Tech by LLM
Laura L Martin
Blog by LLM
Slashing the Support Ticket Queue
A Problem Solving Experience
Skill Set Involved: Business/Process Analysis and Process Reengineering
Problem: Backed-up support ticket queue, frustrated users.
Solution: (1) Build a self-help intranet site, and (2) implement support staff response standardization to simultaneously reduce tickets while reorg-proofing the support model.
When I began a role as a Product Manager for a massive document management system used by over 10,000 employees, support for the system had ground to a near-halt due to a number of reasons. Taken separately, those reasons included:
1. Not enough support staff.
2. No funds for more support staff.
3. Support staff consisted of only two developers who were being asked to perform support duties part-time (in addition to their official roles to code customizations) for no extra compensation.
4. Other product managers and support personnel for this product/service offering had come and gone without any long-term solutions being implemented. Once they left, support for the service had to start over from scratch.
5. No standardization of responses to support questions.
6. No self-help/self-learning vehicles.
I had no power or approval to acquire more funding or staff. But as it turned out, the only items needed to completely turn this situation around were simply the last two items on that list.
The in-house repository was a custom design was built on the Livelink document management system (an OpenText product). The system held hundreds of thousands of documents and other pieces of content, with multi-level permissioning, and complex permissioning-inheritance capabilities.
My role was much broader than just product management. It involved end-to-end management of the service offering, from overseeing the development and deliverables of product customizations requested by users, to user support, to user training and more.
My solution involved two key components:
Design and build an intranet website of information and examples on how to properly use the software, and
Implement a “reorg-proof” support model through standardization of responses.
Designing and implementing the solution
Informational/Support Website
I designed web-based workflows, surveys and forms to automate manual processes previously accomplished via phone, fax and email.
On the website, I included FAQs, instructions and helpful tips for users, always attempting to preemptively answer both typical and atypical questions, to reduce dependency on phone and email support.
Users could search the site for answers to support questions, circumventing the support staff completely.
Sustainable Support Model
I wrote standardized verbal and email responses to common questions by users. I directed support personnel (the two developers,) to use those standard responses when users contacted them.
I instructed support staff to follow up phone support by sending templated, pre-written instructions via email to users. The email templates included answers and instruction details, as well as links on how users could access that information in the future from the new support website.
This eliminated the previous downtime and delayed response which occurred during previous personnel turnovers, and eliminated inaccurate and non-standard responses to user queries.
Results: The problem ticket queue was slashed by over 90% within the first two months, without additional funding. With this solution in place, the support model could easily weather changes in support staff and management, with little to no slowdowns during ramp-up of new personnel.
Takeaway: Don't immediately assume that funding is the answer to every problem. To help mitigate service and support issues, look for imaginative ways to streamline current processes, make procedures standardized and more efficient, automate what you can, and provide self-help opportunities.
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