Efficient IT support is not just about resolving tickets quickly; it's about empowering users, optimizing workflows, and leveraging technology to improve the overall support experience. Organizations often face challenges in managing increasing support demands without overwhelming IT teams or sacrificing quality.
The good news? With the right strategies, IT teams can transform how they handle complaints and service requests, improving customer satisfaction while streamlining internal operations. Below, we explore three key components of an effective approach: knowledge-centered support (KCS), self-service portals, and service automation.
A robust knowledge-centered support approach means having a knowledge base that helps with repetitive cases, issues, and questions so operators can add in knowledge items to their responses. It doesn't take much time for the operator, and the customer receives a quick response that is well written and consistent with other customers.
Self-service portals can provide functionality that offers suggestions for knowledge items and solutions as the user is typing, before they submit the request. These suggestions are based on keywords and key phrases. A big advantage of these portals is that they enable users to solve issues for themselves, or at least some of the problem themselves, so the question they do submit is more specific. They also capture info specific to a certain type of request. When you're working with email submissions rather than a self-service portal, people will provide the info they think is relevant to their problem, which is then up to the operator to decipher, make understandable, and then go back with follow up questions. The self-service portal leads the user down a specific line of questions, which means that certain essential info that the operator needs has to be captured before they can submit the ticket. If a specific error has happened, there are certain questions to ensure operators get everything they need.
Service automation can happen through both automated processes or the self-service portal. The request can be triaged directly to the correct operator team based on the topic. Without this, the ticket might sit in a queue with a first-line team until its triaged and then passed on to relevant person; this takes time. A self-service portal can direct certain issues to certain teams based on the issue, and automations can also read keywords and key phrases in the request and triage it based on that. Another example of service automation is if an operator is waiting for a response from the user, reminders can be sent, and if there's no response then it can auto close tickets.
By embracing strategies like knowledge-centered support, self-service portals, and service automation, organizations can reimagine their IT support experience, creating a system that is not only efficient but also empathetic to customer needs. When users feel empowered to find solutions quickly or trust that their requests will be handled accurately and without unnecessary delays, satisfaction and loyalty naturally follow.
Efficient IT support isn't just about resolving complaints; it's about building stronger relationships through consistent, thoughtful, and proactive service. With these tools in place, organizations can turn IT support from a pain point into a competitive advantage, ensuring every customer interaction adds value.
Chris Falshaw is head of U.K. Support at TOPdesk.