Have you recently signed up for a broadband connection but then suddenly it is no longer working for some unknown reasons? Are you sick and tired of having to restart the computer over and over again when the screen freezes while you are accessing a web page or a certain software application? How does it make you feel like when you are about to reach the end point of an online game when all of a sudden, you received an error message that says “This program has performed an illegal operation…” It is pretty annoying and devastating, isn’t it? When you encounter such cases, you can not help but think that there is something wrong with your computer system. The IT help desk will definitely help you in this regard. All you have to do first is just sit back, relax and call an IT help desk agent.

IT help desk is a growing industry since more and more IT-related products and services are being presented to the public. Computers and internet-enabled cellular phones and music gadgets like ipods are just some of the sample innovations that men have been using in his every day life. Each of the products mentioned has a specific department called IT help desk where customers can call to report an issue or problem. They are not to be considered your regular day to day friendly neighborhood customer service agent. IT help desk agents’ job is a little bit more complicated and sensitive so being armed with the right tools and knowledge will make a challenging task an easier one.

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Day in and day out, call center agents (also known as help desk professionals) are placed
front and center in a grueling work environment, beset by grumpy, rude, unprofessional and
sarcastic callers. At the same time, these help desk professionals have to contend with
long work hours and having to rush to fill their daily quota. On top of this, they have to
follow every necessary company standard when it comes to operations protocol just to keep
their job and be regularly paid. This is why help desk remedy becomes important for
stressed-out agents.

Getting a job with a help desk company may be the easy part – it is the task of keeping it
as a regular day job (or night job – if you factor in mandatory graveyard shifts and
compulsory flexible working hours) which gives help desk professionals a headache.

What is it exactly that makes a caller become as rude as they can get when the help desk
staff answer their call? Even agents are tempted to ask the rude caller about this
sometimes. Can the caller possibly get even ruder, agents are probably just aching to ask.

Well, callers are often rude because of the product-related or service-related problems
they face that makes them feel frazzled and hassled. In turn, agents may react in an
offensive manner to the caller because they too are stressed everyday while at work. You
can rarely find callers on certain days who maintain a positive attitude. On those days,
they voice their grudges full steam into the ears of the poor helpless agent.

With all this stress that agents have to contend with at work, companies usually compensate
them well for the pressure of being help desk assistants by offering nice, even generous
benefits. Usually, in a big call center company, you will find good facilities that are
maintained just for their agents – facilities like a video arcade room, resting place, and
even a gym. Such companies pamper their employees with great health benefits, insurance,
dental care and of course the mandatory high salary. Their regular employees enjoy paid
leaves or vacation time as well.

Though all these are nice benefits for a person who works as a help desk staffer, it is
still a basic necessity to provide adequate training to these employees so that they can
keep improving on their level of knowledge and skills so that most (if not all) calls have
a happy ending.

 

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“You have reached (Company/Product Name) customer support. My name is (Agent Name). How may I help you today?” This is a typical opening statement that a caller would hear when asking for support to a customer help desk specialist. Assurance of help is always emphasized as these support systems are designed to be of service to the end user of a certain company or product. Help desk support agents can be considered as the business front liners, making sure that customer value is maintained to keep up with the standards set forth by the company. Customer help desk service is a very crucial aspect towards reaching company success.

When someone is applying as a help desk agent, the very first quality that the interviewers are looking for is good communication skills. Since the work is more on interacting with customers and dealing with their concerns, a person who can effortlessly express his or her thoughts through words that can easily be understood by the caller is definitely an advantage. Meeting customer needs is a top priority so being armed with excellent communication and customer service skills are the ingredients in making sure that the promise of providing high quality service is something that customers can expect on each and every call.

Nowadays, other companies are also offering live chat and email support to their customers, aside from posting answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) on their web site. Information or steps to be performed are usually stored and maintained on a database that the agent can access when providing resolutions. Truly, help desk support has gone way beyond customer expectations.

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When talking about the call center industry, help desk technical support is always being mentioned. It is one of the pillars built as a stronghold foundation towards total customer satisfaction. The quality of every tech interaction is needed to ensure that the best possible resolution is given to customers. Here are some of the guidelines that every technical support agent should follow on every interaction:

A) Service with a smile – Greet the customer with all sincerity upon taking a live call. Mention your name so that the customer will feel at ease talking to you. Ask for the customer’s name to maintain a friendly atmosphere. Practice saying your greeting while wearing a smile on your face and it will definitely make a difference on your interaction.

B) Reassurance of help – Saying the words “How can I help you today?” is a key indicator that you are willing to listen to the customer’s issue. After verifying the concern, saying reassuring statements like “I can help you with your issue” will definitely make the customer feel that he or she made the right choice in calling technical support.

C) Active Listening – Listen carefully and write down the different keywords that the customer utters while speaking with you to better understand the problem.

D) Maximize resources – Use your tools efficiently. Give the best possible resolution on every interaction.

E) Closing remarks – Before ending the call, ask if there is any other issue that the customer may have in mind. Thank the member for calling and tell them to call you back for further assistance.

