Have you ever tried to cop attitude with a help desk chat bot? It doesn’t work, nor does it get you to a resolution any quicker. It rarely works with humans either. To honor National Customer Service week, which is Oct. 2-9, we’re taking a look at some of our favorite past posts about friendliness and stellar service. And remember, kindness encourages the same. Pass it on.

Like present-day meat cutters, IT employees are not thought of as a friendly bunch.

What IT Can Learn From Supermarket Butchers (August 2009)

If you’ve noticed a change in attitude at the supermarket meat department lately, you’re not imagining it. Some big-name grocery store chains have begun a meat education renaissance, training their employees on everything from the difference between cuts and grades to the many ways to prepare and cook meat.

It’s an effort to make supermarket butchers more personable, more knowledgeable, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. Read more. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney Customer Service butchers, Customer Service Week, Help Desk, juggling, South Philly, tech support

If you thought “consumerization of IT” was just a silly 2010 catchphrase, think again. According to a recent study conducted by IDC and Unisys, 95 percent of information workers use self-purchased technology at work. Unisys is calling it a revolution.

But as with every upheaval, there’s some pain to be had. In the same study, researchers note that while employees are using their iPads, iPhones, Androids and netbooks at work, their employers are unaware of the extent, and have not put solid plans in place to regulate the use of employee-owned devices.

Not only are they on a different page as their employers, they’re in another bookstore.

Here are some of the highlights from the study:

• Employers don’t have an accurate understanding of what and how many consumer technologies their employees are using in the workplace. For example, workers in the survey reported that they are using smart phones, laptops and mobile phones in the workplace at nearly twice the rate reported by employers.
• Workers are using consumer technologies and applications for business, but give their employers poor grades for the internal IT support they provide for these technologies. The researchers found that more than 40 percent of workers surveyed are using text and instant messaging, online communities and blogs for work. Also, industry analysts predict that the number of workers using smart phones for work will double between 2009 and 2014. Yet not even half of employers allow workers to access enterprise applications via smart phones.
• Employees say their employers are more permissive about use of consumer technologies than is reported to be case by organizations. Sixty-seven percent of workers say they can access non-work-related websites, but only 44 percent of employers say their employees can access non-work-related sites. Likewise, 52 percent of workers say that can store personal data on the company network, but only 37 percent of employers say this is the case.
• Employers expect to increase business use of social networking applications significantly in the next year, yet they are not integrating those applications with their enterprise apps and often lack basic guidelines and policies governing the use of social media in the workplace. Forty-six percent of workers surveyed are dissatisfied with their employers’ integration of consumer devices and social networks with enterprise applications. What’s more, 40 percent of organizations surveyed say that don’t have guidelines for social media use in the workplace.

Researchers conclude that, “While [information workers] are intimately familiar and facile with technology, they have little understanding of the security risks, management issues, and policy and governance implications that arise from mass introduction of consumer devices and applications into the workplace.”

In other words, preparedness — that’s IT’s job. And here are some suggestions from the study authors:

• Manage and support these popular consumer technologies;
• Secure critical data and assets against hackers, viruses, identity thieves, and other widespread consumer IT threats;
• Offer the interactive “app” experiences that consumers are looking for when transacting with their suppliers;
• Handle the expected increase in transaction load that these new interactive experiences will impose on the IT infrastructure;
• Attract and retain the new generation of workers entering the workforce.

In a recent post here and on Forbes.com, our CEO Brian Madocks offered his own suggestions. Read what he had to say.

Jenny Sweeney Android, BlackBerry, Customer Service, Help Desk, How To, iPad, iPhone, Mobile Devices, tablets, Windows Mobile

One of our consultants at work.

Our help desk handles many “how to” calls, which often have straightforward solutions. Sometimes, however, the requests that come in require a little more creativity from our consultants.

On a recent call, consultant Bradley Lyman found an ingenious way around a potential hurdle.

Lyman received a call from a customer asking for help copying a YouTube video for a presentation. There was one snag, however; the customer did not have rights to use the video. His presentation, which he was scheduled to show to an auditorium full of people, would be incomplete without a video of a juggler.

The presentation was due, and getting rights would have been a challenge.

