Continue reading »]]> How to Hire and Train Help Desk Staff

This guest post was written by Wayne Goldstein. Share your experience with a guest blog on help desk guides.

As an outsourced help desk provider ourselves, we have had quite a few years of experience in the hiring and training of new team members.

As with any new hire, it is important to first understand specifically the skill sets required for the role they are to fill.

The major trick to staffing a help desk is to ensure there is enough elasticity in the scheduling to accommodate for sudden peaks of activity. For example, if your data (or if you are new your contracts) demonstrate peak load times, and even better peak load times by issue types – it becomes a simple math problem to determine the number of team members needed to ensure the queue does not build up.

At GMS, one of the most effective ways we have hired to fill in these gaps is by identifying candidates that will both, contribute to improving upon our core metrics (average handle time, speed to greet, escalation rate to name a few) and the subsequent customer experience as a result of these hard numbers, as well as the softer factors that can be summed up in laymen’s terms as not making the user feel dumb, and making the user feel like we are there for them!

Help Desk Jobs: Certifications

We have broken down each role in the help desk team, from management to level 1 and even customer service staff by certifications that act to validate one’s abilities.

Going back to our scheduling, if we know that we are receiving level 2 calls pertaining to more advanced systems configurations, troubleshooting or perhaps server remediation – we know we will need candidates to at the very least maintain an MCSE, MCSA and likely an MCDST, Network +, A +.

The number of certifications out there is quite extensive, and covers pretty much every angle of the spectrum in terms of hard fact ability to understand certain systems. However, this is only 1/3 of the battle!

Help Desk Jobs: Personality Testing

There are numerous platforms out there from Kolbe to DISC and so forth. Regardless of what you choose – when you are hiring help desk staff, it is best to ensure the team member has high indicators of fact finding, follow through and attention to detail. In Kolbe terms (what we use) this would look like:

Help Desk Staff – Kolbe Action Models Image courtesy of: Core Purpose.

It is important for a technician to score relatively low on Quick Start (or D/I on DISC) as these indicate a higher propensity for continual change. We want our technicians to enjoy following processes and solving real problems! To learn more about the Kolbe profile click here.

We have found that by ensuring new hires profiles complement our existing team’s structure (at least on paper) that the likelihood for successful integration is drastically higher.

The Point Where Paper Hits Asphalt!

Like everything else, a plan needs to be rigorously road tested to ensure success. To accomplish this it is best to run a new hire through a series of mock interaction tests led by his or her potential supervisors, peers and if they fare well – a live customer with a supervisor standing by.

Despite one’s ability to score well on a certification exam, or seemingly fit the mold of an ideal technician from a personality stand point – so much of help desk support revolves around communication. For this reason we need to thoroughly asses a candidates ability to think on their feet, follow processes and keep the customer apprised of the situation and feeling confident that they have reached someone who knows what is going on!

Training

Congratulations! (Well, congratulations in due time if you do end up find the right person for the job)!

Now the tough part begins. Once your technician has received access to your employee handbook (if you don’t have one – make one!) and understands philosophically the goals of the overall company, as well as their role in the puzzle; it is time to start training the new hire on your systems and processes.

This should include:

1. Ticketing Systems
2. Knowledgebase Portals
3. Client Expectations (SLAs)
4. Communication standards (internal and external)
5. Incentives and Potential Causes for Flags on their Jacket
6. HR Policies
7. Feedback Policies (both from you to the employee and the employee to you!)

It will be a gradual process for a new hire to get fully up to speed on everything, so go easy on them – ensure you or their direct report is made available to answer questions and provide live feedback. You have the first 90 days on any new hire to a) decide if they are a fit and b) figure out if they have the capacity to take on more!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Wayne Goldstein is the CEO of GMS Live Expert, a Hosted Help Desk dedicated to the MSP Reseller Channel. His team of 100% North American Help Desk and NOC and Technicians, work to help their MSP Partners scale their businesses!

Write an IT or Help Desk Guest blog.

Continue reading »]]> Your moment of Zen(desk) with COO Zack Urlocker on, “What is Zendesk?”

“By having the largest customer service network in the world, we are in a unique position to spot trends quickly.”

Zendesk is customer service software based in the cloud. It features a simple interface that will feel familiar to users. To enhance the customer experience, Zendesk integrates other cloud based services like Salesforce, Facebook and Twitter.