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Need for a Help Desk Solution

July 30th, 2009 | Posted by admin in Help Desk - (0 Comments)

An organization committed to satisfy its customer’s needs
and wants would always look for better ways to improve
its services.  Despite all the efforts of seeking solutions to
their problems, still organizations continue to be bombarded
with questions and problems.  An organization would lose
focus on the business activities if indulged with the numerous
issues raised by customers.  If situation like these occurs,
the organization would need to assess its existing operations
through hiring a service company that provide help desk
solution.

Help desk solution is started through a comprehensive
assessment of the organization’s existing operations. 
Interviews are made to man agent and staff and policies
and procedures are analyzed.  The hardware and
technologies are looked into and surveys are conducted
to assess customer satisfaction. These findings are written
up in a report and at the end of the assessment a
recommendation is to be made to management.  Help
desk solution aims to redefine the organizations existing
help desks so as to minimize support expenses and
ensure that high level of customer satisfaction is achieved,
enhancement in the services provided and effective use
of the organization resources. 

With the help desk solution, organization will be using
the right equipment or technology as it fits their
organization.  The organization can even improve
the workflow operation by putting into writing procedures
as guide and standard.  These procedures will make the
help desk work easier, as there are standard of
procedures to observe.  The help desk solutions is
expected to enhance the business operations, fully
utilize the organization’s staff presence and ensuring that
technology within the organization is use at it is best fitted.

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What are the most effective solutions to a certain problem? What are the frequently asked questions that help desk specialists usually get? How can an agent shorten his or her interaction with a customer on a particular problem? These are some of the questions that a help desk analyst should answer. Basically, the role of the help desk analyst is like a typical help desk agent: answering calls to customer inquiries, opening a ticket for each customer issues, and escalating calls to more experienced agents or Tier 2 support when the problem still persists after all possible solutions have been given already. However, help desk analysts have other responsibilities aside from doing the regular stuff. There are the following:

1. Examine and troubleshoot problems using the available tools such as help desk software, knowledge database and remote control.
2. Manage, maintain and constantly update knowledge base entries.
3. Install and test hardware devices and software applications to study how they react to certain systems and conditions.
4. Respond to any communication, server or network issues.
5. Provide administrative work such as giving network access rights and permissions to specific users
6. Define and develop inventory procedures.
7. Make sure that help desk agents are up-to-date when it comes to troubleshooting customer issues and request for training when there is a need to.
8. Gather relevant data and collect figures taken from the help desk tools to determine the validity of the resolutions given to customers and track the trouble tickets that need to be escalated.
9. Simplify the process by thinking better approaches on how to get things done.

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Companies today concentrate on how to get satisfied and loyal customers. Maintaining a
good relationship is the key to keep devoted clients near your tent. Service oriented
business should consider help desk as a vital tool in keeping an excellent bond with your
clients.

How help desk agents can help your business?

Help desk agents are the front liners of your business. They answer customer queries and
vital inquiries. They basically handle assistance request and update customer data. Help
desk agents can make or break the image of your product and your company. You have to
make sure that they are trained well to deal with furious and intolerant customers. Having
these kind of clients are very common to help desks and customer service related
businesses. That is why communicating properly with raging clients should be handled
with caution.

Agents should also be updated to latest technology trends and applications. Technology
today has a fast growing system that updates regularly. So training on applications are
very important to maintain and improve the productively of your company. Everyday
systems face unexpected challenges that need solutions fast. And one of the challenges is
dealing with customers on the phone. You cannot let them wait too long! So help desk
agents need to know the system and applications by heart.

The success of satisfying the clients and letting them patronize your product and service
depend greatly on how help desk agents communicate and answer the queries of your
customers. Therefore, your company needs to invest on good system applications and
excellent training for help desk agents. Being a help desk agent is a tough job. Everyday
pressures from the customers and interacting with them personally is not that easy.
Agents have to face client and represent the company appropriately.

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We all know that computers are prone to software conflicts, hardware malfunctions and security threats (such as virus and spyware infection) that make users go mad. Due to the fact that not everyone in the house is computer savvy, common problems like the ones mentioned may happen. Though almost every household has a computer, not everyone knows how to troubleshoot usual issues that may be encountered, especially when trying to connect to the internet or when trying to configure installed application programs. It is because of such cases that computer help desk agents are needed to resolve computer-related concerns and ensure that it is in a good working condition.

With a lot of computer manufacturers around, it is indeed a critical aspect of the business to satisfy customers. Every interaction is important and it is a must that concerns of customers will be resolved in a timely manner. Since computer help desk agents are the front liners of the business, satisfied customers spreading good news to their friends and relatives through “word of mouth” about the experience they had with customer service is indeed a great marketing strategy. This is an indication of good business so every interaction counts. Help desk agents should be made aware that the assurance of help should be present on every call to create positive customer experience. It is a usual thing that once in a while, an irate caller will come to the gateway and complain. It is a good thing to note that such cases indeed happen and what the help desk agent needs to do is to maintain a professional and positive attitude and leave member pleased once the call is done.

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