Lyman wasted no time, and tapped fellow consultant Jorg Freiberg and team leader Ken Wilson for help. Lyman remembered seeing Freiberg juggling on his breaks and knew that Wilson had just bought a new iPhone with a video camera. The result was a copyright-free juggling video, which was produced and delivered to the customer in under an hour. File that under “Above and Beyond.” (Jen Darr)

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Jenny Sweeney Consultant Spotlight, Customer Service above and beyond, iPhone, juggling, PowerPoint, YouTube

Outsourcing is a touchy subject. When a company decides to farm out part of its business, employees tend to quiver. It can damage morale, too. These two factors – plus a few uglier reasons — have given outsourcing a bad name.

They assume they will wait in a phone queue that rivals their commute, and will sit on hold long enough to pen a novel.

When we answer the phone within two rings, some first-time callers, who perhaps expect the lowest level of service from an outsourcer, are often stunned. They assume they will wait in a phone queue that rivals their commute, and will sit on hold long enough to pen a novel.

And then there’s the issue of personalized support, which we offer to our clients. That is, if ABC Company wants us to answer the phones with “ABC help desk, how may I help you?” that’s what we do. It’s often less jarring to the caller, and can serve to enhance the internal help desk’s reputation.

Apparently, it’s working.

One of our consultants received an e-mail recently informing him that he had been nominated as employee of the month. But not by us. He was nominated by employees of one of our clients, who didn’t realize he wasn’t on the same payroll.

Our goal is to make it as seamless as possible. It seems we are doing something right.

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Jenny Sweeney Customer Service employee of the month, Outsourcing, service level agreements, transparency

I can never get enough of articles like this one about the state of tech support and published recently on CIO.com. It’s easy to write about help desk horror stories – we’ve all had a few – but it requires a bit more insight to see things from every side, which writer Bill Snyder does quite effectively.

They are conditioned to expect terrible service from their IT department. That’s truly sad.

And although his anecdote is about the business-to-consumer market, it could just as easily be used to illustrate the state of customer service within companies.

This company, PC Helps Support, is an outsourced software support provider, so we’re chin-deep in issues surrounding customer service on a regular basis. When a firm partners with us, our consultants become part of their help desk.

One of the most surprising — and troubling — things I have seen in my time here is how taken aback callers are when a real person (one of our consultants) answers the phone and doesn’t put them on hold. And when we solve an issue within one call, it blows them away.

They are conditioned to expect terrible service from their IT department. That’s truly sad.

One point in Snyder’s piece that resonated with me was about lingo. Indeed, the lingo needs to go. I wrote a few blog posts on this subject, and in one in particular, I noted how the recession has made IT/business alignment that much more important — alienating the rest of your company by speaking in terms no one but programmers can comprehend is not alignment. Understanding how technical tools and practices relate to the business as a whole, now that is.

MORE INFO IN: Desktop Application Support | Contact PC Helps

Jenny Sweeney Customer Service Customer Service, Help Desk, lingo

Sometimes it’s hard to explain in just a few words what this company does. Of course we help people with their PCs — that’s how the company got its start in 1992. But over the past 18 years, we have expanded our offerings. We help with Macs, mobile devices, Tier 1 help desk, migrations, and much more.

“The Ribbon” almost became a profanity in 2009. It’s central to the Office redesign, and it has rendered even seasoned Office users lost and confused.

Are we “efficiency experts”? We think so. Are we “leisure enablers”? Yes, we are. Are we “ROI generators”? Precisely.

Here’s a breakdown:

1. Mobile Device Support

I, personally, cannot imagine a world without on-the-go access to e-mail, documents, maps and every other feature my mobile device affords me. And, I suspect, most corporate workers would agree.

And smart phones will only become more central to how we work. According to a 2009 study, mobile use for business will double from 2008 to 2011 and the variety of devices being used will increase. Problem is, IT departments will continue to be ill-equipped to handle the support needs. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney Customer Service BlackBerry, Customer Service, Help Desk, iPhone, mobile device, Office 2007, Outsourcing, smart phone, Windows Mobile

I’m an obsessive list maker. I’ve tried every list app for the Droid in an effort to become more list-efficient, but so far nothing has worked better than using a pen and scraps of paper. I am so dedicated that when I create a new list, I make sure to transfer incomplete tasks.

