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.
Never in human history have we been so reliant on technology. Businesses, organizations, and governments everywhere rely on software and IT services to function. The tireless IT help desk, service desk, and IT service management teams (ITSM) are keeping all of this technology working.
Organizational leaders often need to decide the best approach for providing IT support for their entire organization. Forcing themselves to ask the question: "Which is better, an IT help desk, service desk, or IT service management?"
Self-service in IT Service Management (ITSM) refers to a model in which users can access and manage IT services without needing to involve IT staff or other intermediaries. This is accomplished through customer self-service portals or other tools that provide the information and resources needed to resolve common issues or grant access to services.
In the ITSM landscape, self-service can present itself in several ways. For example, it can:
Customer service is at the heart of most organizations — beyond retail, it can play a critical role in healthcare and government settings. Having a customer service team in place and planning to take and answer emails and phone calls is a good start, but without solid execution, it can be all for nothing.
Average Handle Time (AHT) is one of the most important metrics in call centers, help desks, and contact centers.
Alongside first call resolution, churn rates, and customer satisfaction metrics (e.g. Net Promoter Scores, Customer Satisfaction Scores, and Customer Effort Scores), AHT is closely monitored by team managers, operations managers, and senior customer service leaders.
Gone are the days when all a company needed to make sales was a good product. Sure, that still matters, but customer priorities have changed. Nowadays, it is the customer experience management strategy that can make or break the success of an organization. The good news is that organizations are picking up on new customer trends and interests. For example, data collected by SuperOffice and shared through Forbes shows 45.9% of organizations place customer experience (CX) as their top priority — ahead of product and pricing. What is driving this shift in priorities? The same data source notes that 86% of customers have paid more for a product or service simply because they had a more enjoyable customer service experience.
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.
Customer support automation — using digital services and tools, including chatbots and self-serve solutions — is a powerful way to reduce operational costs as much as 40% and provide 24/7 service to customers.
Businesses everywhere are using chatbots within customer service operations. In most cases, customers are happy to engage with chatbots when they have simple questions or problems that need resolving.
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.
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.
