As much as IT departments hate to admit it, company employees are their customers. Still, many workers think of their help desk as the “no-help desk.” There’s a disconnect, for sure.

It’s no different with some all-in-one outsourced help desks, at least in general, where callers are often greeted with verbose scripts and seemingly pointless reboots.

“Not many people wake up in the morning and say, ‘Today, I want to make life miserable for our customers.’”

In a post titled “The Six Laws of Customer Experience,” blogger Bruce Temkin explores this issue, and presents a must-read treatise for any CIO or IT department leader. Below are highlights. How does your help desk compare?

1. Every interaction creates a personal reaction.
In this section, Temkin stresses that customer feedback needs to be a key metric. And he’s dead-on. An outsourcer can live up to its service level agreement (SLA) and perform stunningly on paper, but what about the employees who have had to wait on hold, or have had to waste time waiting for call backs? SLAs mean nothing if your outsourcing desk leaves frustrated employees in its wake.

2. People are instinctively self-centered.
This section’s salient point is: “You know more than your customers; deal with it.” Using tech jargon, talking callers quickly through complicated processes, becoming impatient when they become stumped — these are examples of deplorable customer service. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney Customer Service Bruce Temkin, CIO, Office migration, productivity, SLA, the no-help desk