WEEK THREE, Session 1 Helpdesk staff and Service orientation

Helpdesk plays a variety of roles. 1. As a front-line service provider 2. As helpdesk management personnel 3. More indirect customer support Each role requires a specific set of skills.

What are the specific perspectives of Helpdesk staff involved? i.e. Customer, technician, administrator, and manager perspectives

Customer / employee perspective Ideally wants quick answers and solutions. The fastest way to achieve that is to access a knowledgebase and get answers at the customer’s own convenience. Additionally friendly, efficient and competent employee makes this a reality for the customers.

Helpdesk Technician perspective Want sophisticated facilities to search the KB to solve support inquiries. What happens if the answer does not exist in the knowledge base?.

The helpdesk agent wants a simple way to log in or record the problem at helpdesk and assign it to a second tier person, who may be located in a distant facility – decentralized CC or PC or a centrally decentralized location. The helpdesk agent also needs to be reliable and efficient to keep pace with support volume

System Administrator perspective Needs a reliable system that accommodates real-time access to support a broad range of support inquiries. Why? The helpdesk is a business critical operation, the system administrator is responsible for the consequences of any delays caused by the overhead of system administration

Helpdesk Manager perspective Needs top-quality service for customers coupled with reasonable cost; a system that is quickly deployed and easily used by Helpdesk.; also tools to access current and historical activities, trends, and results. The manager also want a mechanism for escalation and advance notification, so that emergency and high-level problems get immediate attention

Are these the only staff? Who else is involved within the core Helpdesk functionalities?

The job titles and job responsibilities vary from one type of helpdesk to another. Examples of job titles: Senior Helpdesk Manager Helpdesk Manager Team Leader / Supervisor Call Dispatcher Level One Analyst Level One Specialist

Level One. Often have titles such as: 1. Helpdesk Analyst 2. Customer Support Analyst 3. Helpdesk Technician

Role of Specialist? Often has titles such as helpdesk specialists, technical support specialist, customer support specialists A level one specialist researches complex incidents and develop solutions that require more skills

Why do Helpdesks have Analysts and Specialists within the level one core functionality?

A combination of different skill sets provide organizations with THE RIGHT BALANCE between -the need to respond quickly to customer requests, and -the need to resolve incidents correctly and permanently

Job Responsibilities Every Helpdesk member MUST understand his or her purpose, job responsibilities and professional responsibilities Job description outline the specific tasks assigned to a person and provide managers and their employees a clear understanding of the work to be done.

What is the primary job responsibility? The primary responsibilities are to provide a single point of contact for all support services, deliver value to customers, and capture and distribute information

What is the professional responsibility?

Helpdesks acts as focal point for their organization or department. Helpdesk team must conduct themselves at all times in a professional and ethical manner. How do they ensure high standards of ethical and professional conduct?

Examples: 1. Giving customers an honest an accurate estimate of the time it will take to resolve their incident. 2. Build confidence by keeping customer commitments 3. Communicate in a language of the customer and avoid use of confusing terminology and technical jargon

Required skills

The roles and responsibilities of Helpdesk staff reflects helpdesk size and structures. This means organization’s commitment to customer satisfaction and its willingness to invest in helpdesk influences the roles and opportunities that exist

The most difficult challenge facing help desk managers today is finding people for front-line positions who has the right mix of skills Strong technicians may lack empathy skills or patience required People-oriented individuals may lack technical skills The right skills are required to match with the right position

Which skill can be more easily developed? The technical skills or The interpersonal skills

Technical skills can be developed more easily than inter-personal skills. Many modern organisations will hire people with good interpersonal skills and a customer service orientation and then provide them the necessary technical training

This is not to say that technical and technological skills are not important Companies which support highly sophisticated technology hires people with strong technical skills and provide EXTENSIVE customer service training.

In the contemporary, highly competitive market place, customer service skills take center stage. A Fortune Magazine article referred to technical workers with good interpersonal skill as “The Worker Elite”

When hiring helpdesk staff, employers look for good technical and analytical skills as well as excellent customer services skill The specific skills required by an organisation are determined by job descriptions. These skills typically fall into 4 main categories. What are they?

1.Business skills 2.Technical skills 3.Soft skills 4.Self-management skills

Business Skills This is the ability to: -understand and speak the language of business - the ability to analyze and solve business problems. Business skills are unique to industry. Business skills also include skills specific to customer service and support industry, such as understanding the importance of meeting customer needs and knowing how to manage their expectations. These skills are called industry knowledge.

Business Knowledge Some business knowledge is useful regardless of the profession Business knowledge grow as you acquire education and experience, and through observing the activities that occur in work area. Some basic skills needed to acquire business knowledge includes: 1.Understanding and speaking the language of business. 2.Analyzing and solving business problems 3.Using helpdesk data to analyze trend and quantify improvement opportunities 4.Understanding the importance of developing cost- effective solutions that benefit organisation’s business goals

Business Knowledge The absence of business knowledge skills may not hinder a technical profession. The presence of business knowledge skills will increase the opportunities available to a technical professional and increase his or her speed of career advancements

Industry Knowledge Helpdesks seek to hire people who understand the specific industry knowledge which the organization is engaged such as manufacturing, retail, financial or service. Industry knowledge enables the helpdesk analyst to understand the customer needs and appreciate the impact on the customer’s business when a product or service fails to perform properly

Service Industry Knowledge When hiring for Analysts or Specialists, Helpdesks require knowledge of Customer Service and Support industry. The business skills and knowledge required for helpdesk vary depending on the company’s market and job categories involved (e.g. level one analyst or level one specialist)

Technical Skills This is dependent on the customer’s technical needs. Technical skills are the skills people need to use and support the specific product and technologies the helpdesk support. The companies least expect people applying for entry level position to be computer literate – preferably understand popular software packages such as Microsoft Windows. For technical industries, often organisations use Web for recruiting purposes. This enables them to find job seekers who are comfortable in using the Internet Technology.

Technical Skills When interviewing a potential Helpdesk Analyst or a Specialist, organisations may assess technical skills in many ways. This include: 1.Asking questions – check knowledge about a particular subject. 2.Testing – a standardized exam to evaluate a candidate’s abilities 3.Problem solving – present candidates with problems and evaluate ability to isolate and fix the problem. 4.Certification – looks for completed relevant certification programs. E.g. from Cisco, Microsoft,or Novell

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