In an otherwise boring and predictable industry, Zendesk has a ton of personality. Their videos and infographics bring a little levity to the help desk space.

Zendesk uses widgets and plugins to enhance your ability to meet customer’s needs. You can check them out in the free demo.

I love a company that offers value to build relationships with customers rather than just trying to overtly sell their products. Zendesk excels with webinars like “6 Surefire Tips to Retain & Grow Customers”, “I Love You More Than My Dog” and “Best Practices for Running a Global Helpdesk”.

I recently had the chance to ask Zendesk COO Zack Urlocker a few questions. He shared the latest from Zendesk and spoke to trends in help desk and customer service software. Sales, Marketing, Customer Support and Development are all areas of the Zendesk business that fall under Urlocker’s watch. Right in-line with current trends, Urlocker also uses his position to educate and write about disruptive business models and technology.

Q: Zendesk is more than help desk software. What is Zendesk?

What is Zendesk - Zack Urlocker, COO

A: Zendesk is the proven cloud-based customer support software that is the fastest way to enable great customer service in rapidly growing companies. Zendesk is so easy to use, it’s loved by support teams and their customers worldwide. More than 15,000 organizations including Adobe, Sony, and Groupon, trust Zendesk with their most valuable assets: their customers, partners, and employees. Now, organizations can deliver exceptional support and proactively engage customers across the web, email, and social media. With the mobile device explosion having created even more opportunities to help customers anywhere, anytime,  Zendesk is also available across devices such as the iPad, iPhone, Android, Kindle Fire, and BlackBerry.

Q: What are the biggest trends you’re seeing in the help desk space?

A: Social media has created a newly empowered “collective” customer. As a result, customers, not companies, are controlling how customer service policies are created and implemented. Due to the ever-growing power of social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, bad news can travel extremely fast. This “consumer awakening” that has happened on social media has required that today’s companies be responsive, transparent, open, and authentic when communicating with customers. When mistakes happen, companies need to own the issue and proactively engage with their customers with a sincere and honest tone. Even if companies aren’t able to fully resolve issues during the first contact, it’s important to reach out and acknowledge that the issue exists and that you are working on a solution.

We’ve responded to this trend with a Twitter integration that allows customers to turn tweets into working customer support tickets, or as we like to call them, twickets. Meanwhile, our Facebook integration lets customers turn comments made on their company Facebook page into customer support tickets as well.

In addition to social media, companies today must be prepared to field support issues via phone, email, their websites, and blogs. There was a time when toll-free numbers were all a company needed to manage disgruntled customers. Today’s customers have various ways to communicate with companies–and they use every single one. If companies aren’t diligent about providing and monitoring all of these channels, the likelihood of something spinning out of control is high.

Because of the multiple ways customers want to communicate with companies, companies need a unified tool for monitoring and responding to customer service issues to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks.

Q: How does mobile and BYOD fit into your business model and user data?

What is Zendesk: Kindle Screen

A: From our own experience, with more than 100,000 Zendesk mobile app downloads, the presence of mobile applications for business purposes is proving to be a powerful force that cannot be ignored. It is important that customer service solutions are available across devices such as the iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Kindle Fire.

We want organizations to have the ability to provide support on-the-go regardless of their preferred mobile device. Our mobile apps provide the greatest flexibility for customer support agents to easily view, update and manage support requests anytime, from anywhere — in real time. Zendesk’s mobile apps give agents the same visibility into their company’s customer service activity as they would from the desktop interface – allowing them to easily view and manage tickets while on the go, no matter the source – including Twitter and Facebook.

We pride ourselves on staying abreast of the hottest mobile trends and delivering Zendesk optimized for the most popular devices, such as the iPad, iPhone, Android, and Kindle Fire. Meanwhile, an optimized version of our app for iPad 3 is in development.

Q: What is the importance of your integrations with document sharing and other add ons?

A: Zendesk has more than 90 out-of-the-box integrations making it easy to connect Zendesk to other critical business solutions.  For example, Zendesk works with the leading CRM solutions such as Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, Highrise, and Netsuite to provide both the sales and customer service organizations a complete view of all customer interactions. Meanwhile, our Atlassian JIRA integration seamlessly connects support agents and developers so that they can easily collaborate, edit, update, or resolve any kind of customer support issue within Zendesk or JIRA.

