The general feeling among support professionals is that the technology keeps progressing (I guess it’s progress for an unnamed office suite to need 32MB RAM and 200MB of disk space) but the users don’t seem to be moving forward at all. The computers keep getting faster while the normal folks seem to stay mired in minutia. We still get many of those same totally amazing calls: "Where is the any key?" "My foot pedal (mouse) won’t work." "My fax can’t be working, I’ve still got the paper right here!" Advancements in technology have spawned new calls: "My cup holder (CD-ROM) is broken." "Can I print my email without reading it?" And the just released, "My talking paper clip won’t go away."

The prognosis for fewer support calls "just happening" is dim at best, at least for the "good" support organization. You see the wondrous world of support works in strange ways: The better you do support, the more support you get to do! The worse you do support, the less you have to do. Of course, if you’re terrible, you lose your job but that’s a whole different column. So let’s assume that you are running a really top-notch support center and because of your superior quality of service you are currently swamped with calls (everybody heard how good you were, so now they’d like help with that nagging problem from 2 years ago). The result of being swamped with calls is quite predictable. Assuming your staff does not increase, your level of service will go down until its reaches the "plateau of disillusionment" where the users begin to sully your once-revered reputation and stop calling you quite so much because you aren’t nearly as helpful or competent or prompt as you used to be. This is also assuming that your staff is still intact after putting in all that inevitable overtime to solve all those problems in a prompt and timely manner.

So…what’s a truly concerned and responsible support manager to do to cut the number of calls without reducing the level of service? In other words how can I avoid supporting all the users, all the time and not impact their productivity…(and still have my kids recognize me). Well, first, let’s run through a few of the most important basics:

You’ve already installed a VRU (Voice Response Unit) with only 4 options on a single top-level menu (humans won’t stand for any more) to re-route calls that shouldn’t be coming to you in the first place.

You’ve also upgraded your ACD (Automatic Call Distributor) so that 1) you can easily change the announce message to update callers on system status such as "We are aware that Server6 on the 4^th floor is down, we are in the process of repairing it now and estimate it will be up and running no later than 1:00pm today. Sorry for the inconvenience.", 2) you can give them recorded instructions on what information to have ready and at the same time market other options to them with differing messages while they’re holding (for a brief amount of time) in the queue, and 3) you can allow them to opt out of the queue leaving a detailed voicemail message regarding their non-priority problem.

You’ve installed and configured any of a number of fine problem resolution database systems which will not only record problems but control workflow and assist the staff in resolving problems faster and more thoroughly through online knowledge bases. Choose systems which are web-enabled to allow limited access to the Problem Resolution database (and knowledge base) from the corporate Intranet. Learn about DMI (Desktop Management Interface) and its ability to bring intelligence to the desktop which can solve problems before they become serious. Train the support staff how to use the full functionality of the PR system.

You’ve encouraged your users to reach you by email for low priority problems (in other words, you’ve tied different problem priority levels to specific channels of communication) by providing them with a problem submission form (emailed to them) to assist them in explaining their situation. "Describe the problem", "What software were you running?" "What happened just before the problem occurred?" "Has anything changed recently in your work environment?", etc. You’ve gotten a mailbot (email robot which automatically processes and responds to messages) to automatically respond to those emailed problems with a confirmation of receipt which also sets the user’s expectations on what will happen next.

You’ve provided your support staff with real-time access to the Internet to scour the Web for real-time answers. These are the people who get the questions, give them every possible tool to find the answers.

You have instilled a "Do it right the first time and we won’t have to do it again" attitude in your staff (and yourself).

You have carefully negotiated a written Service Level Agreement (SLA) with your customer base, other internal departments that interface with you, and your vendors. SLA’s level the playing field and provide a consistent set of rules and expectations for the customers, the support staff and the management. They make it possible to provide world-class support. SLA’s are NOT OPTIONAL. You’ve got one now, you just may not know it.

You have doggedly worked with purchasing, IS/IT, and the workstation technology group to implement hardware, software and desktop configuration standards. Standards allow the support staff to actually know what’s in the user’s machine: what hardware, what software, what internal settings and configurations. It would seem to be a revolutionary concept. Today we run around spending more time figuring out what’s in the machine, what’s not and how it’s set up than we do actually solving the problem.

