January 2002 Meeting Recap

by Maris Bergeron Paul Simpson, Simpson Consulting, kept his audience entranced by his informative presentation on “Getting the Most out of Web Based Self Service.” Paul asked us what our self service goals are. Suggestions included: User satisfaction, increased Help Desk support satisfaction, improved support, reduced redundant and simple calls and reduced call volumes. We were cautioned that telephone support is not always a good replacement for good service. In fact, telephone support can be similar to vaporware since after getting support the customer forgets the steps they were walked through. Of course, providing Web support, while beneficial, may require more people resources or you may have to reallocate your present staff. It can, however, provide a nice change of pace for your representatives. Caution though. personalities must be matched with this new job. Points to consider in the choice: You must know your users since different learning styles effect support methods. Where are the users, what are they doing, how web savvy are they, will they be able to share information with each other. “Web support”, he said, “is not an age thing. The question to ask your support staff and your users is, how web savvy are they? “ Finally, technicians must be trained to write technical instructions. Web support can provide 7 x 24 hour support with: FAQs, Knowledge bases and Chat Rooms. Frequently Asked Questions and Knowledge Bases are great ways to share information with the users regarding bugs, how tos and other frequently asked questions. Approximately 42% of staff time is used to resolve these issues. They also provide the quickest return on investment. Be aware, however, that they do require on-going maintenance and the price for this type of support can vary from cheap to expensive. One meeting attendee said she had problems with subject matter, entering it, reviewing it and making sure there was no “Garbage In/Garbage Out”. Paul remarked that it can become necessary to find the root cause of this lack of cooperation. One suggestion is to make sure the Supervisor has the responsibility of reviewing the system and entries. Suggestions for developing the most efficient pages included entering no more than 7 to 10 items per page. Put up something pages that take little effort to get up. Customize the pages to your end users if you buy the application. Considerations before buying an application: Look for: Searches vs. browsers Easy navigation Easy to read Pages that can printed Pages that can be book marked for future reference. Ability to add repeat questions automatically Ability to add policies and procedures Ability to sort by document and date Ability to feed Frequently Asked Questions into a customer support newsletter. When implementing: Keep your vocabulary and terminology simple Number the Frequently Asked Questions so that the Help Desk staff can quote the item number to look up later after he/she has resolved the problem with the user. Don’t write Frequently Asked Questions from the solutions to the questions, instead write from the questions to the solutions. Newsgroups, Paul said, are an excellent way to get users to help each other. They encourage user champions and provide histories that everyone can share. They are not high maintenance although they still need some intervention to regulate usage and language. The costs to implement can vary. Also, they should be regulated to make sure that wrong answers aren’t given out and that proper instructions for use and etiquette are used – no swearing or foul language for example. It may be necessary to ban some users or censor some comments. Chat Rooms Chat rooms can provide both positive and negative reactions. For example, while they may create a sense of community within the company, although they sometimes develop into negative sources of information. It must be determined who will moderate these which can be a time consuming task Some chat rooms are free. Yahoo or AOL messenger for example. Also, some attendees thought that chat rooms can decrease Help Desk respect since someone in the respective department helped the user rather than the Help Desk. Final Thoughts: Determine your goals and budget. Start small Make sure support representatives know how to use the web site. Remember who your target user is If the user can’t find their answer, give them a way to open a ticket – Give users a phone number to call. Advertise availability Always sell new features as benefits to the users not yourself Don’t try to use the web support for emergency situations Go to other web sites and look for good ideas for your own use HDI-NE Home Page Underwritten by GroupSoft Systems, Inc. HDI-NE Chapter is solely responsible for the content of this site.