Since the dawn of the computer age users and computer professionals have had an uneasy relationship describing and responding-to computer problems such as unknown functionality, software bugs, hardware problems and similar issues.
In fact, such was the volume of issues reported by users throughout the years that an entire IT field grew and flourished in order to manage the exchange of information. Today, this field is known as the Help Desk and it is responsible for the ongoing management of user related computer issues. And although help desk departments are there to help, they are commonly associated with negative connotations such as poor service because the nature of the business is to deal with people in distress who are readily willing to offload their frustrations.
So what can a Help Desk department do to improve its image and customer relations? And what service should users expect when they report a fault to a help desk? Great help desks go beyond solving problems fast because that is sometimes not possible due to the nature of the fault.
Firstly, the approach that the help desk operator takes should be calm, structured and informative. This will help to address the users anxiety and open the channels of communication. The opening exchange should include the creation and explanation of a simple action plan.
Secondly, a help desk should provide product support such as help with an email application. But it is important to note that these departments do not have all the answers. Engineering and architectural teams design the infrastructure, applications or machines that the help desk support so escalation to more specialized teams is often necessary. If an incident is escalated the help desk should manage the ongoing communication with the user unless otherwise agreed with escalation staff. In either case there should be clarity around which department will update the user with an incident status.
Thirdly, the help desk should follow up unresolved calls. Even if the call was escalated to specialist staff the help desk staff should compare real actions against the original action plan that was created in the first contact. Any variation should be reported to the user in order to re-set expectations.
Lastly, a great help desk will reflect and value add whenever possible. Whether it be noticing patterns such as 'there are a spike of password reset calls the first Tuesday of every month' or 'an unusually large number of users are having difficulties with the new mail merging function' the information that help desks collect can be used in many different ways to alleviate or sometimes even prevent any impact of a known problem.
In summary, the best help desk departments are not necessarily the fastest or the friendliest. They are the departments that instil confidence in users that action will be taken and communications delivered as agreed.
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