From document sharing offerings such as Box or Dropbox to analytic tools such as GoodData and Google Analytics to communication tools such as MailChimp, we help ensure that the best customer service product tightly integrates with the best business solutions available. We also have a very open API and offer a number of ways to integrate and extend Zendesk’s functionality. There are five APIs that can be leveraged to build custom apps and perform seamless integrations with a multitude of systems.

Scalability seems to be one of the big selling points of Zendesk. What else makes your solution unique?

For starters, we have a culture of constant innovation and rapid development where we quickly deliver on the key feature our customers are requesting, with new ones being rolled out almost every week.

By having the largest customer service network in the world, we are in a unique position to spot trends quickly.  In fact, we have recently introduced the Zendesk Customer Satisfaction Index which measures customer happiness across 65 million consumers in 137 different countries. Most important, however, is that we provide the tools as well as the know-how in order to deliver a great customer experience.

The Customer Satisfaction Index offers valuable data and insight into customer trends so companies can respond and build a customer service strategy accordingly. Zendesk plans to publish its Customer Satisfaction Index on a quarterly basis and will report on additional data such as customer service efficiency and quality in various industries, geographies and company sizes. Meanwhile, the Zendesk Benchmark allows companies to compare key help desk metrics with thousands of others and compare themselves against their industry peers or similarly sized companies.

Ultimately, Zendesk’s destination is to be the provider of true customer intelligence and engagement, empowering any company to deliver on a great service promise.

Q: How valuable are your self service tools to customers?

A: Self-service customer support has become one of the most powerful trends shaping the industry in 2012. Companies who can help customers independently find the answers to their questions can dramatically increase customer satisfaction, while lowering support costs.

One of Zendesk’s more powerful features is its ability to analyze customer usage of knowledge bases and forums. With these analyses companies can understand which content is most valuable.  All of this information is shown in an easy-to-read dashboard, making it easy to take action based on this information.

And, then, there is the “silent” customer;  this is the customer who gets to your knowledge base and gives up because he or she couldn’t find what was needed.  Self-service customer support is only valuable to a company if you know what is working and what is not. Up until now, there wasn’t an easy, measurable way to see if customers are effectively finding the answers they need via self-service content.

Zendesk Search Analytics

With that said, Zendesk’s Search Analytics feature provides customer service organizations with insight into how customers try to help themselves through self-service content. Search Analytics gives companies direct insight into how their customers are using self-service content, where they run into problems, and when they give up. This information can help a company optimize its self-service content.

Q: How do you compare to other help desk systems, like Kayako (or other specific competitors).

A: While this category has been around for a long time, what makes Zendesk unique is a strong self-service portal (including knowledge base, discussion forums, and ideas forums) that we support on all available customer communication channels, such as email, phone, chat, websites, self-service portals and social media (including Twitter and Facebook).

Our product is so easy to use, it enables companies of all sizes to deliver great customer support fast. But where it really shines is how quickly companies can get results.

For instance, while customer satisfaction ratings and surveys are a popular way among companies for measuring customer happiness, surveys can offer a false sense of security. Zendesk’s Customer Satisfaction Rating feature gives a very black-and-white view into whether a customer is satisfied. After a customer service request is solved, companies can automatically contact their customers through Zendesk to collect feedback on whether they were satisfied with the service they received or not. The customer can elaborate as to why.  Using this instant feedback, companies can continually monitor overall customer satisfaction and maintain an active and ongoing customer-centric way of doing business.

Continue reading »]]> Middleware from CloudPointe

An Interview with Middleware Provider CloudPointe on their Company and Trends in Document Sharing.

Middleware, according to a recent Red Hat Magazine article, “is plumbing”. It’s the software application that acts as a conduit between local files and media and the cloud.

I recently had the chance to ask some questions of Rebecca Joy and Ron Niesen from middleware provider CloudPointe. CloudPointe was launched in 2010 and offers a SaaS collaboration platform. The service is middleware designed to offer asset control, collaboration and low cost cloud storage. It can even be integrated with your existing providers like Sharepoint, Amazon Web Services and Google Docs. You can learn more about the company at www.cloudxy.com.  And on Facebook and Twitter.

Q: CloudPointe seems like more than document sharing, CloudPointe is middleware. Am I correct in saying that it’s really a way to control digital assets and make them accessible to users anywhere they need them?

A: Yes, this is correct

Q: Are the big benefits with middleware around security, compliance and version control? If so, can you briefly tell me about each?

