Where do you get support?

Is it just crowed sourcing being taken to the next level? Or a sad indictment on some companies ability to support their product? Web sites such as getsatisfaction.com and uservoice.com seem to be doing well, they have a lot of users and a lot of answers.

Why is it that people are seeking assistance to their problems via a 3rd party site, and not directly with the product provider?

I think that it is a bit of both. People a seeking responses they can trust, and these sites (using a model very similar to the KCS model) provide quick answers, you can then determine if you trust the answer that someone has given you by looking at their profiles and making a determination if you trust the response or not.

The same principles of crowd sourcing seem to apply here as in other areas, people want to help, and do so with only the desire to help others in mind.

And people want to self serve, just as people will line up in the rain to use a ATM machine, rather then go into a bank branch, many people are happy to source their own answers (and want the ability to do it 24hrs a day).

I am sure there is also a bit of frustration for some involved, where they are unable to source answers from the company supplying the product, and as a last resort are heading to these websites looking for answers (I wonder what the proportion is?). I think however that the majority of users would be using these sites as their first point of contact, rather then as a last resort.

Given 3rd parties are able to provide this sort of a service, it makes me wonder why more companies are not publishing their knowledge to their customers, and facilitating these types of discussions themselves, why give up the customer relationship to a 3rd party?

And so to process

I first got caught up thinking about process Vs passion in customer service facing staff, that lead me to thinking about how do you get staff who are passionate about service delivery ? So next is to start thinking about process.

In a complex customer service enterprise I expect the best way to get staff to follow process is to sit them in front of a computer with a work flow program, and flow charts for questioning, and not allow anything else to happen on the system other then that process, I think that may kill a staff members passion for the job (its a balancing act) however.

You could remove the process all together, but how then would you deliver consistent experience and answers to customers?

You could end up somewhere in the middle, with staff giving consistent answers, and yet being given the freedom of not being locked into a ridged process allowing them to be passionate about how they service the customer. What would this look like? how would you ensure the consistent message is being delivered?

The best example of how this may work I have seen is the KCS methodology

KCS ensures consistant answers to problems \ questions as much as any other process can, yet it also allows the consultant to work with the customer in a manner that is not ridged, and allows the consultant the ability to look for answers to help resolve problems.

Anyone using KCS in a non technology support enviroment like to comment?

The service desk process

Its really important that the service desk provides a consistent level of amazing service to its customers.

I think the important word in that sentence is consistent. To that end we build flow charts for the teams, when a customer asks for X, we do Y. But this is a problem. Customers don't always have the same problem (we try and remove known problems from the production environment), so flow charts are not the answer to providing consistent service.

There are two approaches that need to be taken in providing a consistent service, and I don't think either of them involves a flow chart!

1. Hire good people, professional support consultants. Get people who enjoy solving problems, and are smart about it. People who want to provide a service to customers, and get a real kick out of fixing a problem. The consistent service you will deliver will be an enthusiastic response, and a concerted effort to resolve problems, customers will love it.

2. We still don't want to re-invent the wheel, and all the best intentions wont mean that the customer does not get different answers from different staff, or, sometime some staff wont be able to resolve a problem. For consistent answers you need to implement the Knowledge CentricKCS) Support (model (many other benefits also!).

With good, smart, enthusiastic people, backed with the knowledge to do their job, and consistently answer the customers questions, how can you loose :)