present operations
policies
procedures
tools

Do you feel that your present customer support operations can be improved? Do your customers complain or quit using your services? Are you having difficulty determining what the problem is? Are there so many problems that you do not know where to start?

These situations can feel overwhelming and lead to changes that do not produce the results that you want. Help Desk Solutions can assess your existing operations to determine the potential for improving your services, lowering your cost, increasing retention of customers and staff, or redesigning your operations. A broad, comprehensive assessment is developed through interviews with management and staff; an analysis of policies and procedures, hardware and technologies; and surveys to determine customer satisfaction. A more narrowly focused assessment may be used based on specific problems or goals that you identify. A written report is provided comparing your services with the criteria that you establish such as industry standards or your goals. Recommendations for next steps will be included.

* Before deciding to have an audit conducted, ask yourself the following questions.
* Are there identified specific goals or outcomes for your support operation that can be used to measure its success?
* Do the outcomes of your support services operation contribute to achieving the mission of the
overall organization?
* Do you consider your staff turnover high, i.e., it seriously hinders your operation?
* Are customers not using your service as much as
they used to?
* Has customer use of your service increased so much that your staff are not able to handled the volume of requests?
* Are customers and staff complaining about the service?
* Has the cost of customer support increased with no apparent increase in quality?
* Are the technology and tools being used over five years old?
* Does management consider support services a vital part of the total organization?

Automation Tools and Technology

assessment of tools and technology currently being used
market research of new and potential solutions
analysis of tools fit to identified outcomes
development of deployment strategies
implementation of tools and technologies into your working environment
integration of technologies

Help Desk Solutions stays current with what tools and technologies are available and emerging into the market that can increase your productivity and improve your customer and employee satisfaction. Selection of the right technology to make these improvements has become a much more difficult task since the number of technology vendors is growing at an alarming pace. We can look at your needs and budget, do a comparative analysis of products that best meet your particular needs and provide recommendations that fit your unique requirements. With our recommendation in hand, you will be able to purchase technology that will fit your business. Without the right fit, new technologies often become shelf ware. It is even worse when they are implemented only to cause more damage to the staff and customer satisfaction than doing business in the old way.

The selection of the technologies is only half the battle. Implementation and integration are often the hurdles that cause many companies to shelve the right solution. Help Desk Solutions can provide our experience to assist your company over this barrier to success. We will be able to take over any part of the project that you wish.

* Project management
* Technology implementation
* Technology integration
* Training development for the new technology
* Specialized training delivery to support the new technology implementation

Assessment of Procedures

existing procedures
standardized procedures
customized procedures

Many Help Desk/Call Centers have developed over time from a small core of experienced staff who developed the policies and procedures under which they worked as they went along. But today, your Help Desk may have grown in size and complexity. You may be finding it more difficult to explain to the new employees exactly how to recognize the root problem, whom to contact when they do, or what level of service is expected by the customers. These are some of the symptoms that your policies and procedures have not kept pace with your growth. One solution is to update or create the policies and procedures your organization needs and develop a plan to keep them up-to-date.

Custom-designed procedures can improve the work flow of your operation, but the critical factors of time and vantage point prevent most organizations from developing those procedures. Help Desk Solutions can provide time, experience and the skill to put written procedures in place. We can address the areas of problem, change and service level management. The new procedures for your operation will merge the standards of the industry with your unique needs. Such procedures can enhance your operations and help you maximize staff and technology.

If you are considering changing your procedures ask yourself the following.

* Is your call management or problem tracking system adequate to support your operation? Does it tell you the speed of response, time spent on problem, resolution rate, and cost of service?
* Do you have a knowledge-based system or are you people dependent?
* Do you have an established process for updating procedures on a regular schedule?
* What is the source of input that you use for updating procedures?
* What is the connection between your procedures and customer and staff satisfaction?

Assessment of Present Quality of Services

customer surveys
staff surveys
management surveys

Service assessment is a triangle of communication.

* What do your customers want and what do they think of your service?
* What do staff think they are supposed to accomplish in their job? How does that relate to customer expectations?
* What does management want customer service to accomplish? How is that expectation related to the operation of customer service and the understanding of staff about their jobs?

The first step in the assessment process is to determine the goals and expectations of management and how well staff understand those goals and expectations. This establishes the comparison against which to measure customer expectations and satisfaction.

Measuring customer satisfaction is a tool that is not used as often as it should be. Customer satisfaction is the outcome you are seeking. It makes no sense to expend resources, even to the point of radical restructuring, before you find out what your customers value. The results of such an assessment can be used to determine whether you need to negotiate with your customers, educate them or restructure your service. It can also be used to validate the quality of your services and as the base data to support recommendations to management for improvements in your operation.

Our clients are often surprised to see the lack of relationship between the expectations of customers, management and staff. This lack of alignment between the expectations of these three groups is often the core problem in a support service operation. Such a problem cannot be solved by restructuring or new technology.

Help Desk Solutions can provide the following assistance related to service.

* Design assessment tools that will gather information from your customers, staff and management on their needs and how your service is
* responding to those needs
* Provide the staff to administer that assessment and show you how to put in place an on-going process for customer surveying that can be used to fine-tune your operations for continuous added value

Everyone in the customer service industry is experiencing rising service standards and costs. Let us help you gather the information that you need to make informed decisions about changes in your operations.

Start-up

* Is it time to move from that informal support for internal or external customers to a formal structure?
* Are you about to open a new branch in a different location?

These are only two of many reasons why you may be considering building a formal support structure for either internal or external customers. If you have an informal structure, then you may not have the personnel or expertise to develop the implementation plan, look for the right tools, and find the right people to staff this new function. At Help Desk Solutions, we can provide both the personnel, experience, and knowledge to help you make the right choices, reduce your implementation time, and provide you with the policies and procedures to keep your implementation effective into the future.

We can provide the know how for start-ups. This knowledge will be transferred to your customer support staff and reduce the total start-up time and expenditure. You will save many hours of work in establishing your customer support function. Our expertise can give you that quick, successful start that will make your customer support an immediate asset.

Training

Public Classes

How to Design and Implement a Successful Help Desk (2 days)

Onsite Classess

ITIL Foundation Certification V2 or V3 (2 1/2 days)

ITIL Awardness V2 or V3 (1/2 day or 1 day format)

ITIL Practitioner V2 (5 days)

Help Desk Solutions schedules this training at cities located in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia (click here to check future scheduled training) or can arrange to give this training at your site.