A: CloudPointe allows users to share digital assets outside their enterprise without duplicating or moving the assets from their location which allows the extension of internal compliance.  In addition, CloudPointe allows users to set different security levels for the people they are sharing with.  These levels allow external people to view only, view/download/comment, view/download/comment/edit, or full control.  CloudPointe also allows for version control on any storage platform, even if that platform does not inherently allow it.  CloudPointe version control features allow asset owners to view and restore revisions to their assets.

Cloudpointe Middleware Solution

Q: What else makes your middleware solution unique?

A: Our solution is unique because we do not duplicate the owners digital assets, thereby retaining internal workflow for the organization while extending external access to the assets.  Keeping the single source of truth with the asset owners.  When the assets is updated, whether internally or externally, everyone has the most up-to-date version. Additionally, since users digital assets are never stored in CloudPointe we uniquely meet the EU Data Directives address requirements where all other cloud storage services do not. We are also not subject to any local law regarding seizure. CloudPointe consequently provides a level of security no other application can offer.

Q: How does it compare to content sharing companies like Signiant or other middleware providers?

A: Signiant is a file transfer service, allowing people to move files from one storage location to another securely.  CloudPointe can be used to do this as well, but our primary focus is providing external access to internal assets.  This can mean one to one or many to many.  With CloudPointe Connect, you can give external access to one location of digital assets.  With CloudPointe Hub, you can give external access to many different locations of digital assets and external people can grant you access to their digital assets through one Hub.  The fact that we do not duplicate digital assets and the new Hub technology that allows multiple people sharing multiple assets is what greatly distinguishes us from our competitors.

Q: You seem to be focused mostly on document sharing. What about video, image and other types of files where version control isn’t the concern?

A: Not true. We are focused on all digital assets, not just documents.  Our SaaS solution is fully capable of managing video, images, AutoCAD files, etc.

Q: Can CloudPointe be integrated in to an IT, Help Desk or Customer Service organization?

A: Absolutely.  CloudPointe has an easy way to embed shares into web site, applications and portals as well as having a user-friendly RESTful API for integration.

Q: Tell me about controlling permissions on CloudPointe. How does Content Sovereignty factor in?

A: CloudPointe inherits the permissions of the person initiating the sharing who has access to the data source.

Q: What trends to do you see and how are you addressing them?

A: File sharing has two major issues: copy version control and giving copies away. The difficulties these issues create, and which CloudPointe overcomes, are receiving much greater awareness as people realize how much effort is needed to manage them and at what risk and control they give away. Data in our modern age is becoming one of the most valuable assets any business has because it represents the sum of their intellectual investments.

Q: How does mobile and BYOD fit in to your business model?

A:Our approach is device independent, it works on all hardware and devices. It was designed that way from its core architecture so that CloudPointe seamlessly changes as our customers work styles or hardware evolve.

Q: Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. I know that our audience will appreciate your perspectives on middleware.

Ron Niesen of Middleware Provider CloudPointe

Ron Niesen was recently recruited to CloudPointe to lead client services and marketing, assist with sales, and help develop the company’s go-to-market strategy. Mr. Niesen brings experience in business startups from his 15+ years initiating and leading life sciences management consulting practices for high growth consultancies in the mid-Atlantic and Boston areas. From his many years working closely with clients such as Merck, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis, in organizational effectiveness, process, and strategy, he brings extensive insights into how CloudPointe’s collaboration and security innovations can help large enterprises effectively partner. Mr. Niesen is active in PA Biotech, and the American Marketing Association and Institute of Management Consultants.

Middleware from CloudPointe's Rebecca Joy

Rebecca Joy joined CloudPointe in 2010 bringing a background in finance, public relations and IT. Previous employment includes working in pharmaceutical, sports training and high tech industries. Rebecca brings broad financial, strategic and marketing experience, but excels in many other areas. A wife, mother, musician and culinary artist, she exemplifies a professional that works as hard out of the office as she does at work.

SUMMARY: Middleware is the conduit between an application and assets in the cloud. Using tools like CloudPointe allows companies to keep their assets searchable, safe and manageable. In any asset management system, an integral part of the tool is employing the right middleware tools.

Continue reading »]]> Answers to the question, “What is SysAid?”

Name a software customer service company that’s in use by over 100,000 companies in more than 140 countries. Its help desk customer service packages are available in 42 languages and can be integrated into any size firm and customized by IT departments to fit in with existing systems.

