad experience will become deeply ingrained in your customer. And what definitely not to do? Don't let anything fizzle out...
First and foremost, focus on the customer persona and their experience
IT support is a very important building block of your customer relationship. When a customer calls tech support, it's a sign that "something has gone wrong". It could be due to an error on the user's part, an error on your company's part, or the result of an accident. But that's beside the point - the primary concern at the moment is to deal with customer dissatisfaction. Since a positive customer experience is key to the success of any business venture, it is important that IT support is always able to provide the necessary assistance so that the caller leaves the interaction feeling valued.
Running an IT operation requires expertise and experience in many areas, which can make it expensive to recruit and pay staff, or difficult to find the necessary experts at all. At Blue Dynamic, we offer a way to reduce your IT costs while getting first-class servicethat are supported by our fine-tuned Blue Support. IT support 24×7 is one of the core elements of our service portfolio. Its aim is to ensure high availability, fast application response, continuous and failure-free operation of the customer's business and productivity of its usersWant to know more? Contact our specialists on +420 226 201 970 and ask anything you are interested in.
