Once, users commented: “It is the Helpdesk who needs help, not us.” Out of frustration? Maybe. But it certainly served as a wake-up call when technology was already an integral part of all enterprise functions, and yet, support services couldn’t live up to expectations. This sentiment resonated with my own experiences of below-par customer services in various verticals, suggesting that IT helpdesks in most enterprises are perceived as peripheral and non-strategic. Can we turn it around, and how?
Begin With The Technology Leader
In my previous organization, the IT Helpdesk provided a single point of contact for problem reports, general inquiries, complaints, and requests for resources, etc. With a captive user base of 38,000, the majority being digital natives or self-proclaimed IT literates who could literally argue for any advice we offer, the demand for support was high. Dealing with two major Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suites, multiple coding platforms, hundreds of Cloud and bespoke applications, over 2,000 wireless access points, 120,000 end-points, servers, network devices, and an average of 8,000 user tickets monthly, the job was demanding and thankless. Annual surveys showed little to be proud of, and staff morale was low. In the mid-2000s, an outsourcing trend emerged, appealing for cost savings and improved service levels. I was skeptical but dived in because expanding staffing was considered a fixed cost.
A technology leader, understandably overwhelmed by business politics and digital intricacies, could only afford direct oversight on limited strategic functions like business relationships, applications, infrastructure, and cybersecurity, not the helpdesk, despite its significant impact on user experience. This disconnect makes it hard for the technology leader to intervene in disastrous situations. If one chooses to do so based on filtered reports, the lack of insights would just prolong and limit systemic issues from being resolved at the root cause.
Enterprise IT tends to be highly compartmentalized by functions, with each one led by functional heads. The Help Desk, to be frank, is not glamorous. For the Help Desk, commanding the least respect in the enterprise hierarchy and having no authority over the priority of fellow engineers and heads of the functions responsible for the fixes desperately needed for users, this fuels more user frustrations.
Next, in terms of workforce, morale, and commitment, we cannot expect these personnel challenges in the helpdesk to diminish with outsourcing. In the unfortunate event of being stuck with a slacking third-party, you need the technology chief to pull their weight for prompt remediation. It is essential for the chief to commit undivided attention to helpdesk operations, cultivating a strategic relationship with the service provider, regularly reviewing service levels, and keeping a pulse on the ground for concerns and expectations for sustainable improvement and success.
Obsess to Serve and Services
The Helpdesk is a people business, where the users’ experience heavily impacts the perceived performance of the entire IT organization. While technical competency is essential, what differentiates an exceptional helpdesk from a mediocre one is a deep sense of urgency, empathy, passion to serve, and committed leadership. These factors go a long way toward user satisfaction, even when practical resolutions are not immediately possible at times.
Organizations that are truly obsessed with customer service not only act upon users’ feedback but proactively seek service enhancement. Here are some practices:
1. First-Call Resolution
Many of us have had the poor experience of making repeated calls to the helpdesk for the same issue when the advice given initially doesn’t work. First-Call Resolution defines the rate of problem resolution at the first contact. It is a sensible performance target for customer services to judge the accuracy of advice and attention to details. Also, it is an indicator that one should watch closely for the growing technical maturity of the helpdesk since the reported issues can range from technically trivial to complex and sophisticated. The higher the rate, the more technical capable the helpdesk are.
2. Minimal Referrals
An enterprise helpdesk will have to deal with a vast amount and variety of problems and user enquiries daily. Certainly not all the issues can be addressed by the agents at the front desk, and upon exercising due care, some cases may be referred to the backend engineers for advice. However, an effective helpdesk should function as a cushion to engineers. Excessive referrals without proper diagnostics can be a sign of incompetence or negligence of the helpdesk.
3. Call Listening
Despite the well-intended note that “your call will be recorded for service improvement purposes,” users are more concerned about immediate resolution, not service step up in the future. Giving that the first impression is likely a long-lasting one, every effort should be made to ensure a delightful user experience at the first call. Implementing call listening allows supervisors to join calls selectively, watching conversations in real-time and intervening if necessary for advice and immediate solutions.
4. Personal Touch
Despite the growing intelligence of AI-powered chatbots, nothing beats a personal touch with attentive and empathic listening for greater user satisfaction. Agents can identify themselves before interacting with the caller, leave a contact for a return call, verify understanding of reported issues, share possible causes to support the recommended actions to the users, and offer a personalized experience.
5. Mysterious Self-Audit
Many enterprises’ IT have experienced audit fatigue and yet another self-inflicted one will certainly set them to the verge of burn-out. Unlike most regularized audits, mysterious audit is impromptu and specific without prior notice to the helpdesk. It involves trained users appearing unexpectedly to assess the helpdesk’s listening, communication, problem-solving skills, and ability to manage difficult users and unreasonable demands. It helps flag out errand agents for specific coaching among many other systemic issues. Mysterious audit is lightweight and practical because it does not deal with the energy-sapping tasks like documentations and board reports, etc.
6. Self-Experiencing
Providing tech specialists an opportunity to serve as user-support agents allows them to experience digital services as users do, enhancing the design and friendliness of products. It just happens too often that missing details and miscommunications between the helpdesk and the tech. specialists causing unnecessary delays to the fixes. Also, it is hard for the tech. specialists to appreciate what the poor experiences users may have with the digital services without a direct interaction with them.
In a highly competitive services sector, the one emerging and sustained at the top would have differentiated support services from the pack, not just products alone.
*Copyedited by ChatGPT, https://chat.openai.com/chat