MGR IT

Having worked in IT support and consulting for many years, I know which calls tend to receive quick attention and which ones are left at the bottom of the pile.  Any decent service centre will have processes for determining the priority of support calls and escalating those calls appropriately, but service desks and call centres are manned by people, so human nature is always a factor in how support calls are processed and resolved.

With that in mind, there are some things you can do when you log a support call to make sure that your call is attended to as quickly as possible.

1. Include all relevant information.  Support technicians love the feeling of resolving a problem and closing a support call.  In some environments they may also be measured in terms of number of calls closed and how quickly they were closed.  For those reasons, they will gravitate towards jobs that are well defined and that they know up front they can resolve quickly.  If a support call is vaguely worded or incomplete, then the support technician will need to follow up to obtain more information before they can start working on the job.Â

   When logging a support call, you should include details of any error messages you have received, any changes that occurred prior to the problem, the steps you took immediately prior to the problem occurring and any steps you have already taken to try to resolve the problem.  If the method of logging the support call allows it, then you should include screen shots to illustrate the problem (on a Windows computer you can do this by pressing the Print Screen button on the keyboard and then pasting into the e-mail or web form you are completing).

2. Log calls by the preferred method.  Some service desks will have multiple methods for contacting them to log support calls.  In some cases, there is no preference for the method used to log calls, but where there is a preference expressed, you should log via the preferred method.  For example, if a service desk has an e-mail address, but the preferred method for receiving requests is via a web form, you can be sure that the calls logged via the web form will receive attention before the e-mailed requests.
3. Be available.  In most cases when you log a support call a support technician will call you back at a later time to resolve your problem.  Nothing will get your request sent to the bottom of the pile quicker than putting off the technician because you are too busy at the time they call.  This doesn’t mean you need to put everything on hold and wait for the technician’s call, but try to make yourself easily contactable.  If there are times when you will be unavailable, then mention those times when you are logging the call.  Likewise, if there is a preferred time for a technician to call you back, say so in your initial request.  Responding quickly to e-mails from support technicians will also keep your request fresh in their minds and help them resolve your job quickly.
4. Don’t cry wolf.  There are times when your request is urgent and it is fine to note this in your support request.  However, if every second job you log includes something like URGENT!!!!!!!! in the subject line, then its effectiveness is greatly reduced and it can come across as rude.  Your genuinely urgent requests will not be given the attention they require if you get a reputation for exaggerating the urgency of your requests.Â

   If you do request urgent attention for your call, explain why it is urgent and the impact that the problem is having.  This will help the service desk assess the urgency of your request against the other requests in the queue.  If you can concisely explain the impact the problem is having you are more likely to receive priority attention than by simply plastering the word ‘urgent’ throughout your request.

5. Remember you are dealing with people.  The impersonal nature of many service desks, where requests may be submitted by e-mail, web form or by a call to a faceless call centre, can result in impersonal communication in both directions.  It is important to remember that your phone call is being answered by a real person (even if you have to go through an automated phone menu to reach that person), and your e-mails and web form responses are being read by real people.  Keeping your dealings friendly and professional will mean a better result for you in the end.

   Most support technicians genuinely want to resolve your issue and enjoy problem solving.  Their job satisfaction comes from fixing problems, so they are seeking the same result as you are.  It is also important to remember that in the vast majority of cases, the person you are dealing with is not responsible for causing the problem you are experiencing.

This article may seem a little self-serving given that I work in an organisation that provides IT support services.  Of course my life would be easier if everyone followed the suggestions above, but the real aim of this article is to help you get your problems resolved as quickly and painlessly as possible.  In an ideal world, some of the things above would not matter, but given that human nature is involved, they all do.  Following the suggestions above will give you an unfair advantage over those who don’t follow them, when it comes to getting priority attention for your support issues.

Tags: IT Support

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 10:58 am and is filed under General, IT Services, Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.