4 Tips to Strengthen IT Customer Service Response

While it’s important to deliver consistent client service on a regular basis, it can be difficult to do so without the proper technological infrastructure. As consumer demands continue to shift, customer care solutions teams are beginning to further rely on new and advanced technical support processes to better meet their patrons’ needs. While these technologies create a faster, more flexible staff member, they also require special attention in some instances, since a breakdown can disrupt the entire infrastructure.  

IT teams can be deployed to fix any internal hiccups in a customer relationship management technology system, but in terms of systematic processes, finding the root cause to an issue is a different ball game. If a client support team can effectively troubleshoot its problems, they’re more likely to improve upon their consumer satisfaction, among other things. With that in mind, here are four tips for customer service representatives to keep in mind when attempting to troubleshoot a systematic issue:  

1. Don’t jump to conclusions: Assuming typically doesn’t get anyone very far, so best practice – especially in the customer service industry – is to evaluate the situation from a big picture viewpoint. It can be tempting for a seasoned client representative to jump to a conclusion about something when a customer contacts a business’s service center, especially if the rep at hand has dealt with a similar situation before. However, the idea of effective troubleshooting is to find the root cause of the problem and then begin addressing the issue from that point on.  

2. Remain attentive throughout the entire process: The parlance of a BPO technical support representative will likely differ from that of an everyday customer calling in with a question or concern. It’s important for staff members to remain vigilant on the back end so that nothing falls through the cracks. The way a client describes something may make sense to him or her, but it very well could be the wrong way to describe something from a business standpoint. Alternatively, a technical support team also needs to play the role of translator when speaking with a patron, otherwise the internal vernacular may confuse the customer at hand.  

3. Manage issues in order of their importance: In a perfect world, nothing would ever go wrong with a customer service team’s IT infrastructure, therefore eliminating any issues that stem from said hiccups. However, since the human element is a constant in the client services equation, there are bound to be mistakes in the process. As a result, management needs to teach its team how to prioritize effectively, or else the most important issues won’t get taken care of first.  

4. Cover all bases before taking action: This can be particularly tricky because the modern day consumer wishes to have his or her problem addressed in an immediate fashion, so it’s hard not to understand why a contact center service would want to be as quick as possible in getting back to the patron. Yet, it’s important that reps evaluate the situation from a macro level. An effective troubleshooting process starts with the identification of all the concerns at hand and then logically working through them all. It can be a longer process, but it will teach reps to double-check, cross reference and test things before the problem is addressed.