These days, there is a lot of different work being done in a lot of different ways. We’re doing things from home that maybe 5 years ago we would have said were impossible.
I do support work. That’s almost always been phone based, and historically it’s been really tech heavy. I’ve had to have multiple computers at my desk to log into multiple different systems that customers are using and be able to administer different systems. Recently however, the way I do support has begun to change.Much of the change (especially recently) is environmental or circumstantial. But in this changing landscape where we’re working in different environments with different equipment, the ways in which we support our customers is also changing.
I support a particular customer who recently experienced a network even that necessitated software updates to almost their entire global fleet of computers. That could have been don’t through Group Policies or via SCCM or some similar package management tool that pushed software onto the computer, but this customer opted to send email with links to software that was housed in SharePoint. There were many calls where language barriers existed, and customers either hadn’t received the email or didn’t understand the instructions. A favorite way of helping those customers for me has been Microsoft Teams, which I’m using to communicate with the IT leadership of the company anyway. When a customer calls I can have them open Teams and we can communicate via chat and screen shots. I can easily share with or invite IT staff from the company in on the call as appropriate and it’s really been a very helpful thing.
Remote control of a customer’s computer via tools like LogMeIn123 and Skype is something else I’ve been using in recent years that adds a lot of value to the support experience.
And while these tools enhance the experience greatly, we can’t get away from the fact that customer service and people skills are the bedrock of what we do, and will remain so as long as there are people who reach out for support.