While the total number of incidents/service requests, the potential impact of restricted access, and ease of automation will all vary by service, type of support, company, industry, etc., automation is subject to the greatest variability. Executing on a vision is certainly easier said than done,...
Tag(s): automation, self-service, service desk, outsourcing
Customer experience management (CEM) is a strategy that focuses the business on managing all interactions with a customer throughout his or her entire experience with a product or service. The ideal customer experience is one in which the business communicates its vision, distinguishes its...
Tag(s): customer service, customer experience, continual service improvement
Until fairly recently, many internal support centers have been “the only game in town.” While they occasionally measured customer satisfaction, these support centers didn’t have to worry much about competition, and neither did IT. Now, with the availability of the cloud, the proliferation of...
Tag(s): customer experience
A self-assist solution is one in which a person doesn’t directly rely on any other person to resolve their problem. No phone call needs to be placed. No chat window needs to be opened. No email needs to be exchanged. True self-assist (sometimes called self-service) is similar to how gas stations...
Tag(s): practices and processes, knowledge management, self-service tools, KM
Support center analysts have a tough job. Maybe a customer (whether internal or external) has just received a new product and can’t understand the installation directions. Maybe the customer’s network connection is not working properly and it’s just one week over the computer’s warranty. Or...
Tag(s): people, customer service, practices and processes
It’s no secret that customers really want just two things from their interactions with the service desk: speed and accuracy. They want someone to answer the phone quickly, someone who can help them with their problems, and someone who can provide solutions that are correct and helpful. So, if...
Tag(s): customer experience, service desk, staffing
According to a MetricNet study, 84 percent of end users base their entire perception of IT on the day-to-day interactions they have with technical support. A related finding in recent HDI research on inbound contact channels shows that the channel with the highest customer satisfaction—by far—is...
Tag(s): case study, customer experience, customer service, desktop support, governance, support center
In the business world, we’re often required to decide between products or services we don’t know much about; this is especially true when it comes to new, cutting-edge technology and trends. We’re much more susceptible to hype when we’re in unfamiliar territory and have no prior experience. This...
Tag(s): business value, research
Total contact ownership is a mark of business maturity for technical service and support organizations. It takes the best practices of ITSM and strengthens them with customer service resolve. TCO has always depended on the “one team, customer first” approach, as it requires the assignment groups...
Tag(s): customer experience, customer satisfaction, customer service, ITSM, practices and processes
The failure to provide professional and courteous service drives customers away. Some companies, however, get it right, going above and beyond to help their customers. Not only is this the right thing to do, it also increases revenue and customer loyalty. The bottom line is that satisfying...
Tag(s): customer service, customer satisfaction, customer experience