How many times have you avoided a problem or simply “made do” because the thought of calling the help desk was just too painful?

Unfinished business renders me uneasy, and one lingering task in particular – calling my VoIP service provider – has been giving me heartburn lately.

I do not want to call because I know I will spend too much time getting nowhere. And I’m speaking from experience.

A few weeks back, I called the company to set up the service. It was a Saturday morning, and I had about an hour to kill before I was set to begin making pumpkin pancakes for guests. Plenty of time to fit in a call. Or so I thought. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney Customer Service, Rants Customer Service, Help Desk, language barrier, pancakes, software support, VoIP

Experts have weighed in with predictions for what will matter in IT in the coming year, and chief among them are customer service, IT/business alignment and collaboration. The challenge, however, is teaching staff the soft skills needed to turn the predictions into reality.

You cannot solve a problem if you don’t have the facts. Combine this one with a hearty serving of patience.

We’ve assembled a few tips to give your help desk an edge over its competitors in the IT of the Future. Remember, these are only to be used as a guideline. Progress, not perfection.

1. Put yourself in the customer’s situation: Responding to a frustrated and angry customer with frustration and anger will only lead to chaos (perhaps not quite chaos, but surely extreme irritation). Not that I condone rudeness, but try to imagine how you would feel if, say, you are set to deliver a year-end report to your manager and all of your formulas are displaying #REF! errors. Acknowledge the customer’s legitimate frustrations, and find a solution.

2. Think of yourself as a teacher: You aren’t just a PC-on-fire extinguisher; you also have the ability to empower by teaching a caller something he didn’t know.

3. Convince yourself that it’s OK to not know something: Faking it, in many cases, creates more distrust than simply telling someone that a particular issue is beyond your scope. Fess up, and hand the call to a more seasoned colleague. The customer will have his issue fixed quicker, and will leave happier. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney Customer Service 2010, Excel, Help Desk, IT, IT/business alignment, new year, soft skills

Although the French don’t have a particularly stellar reputation for being nice — especially not to American tourists – blogger Terry Starbucker had such a memorable customer service experience while on vacation in Paris, he was compelled to blog about it.

No one likes waiting, especially not when they think they may have accidentally deleted a 52-page PowerPoint presentation that’s due in 20 minutes.

In a post titled “15 Basic Steps to Mind-Blowing Customer Service,” Starbucker recounts the unforgettable customer service experience he had on a handful of visits to a produce shop on Paris’ Rue Jean Mermoz.

Here are some of the things the monsieur got right, according to Starbucker:

• Proper greeting: He acknowledged him with “bonjour monsieur” each and every visit.
• Patience: Despite the language barrier, and a gaggle of customers waiting in line behind the author, the proprietor nevertheless gave him his full attention while waiting on him, and did not try to rush him along. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney Customer Service France, Paris, produce, Terry Starbucker

We may very well be embarking on the decade of the customer. Social media, especially Twitter, has empowered customers, and the recession has reminded businesses that keeping clients is easier than bringing in new ones.

It’s like watching your siblings bicker at Sunday dinner. Ugh. Enough already. Bring on a solution.

With the current state of customer service, a renewed focus would be a welcome change.

Look at current tech publications and you will surely find a rant or three about horrific customer experiences (for a recent one, see CIO.com’s “Tech Vendors Behaving Badly”). Search Twitter for “customer service” and you will find scores of tweets cursing the ineptitude of Company X and Company Y.

It’s like watching your siblings bicker at Sunday dinner. Ugh. Enough already. Bring on a solution.

You can start by taking note of a recent book, “Your Call is (Not That) Important to Us,” written by Emily Yellin (http://www.emilyyellin.com/) and featured in a recent AARP Bulletin story. Yellin, a journalist, wrote the book after enduring a particularly frustrating customer service experience herself.

Her book presents a fresh look at the customer service industry, and offers the average person some insight into the reasons many companies opt to automate and outsource to foreign companies. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney Customer Service AARP, CIO.com, Customer Service, Dell, Emily Yellin, FACEBOOK, JetBlue, Outsourcing, Twitter, Zappos