Support Strategies: Mastering Help Desk Excellence

With continued growth in computer and hand-held device use in the lives of many brings increasing technical questions and problems that arise. And so, the field of supporting these systems grows along with it, which brings business opportunities for entrepreneurs, and employment opportunities for support personnel.

But there are different types of support needs accompanied by varying required responsibilities and skills. The following are the differences between, and skills required for, three common areas of support: Help Desk, Technical Support, and Desktop/Deskside Support.

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Help desks are typically grouped according to their form of deployment, the size of a client's business and whether the software's source code is accessible and easy to alter. When searching for the perfect help desk, you must take these elements into consideration. The following is an explanation of the five main types of help desk examples currently on the market:

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When it comes to cloud computing, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) act as both the structure and warranty of the terms of the relationship between the consumer and provider. SLAs that are tailored toward services in the cloud often include information that differs from other agreements of the same stature.

The following are six important considerations to be aware of for service level agreements customized for the cloud:

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What specifically needs to be included in a service level agreement? Which aspects are described in an SLA? In this post, we explain the 6 common elements of a service contract.

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It is no secret that in the digital age, convenience and instant gratification are king. Convenience and speed are evident everywhere from cloud servers to text message jargon. Everything is designed and cultivated to be as quick as possible. But perhaps some things are meant to happen just a little bit slower.

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Sometimes life gives you lemons. It happens to you personally and it will happen with your business too. From the small issues like late delivery of a customer's order to the big ones like a product recall that threatens the bottom line, the trick to handling lemons is learning to make them into lemonade. Here are some examples of companies who turned lemons into lemonade and some tips for how to do it yourself.

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Service level is an important KPI in a call center. Basically, service level is defined as the percentage of calls answered within a specified number of seconds. A common SLA metrics example is 80% of calls answered within 30 seconds. This response time SLA is sometimes considered an industry standard, but customer service is about more than just a speedy response. Let's take a look at some of the other factors involved in setting service level goals and service level objectives.

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Sometimes it is necessary to apologize. Apologies usually come after a mistake has been made. The idea of acknowledging that there is something to apologize for is off-putting to many businesses, but the fact is, mistakes sometimes happen. Whenever your company is dealing with customers who would like an issue addressed or have a complaint to make, an apology is a good place to start.

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One generally presumes businesses and corporations when they think of IT department support. However, IT support for colleges and universities in the U.S. is growing exponentially in light of the technological revolution.

One such example is San Jacinto Community College (SJC). Based in Pasadena, Texas, SJC serves approximately 30,000 credit students and 2,500 faculty and staff. The IT department has 115 employees supporting three campuses, a District office and several extension centers.

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