Service Leader's Corner: Elevating Customer Excellence

IT Service Management (ITSM) help desks can implement and deliver services in one of three ways: reactive, proactive, or predictive.

In many respects, these three levels represent different stages of the ITSM maturity model. Measuring ITSM maturity is a way of assessing "how good your organization or system is at self-improvement." If you're still delivering reactive IT services, then that suggests a lower level of maturity, which results in higher staff turnover, higher costs, and lower key performance indicators (KPIs), customer satisfaction, and service level agreement (SLA) scores.

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When it comes to delivering great customer service, most want an immediate answer to a question they have. This makes knowledge bases the preferred channel over other types of self-serve channels or having to call, email, live chat, or send a message to an organization.

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In today's hyper-connected and highly competitive business landscape, providing excellent customer support is more critical than ever. The rise of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model has changed the way companies deliver their products and services. Customers now expect instant and responsive support through various channels.

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One of the most important metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in any help desk or customer service call centers worldwide is First Call Resolution (FCR).

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Every IT and ITSM (IT Service Management) leader must closely monitor Service Level Agreement (SLA) performance metrics.

SLA metrics are a measurable way of demonstrating that your team or department is hitting or missing key performance indicators (KPIs) within an SLA.

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IT support leaders often need to decide the best service approach for their entire organization. Forcing themselves to ask the question: "Which is better, an IT help desk, service desk, or IT service management?"

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Before the Internet, business to business (B2B) customer journeys were simpler, linear, and customers had less control. Sellers controlled the flow of information and were often the ones to initiate contact.

Salespeople and marketing teams pulled potential customers into the sales funnel, except for word-of-mouth referrals and those who went seeking solutions to their problems. The digital age changed all of that.

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Apologies are a necessary part of recovering from your mistakes. In the customer service industry, knowing how to deliver a meaningful apology is a crucial skill everyone should be willing to improve in themselves.

However, it takes more than saying "sorry" to make a change. Customers want fast, simple solutions to their problems. And when they can't solve it themselves, customer reps need the ability to tell them what to do instead of apologizing and asking them what they need.

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What's causing the recent influx of service tickets at your organization? Why are customers complaining about long wait times for a reply? Why are your customer service staff resigning regularly? Sometimes, persistent issues can be related to a product or service you offer. If you find yourself asking questions like this or fielding inquiries about faulty products with regularity, it might be time to conduct a root cause analysis. We'll dive deeper into what this process entails below, but it is important to determine problems beyond what they appear to be on the surface. 

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