Managing Technical Support
by Greg Welsh
Most
small businesses, and many of my clients, lack the resources
to have full-time staff providing troubleshooting and technical
support when systems go awry. Even among those who have full-time
staff, few have the range of expertise to handle the complexity
of today's software, let alone the interactions among all
software and hardware components in the system. This means
that calls to vendors for technical support are often part
of the routine for resolving problems.
The need
to engage help desk or support engineers when seeking solutions
puts a premium on both technical expertise and communication
skills. You'll need not only to have confidence that your
information technology support has the requisite technical
skills or ability to learn, but the ability to communicate
effectively. The presentation of the problem to a vendor's
support group has a major impact not only on the management
of costs associated with fixing the situation, but also on
the approach taken. Going down the wrong road increases the
total cost and creates additional delays in restoring normal
business functions.
Assessing
the quality and breadth of the vendor's technical support
representative is critical to success. Your technical staff
can't simply assume that the person on the vendor's end of
the call knows all they need to know about their own products,
or understands your environment well enough to address the
problem. Knowing when to terminate a call and escalate the
problem to a higher level is essential; without this ability
your support staff will follow rather than lead, and case
management will slip into the hands of the vendor.
Vendors
have an interest in solving problems quickly and efficiently;
they want satisfied customers and repeat business. They also
want to move on to the next support call as soon as possible.
However, their agents will apply what they know to the problem,
and too often will continue working "within the box"
defined by their specific expertise and training. They may
not have access to senior level staff or the resourcefulness
to call in additional expertise at the appropriate time. Yet
the more complex your system, the greater the likelihood that
any particular case will require more than one support engineer
from the vendor.
Keeping
detailed logs of the working hypotheses advanced by the vendor's
staff, and the diagnostics run and system changes made while
trying possible solutions is essential. Not only will this
documentation serve to educate your staff, but it will prove
invaluable in talking with additional staff or management
from the vendor. Knowing who was contacted, when, and what
they recommended is critical to moving your case forward without
retracing the steps already taken. For problems that span
several hours or even days, the time spent documenting is
a good investment and will help manage the long-term costs
of keeping your systems up and running.
I encourage
you to contact me with your questions and suggestions for
future columns, and welcome the opportunity to help you build
your business through your interest in the Small Business
Advisor. You may contact me via email at greg@gregwelsh.net.
