This article was contributed by Nick Ryabchenko, Chief Integration Officer of SupportYourApp.
In today’s fast-paced digital world, companies must keep up or risk becoming obsolete. Technical support solutions enable businesses to scale up or down quickly as the changing situation demands.
What is the nature of these tech support solutions? In this article, we’ll look at the range of IT support solutions, the forms they may take, and the benefit to the company.
What is a Technical Support Solution?
A technical support solution refers to the company’s support team. This team helps clients troubleshoot issues of a technical nature rather than that of a service or sales nature. The technicians won’t, therefore, be able to follow up a lost order.
They will, however, be able to provide the steps to reconfigure a device allows or suggest troubleshooting tips. They know every technical detail about your product and are usually a highly-sought after commodity.
The Changing Face of Technical Support Solutions
Thanks to the brave new digital world, we’re moving from a multi-siloed approach to an all-in-one call center model.
How IT Support Solutions Will Change
Before the digital revolution, it was rare to find those with IT qualifications. Today’s digital natives are, however, extremely comfortable working with IT and can address even seemingly complex issues.
We’re therefore seeing a blending of IT-savvy consultants in customer service roles to the benefit of both. Here is an example that demonstrates the modern service center perfectly.
Tech Support Solution Trends
How do you stay one step ahead of your competition? Understanding the latest trends and their impact allow you to get a head start.
Outsourcing
If there’s anything that this decade will be known for, it’ll be outsourcing. Managing in-house teams is costly and labor-intensive. It costs, on average, $4,100 to recruit, interview, onboard, and hire one new team member.
Pre-pandemic, this was a trade-off most companies were willing to make. The market was reluctant to allow remote working or to hand over critical business areas to a third party.
The pandemic, however, changed all of that. Remote working became the norm, so companies began to open up to the advantages inherent in outsourcing.
The strong trend toward outsourcing will continue as companies look for flexible ways to enhance their business capabilities. In addition, companies will look to professional service providers to provide general and technical support to their clients.
Automation
In this sense, we’re not referring to robotic technicians. Instead, we’re talking about chatbots and virtual assistants. Most successful support firms already incorporate this technology to help speed up responses for clients.
Interestingly enough, at the start of the pandemic, many companies had no option but to turn to chatbots. Just as interesting was that this proved the vital need for human support. While the bots could handle many queries, clients missed having an empathetic human on the other end of the line.
It seems that the world is not yet ready for machines to take over yet.
Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality is a promising new twist on the usual support experience. It takes remote teams to the next level. Say, for example, that a client on-site is battling to install a component.
They could video call support for assistance. The support official could then assess the situation and upload the schematics for the product onto the client’s phone. Then, when the customer looks at the screen, they’d be able to see what goes where.
Cloud-Based Rather than Zone-Based
Another interesting trend is that businesses are relying more and more on the cloud. By doing so, they’re allowing their customers instant access to their accounts across several devices and time zones.
Customer service must, therefore, also step up its game. Clients must be able to access support as convenient for them. In such cases, the center should run 24/7.
Hiring a professional service provider with the technical skills to match your business needs is a smart, cost-effective move.
Network Security
In the digital era, network security has taken on a life of its own. The fallout from a data breach includes reputational damage, penalties, and possibly civil suits. So it’s hardly any wonder that companies believe that keeping their information in-house gives them the best chance of protecting it.
This is a somewhat false belief. Outsourcing a function like customer service to a service company often results in the information is more secure. Firms that store the data of several businesses and their clients must take greater care to avoid breaches.
Such firms may also be willing to give you suggestions on how to improve your internal defensive measures.
Reputation Management
One wrong word by an untrained employee can cause untold damage to your company’s reputation. By outsourcing customer service to a professional service provider, you can ensure that your clients receive the correct service message.
The team that you entrust deals only with client service all day. They learn critical coping strategies and how to win over even the angriest consumers.
By entrusting this team, you’re in a position to build better bonds with your clients and turn them into loyal supporters.
Proactive Support
Business is also turning away from the reactive customer service model. Think of it this way, if your client has to call you about an issue they experience, you’ve already failed them. You can then find a way to correct the problem, but you’re starting at a disadvantage.
There are, of course, some clients who won’t even bother to call. They may just decide that it’s not worth the effort and move on to your competitor.
Neither scenario bodes well for company expansion. Fortunately, the new trend toward proactive support can change all of that.
What is proactive support?
Proactive support is the follow-up call asking the client how they’re enjoying your product or service. It’s the call to highlight some of the features that they may not have tried yet. It might even be a call to check which features are most beneficial to that client.
What it is not, however, is a sales call. While the consultant can suggest the odd upgrade if pertinent, the goal here is to make content. You’re providing the client with the opportunity to learn more about their new product.
You’re also highlighting potential sticking points and how to overcome them before they frustrate the client.
Final Words
Service trends going forward will center on improving the customer experience. Companies will have to provide stellar, proactive service and build relationships with their clients. The good news is that adopting a more customer-centric approach will improve client satisfaction, so it’s a winning proposition.
About the author
Nick Ryabchenko is Chief Integration Officer of SupportYourApp. As an expert in designing and building support processes, he was a natural fit for the SupportYourApp team. Over the last 5 years as the Chief Integration Officer, he has helped businesses around the globe adopt and integrate SupportYourApp’s custom CRM software and extend their customer service capabilities.
Last Updated on February 14, 2022 8:21 pm CET by Markus Kasanmascheff
