Why do you need a support service that doesn't support?

Companies are announcing artificial intelligence in their automation, talking about how they implemented a couple of cool customer service systems, but when we call tech support, we continue to suffer and listen to the suffering voices of operators with long-suffering scripts. Moreover, you probably noticed that we, IT specialists, perceive and evaluate the work of numerous customer support services of service centers, IT outsourcers, car services, call services of telecom operators much more sharply, including the support of the company in which we work or which we manage. 

So what's up? Why is a call to technical support / technical support almost always a reason for a heavy sigh and some kind of doomed necessity? We know a thing or two about the reasons. Tech support for dreams from our childhood

Support issues you probably have

Incompetent employees it support job description

At first glance, incompetent employees are the main reason for problems with technical support. It is unacceptable when you are waiting for a solution to your problem or at least a correct redirection to a specialist, but you get a complete disregard of the essence of the issue and a little advertising in addition. However, do not rush to blame the support staff - as a rule, the root of the problem lies much deeper.

The selection of unqualified personnel is the first mistake of companies. It is clear that unless you are a DevOps outsourcer with decent offers to job seekers, highly qualified system administrators and engineers will not go to you. But recruiting "1st and 2nd year students in their free time" is fraught. This is a lottery: you can take your future support manager or even the main developer, or you can take a student who doesn't even care about studying - all the time is free. As a rule, such guys do not have developed communication skills, there is no desire for learning (and a support is always training and the ability to explain to another, which is possible only when you yourself confidently understand this). Therefore, when selecting candidates, you need to be guided not by the principle of the employee's cheapness or his desire to come to you,

Goofy employees are a huge problem for many companies, regardless of size or industry. Speaking of stupid, we mean the illiterate, unskilled and, most importantly, who do not want to change something in their qualifications and learn. So why do companies run into these guys over and over again? It's simple: quite often the support staff recruits not those who know how and knows, but those who are cheaper, "and then we will teach." This is a critical mistake that leads to staff turnover (“not mine,” “oh, how evil you are,” “study is more important”), mistakes in work (“I haven’t learned yet,” “Well, I still have to study, I also owe that kind of money to harm you! ”), to useless attempts to teach (“ what the hell, talking to clients, I didn’t graduate from management for this, I want to be a leader ”).

Obvious and difficult to apply advice, but try to work with the staff early in the hiring phase. Don't torment them with questions about who they see themselves in five years, talk to the point: 

ask them what quality customer service means to them; 

Suggest tricky scenarios for conversations with customers and ask how they will react;

ask them what they think your business is doing and what customers want.