Now that we’ve got the real grunt work out of the way, we can talk about some sexier strategies:

REMOTE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY

Work with your purchasing department to acquire only new desktop systems which support DMI. These systems can actually scan themselves for potential problems and then report those problems directly to your problem resolution system, which then creates an incident record, assigns a rep, and dispatches a field tech via pager (all without human intervention). The tech gets to show up at the user’s door and say, "Excuse me, your computer called…"

Encourage use of intelligent network devices (routers, servers, bridges, hubs, MAUs, repeaters, etc.) running SNMP-2 (Simple Network Management Protocol and RMON – Remote Monitoring) to report back to a central network management console (Intel LanDesk, Novell ManageWise, HP OpenView, etc.) to alleviate problems before they happen.

Implement products like Microsoft’s Systems Management Server (SMS) to remotely distribute and meter software, scan for viruses, update configurations, copy & delete files and solve real time problems on the user’s desktop machine through remote control.

MARKETING STRATEGY

Get a page on the company Intranet for support faq’s, custom help systems, tips & tricks, setup/upgrade instructions, patches & fixes, frequent downloads, even contests. No Intranet? Get a faxback server to distribute information.

Create a custom help system for your organization reachable with an icon/shortcut on every desktop! Teach users how to use it. This hyper-linked help system should focus on problems/questions representing the top 80% of your call volume. (Check out RoboHelp from Blue Sky Software and Doc-To-Help from Wextech).

Publish a support newsletter incorporating tips and tricks, prizes for solutions/workarounds to chronic problems, contests, etc. Sounds corny but it keeps them reading and, who knows, they might read the "Tip of the Month" (cleverly selected by you to reduce calls).

EDUCATION STRATEGY

Train the support staff at least 5-6 weeks a year (Yeah, you read it right…5-6 weeks a year) on the core technologies they are asked to support or improving customer service and problem solving techniques. Train the support staff on exactly how to respond to the top 80% of the calls you receive (often this will only be 20% of the problems).

Don’t train the users on the productivity tools (desktop software) we provide, train the users on how to do their job with the productivity tools we provide.

Don’t assume any competency. Train the users on where to find and how to use the manuals, help systems, wizards, coaches, Intranet FAQ’s, faxback, cheat sheets, and the new "assistants" in Office 97. Train the users on "How to ask for support."

Avoid being an "Organic Manual." Implement reference-based support. Bring reference material (manuals, help screens, intranets, etc.) into the call whenever appropriate. The users won’t touch any kind of doc without your constant prodding. (Take horse to pond, push down on head, again, again, again, etc.)

EASY-TO-USE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY

Standardize on desktops (Win95/NT4.0 Workstation) with easy-to-follow installation/upgrade wizards. Users really can do some things themselves or, at least, it’s an piece ‘a’ cake talk-thru on the phone. Choose a desktop that will be with us for few years so users can gain competency, acquire mastery and work productively without confusion. Train users on the desktop.

Maintain standard templates and macros for the standard office suite packages. Train users on those templates and macros. Politely but firmly refuse to support personal macros.

Choose office suites with coaches (those little boxes that tell you what the button means). Incorporate them into training. The new Office 97 (runs on Win 95 & NT 4.0) not only has coaches but "assistants." These new animated characters actually monitor our keystrokes and mouse clicks and pop up out of nowhere to rescue us when they "sense" we need help. We can respond to them with "natural" language statements such as, "I want to merge letters" and the assistant immediately starts walking us through the necessary steps to merge letters with addresses. They are truly quite remarkable and even have sound associated with them. If your computer is configured correctly (Accessibility Options), you can even SPEAK the request and have the assistant respond. Truly amazing! (Shades of Spock on Star Trek: "Computer, calculate the exact value of pi." I tried it. It spit at me.) There is one problem… hardware. You will need a really fast Pentium with 32MB RAM (that’s right 32MB) in order to enjoy this feature. Those with lesser machines and lesser RAM will disable it on day one. Remember this addition is supposed to reduce calls not increase them.

Finally. Use common sense. You can spend thousands on technology to help the users become more productive and thousands more to automate the call tracking and knowledge retrieval process. Technology is a wonderful tool but unless the support staff believes in what they’re doing and they are motivated by helping to create and implement the systems involved, then all the technology you can buy ain’t worth a plug nickel. At the end of the day, it’s people. Good people. Smart people. Caring people. That make support successful.

- George Spalding