IT Customer Support Centre

What are the advantages and disadvantages of having an IT Customer Support Centre with three departments in technical, software and sales? Many calls from uses are directed towards the IT department in companies that rely on having first class technology in place some are more serious than others. Is is best to have three departments or one taking all the calls at all levels. One solution is to have three departments that are providing technical support and effectively responding to a customer’s request. Let us look at the following example which is details of telephone calls for a Tuesday morning to the IT Customer Support Centre. Afterwards we shall look at how open and closed questions can aid users in resolving their issues plus we shall be identifying the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of communication with customers.

Support Levels

There are two levels of support provided by the Customer Support Centre. Level A indicates the repair is to be responded to within 4 hours from the time of requesting support. Level B indicates the repair is to be responded to within 8 hours. This is referred to as the response time. Contract hours run from 8 am to 6 pm.
The following have Level A contracts. The rest of the callers have Level B contracts. White & Co Blue & Co

Support Departments

There are three departments where the calls can be resolved. They are Technical, Software and Sales. All calls should be passed to one of these departments unless the Customer Support Centre can fix the problem.

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List Of Calls Received

• Mr Lloyd of White & Co, Cardiff, phoned at 9.00 am. The address is 10 North St, and the telephone number is 029 123 123. He cannot get the server to boot. The postcode is CF01
• There has been a phone call from Black & Co of 3 High St, Oxford, OX1. Mr Smith (telephone number 01865 123 123). The call was taken at 9.15 am. The reported problem was that one of his workstations could not connect to the network.
• There has been a telephone call from Newcastle. Mr Dunster, on 0191 123 123, has asked for support as they have a dot matrix printer that is not working. The address is 9 Middle St, and the postcode is N1. Mr Dunster works for Blue & Co (call received at 9.30 am).
• 9.45 am, Mr Smith from Oxford called again. He has another workstation that will not connect to the network.
• Mr Lloyd has phoned again (10.00 am). He wants to know what's happening to his call. He quoted a reference number T1.
• Mr Williams from Red & Co, Liverpool has asked for a new scanner cable to be provided. The address is 1 Market St. and the postcode is L1. He can be contacted on 0151 123 123. The call was logged at 10.15 am.
• At 10.30 am, Ms Dixon phoned from Orange & Co to say that there was a problem with their equipment. Ms Dixon gave the address as 4 Station Rd, Birmingham, with the postcode B1. A support call was logged. When asked about the type of equipment, it was identified as a freezer, which is not supported by her IT contract. The call was cancelled. Her contact telephone number is 0121 123 123.
• At 10.50 am, a call was passed to the call centre to be logged. The call was received by the Sales Department ten minutes previously. Sales said that they had received a call from Bristol. The company was Yellow & Co of 5 South St, BSI, telephone 01179 123 123 (contact Mr Evans). They want to report an application software problem.
• 11.00 am, Mr Lloyd telephoned to say that the server was now working and that the call could be cancelled.
• At midday, Green & Co of 2 Park St, Glasgow, postcode G1, phoned to ask for urgent support. They need the Technical Department to contact them urgently to arrange an immediate repair to their server. The call must be passed to the Technical Department without delay. Fraser Wilson is the customer contact on 0141 123 123. Their entire network is not working.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Open And Closed Questions

What are the advantages and disadvantages of open and closed IT support questions? Here we list these reasons:

Advantages of closed ended
• it is easier and quicker for respondents to answer
• the answers of different respondents are easier to compare
• answers are easier to code and statistically analyse
• the response choices can clarify question meaning for respondents
• respondents are more likely to answer about sensitive topics
• there are fewer irrelevant or confused answers to questions
• less articulate or less literate respondents are not at a disadvantage
• replication is easier
  Disadvantages of closed ended
• they can suggest ideas that the respondent would not otherwise have
• respondents with no opinion or no knowledge can answer anyway
• respondents can be frustrated because their desired answer is not a choice
• it is confusing if many response choices are offered
• misinterpretation of a question can go unnoticed
• distinctions between respondent answers may be blurred
• clerical mistakes or marking the wrong response is possible
• they force respondents to give simplistic responses to complex issues
• they force people to make choices they would not make in the real world
  Advantages of open
• they permit an unlimited number of possible answers
• respondents can answer in detail and can qualify and clarify responses
• unanticipated findings can be discovered
• they permit adequate answers to complex issues
• they permit creativity, self-expression, and richness of detail
• they reveal a respondent's logic, thinking process, and frame of reference
  Disadvantages of open
• different respondents give different degrees of detail in answers
• responses may be irrelevant or buried in useless detail
• comparisons and statistical analysis become difficult
• coding responses is difficult
• articulate and highly literate respondents have an advantage
• questions may be too general for respondents who lose direction
• a greater amount of respondent time, thought, and effort is necessary
• respondents can be intimidated by questions
• answers take up a lot of space in the questionnaire

In summary to determine customer requirements the best way is to use of operating procedures, guides, notes and telephone help-lines to resolve IT issues.

The above information can be used as part of the requirement for the qualification City & Guilds Diploma in IT Systems Support (7267-24).