If you understand the basics about this company, then you know the answer to the question, “What is SysAid.”

I recently had the chance to ask some questions to Saar Bitner, EVP Strategy and Marketing at SysAid. Bitner joined SysAid in 2007 from LightSand. You can also read an insightful interview with Saar Bitner speaking about help desk trends.

Q: What is SysAid?
A:  SysAid Technologies is a global ITSM software provider. Founded in 2002, it’s a privately held company with a HQ in Israel, a branch in Australia, and resellers worldwide.

The company has two products – SysAid IT, currently in its 8.5th generation – aimed for IT management and SysAid CSS – a customer help desk product.

Q: There are many help desk software companies vying for customer’s business. What makes SysAid’s approach different than other companies?

What is SysAid?

A: SysAid’s unique selling proposition – The Ultimate IT Management Experience in a Mobile World is backed with the following differentiating facts. Here are 20 reasons why SysAid is different:

1. SysAid is a turnkey platform for all service desk and asset management needs
2. “All-in-one” comprehensive approach means the product encompasses many aspects of IT Management, however customers may select only the modules they need
3. Flexible deployment  - Cloud or On-premise
4. On-the-go:  SysAid enables ultimate mobile experience across all platforms (IOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile) and tablets

1. Fully customized to what you need
2. Pure web-based solution
3. Simple and intuitive user interface
4. Competitive pricing to meet any budget
5. Innovative “My Desktop” –SysAid IT is the only ITSM solution that offers remote access management integrated into the helpdesk solution
6. ITIL compliant (CMDB, Change Management, Problem Management)
7. Scalable
8. Full training options including certification and getting started programs to fully maximize SysAid within the organization
9. Huge customer base with more than 100,00 organizations worldwide in more than 140 countries across 200 different industries (Fortune 500 companies to NGOs..)
10. Two major releases per year

What is SysAid: Saar Bitner

1. Multi-language (supports 42 languages)
2. Proven self-implementations in record time
3. Account managers that have technical IT background and know your needs
4. Professional service team that can take part in implementations and setup integrations – onsite or offsite
5. Unique SysAid Community  shares knowledge and experiences of IT professionals worldwide
6. SysAid is committed to constant innovation:

• F11 launches SysAid with a screen shot
• IT Performance Benchmark enables IT professionals to share and compare their measurements
• Has a fully integrated chat module
• Offers a fully integrated remote control tool for remote support

Q: SySAid’s client list is a ‘who’s who’ of newsworthy companies like McDonald’s and Cisco. How is SysAid able to give companies, both large and small, the attention they need to be successful?

A: SysAid is a scalable solution – designed to accommodate the needs of organizations of all sizes, from small organizations to enterprises. SysAid’s editions – Pro and Enterprise are created to meet the needs of different companies , allowing each to use a product that meets their requirements based on the size of their company. In terms of attention the company gives to its customers – the attention is two-fold: Development-wise, SysAid has two major releases per year – each time focusing on different aspects of IT experiences. The product is constantly evolving, enabling IT professionals to get more done. The other aspect is Customer Service and Support which is attentive and responsive to customers’ needs. Customers have account managers who take care after their service request. Another channel which is very popular is The SysAid Community, where users contribute knowledge, share experiences and ask for information.

Continue reading »]]> Summary: Helpdesk software continues to evolve and offer more and more services. Helpdesk software comes in light free versions or more robust software combinations billed on a per user or subscription basis. From asset management to compliance, helpdesk software can be a wide reaching asset for a company.

Helpdesk software comes in several forms. An intranet stand alone internal package, web helpdesk software or a hybrid utilizing internal and external resources to manage customer or stakeholder needs.

Trends continue to move toward web helpdesk software and away from traditional do-it-yourself solutions. The web based tools can help to automate your processes, help with complaints and errors, and help with monitoring assets and licenses along with generating to do lists and resources.

Helpdesk software isn’t a static one-way tool. Good software packages will automatically scan your systems and networks to provide key data on efficiency and effectiveness. Most helpdesk software support will also allow you to control individual machines and workstations remotely to simplify simple tasks.

One option that has gained prominence in this web help desk arena is SysAid.

Kayako Helpdesk Software

SysAid is a set of web based tools that can help you manage all of the above tasks. One of the keys to their offering is automation – making your job easier and allowing you to be more responsive. Through their help desk web interface, SysAid reviews generally praise the software as fairly intuitive and allows for benchmarking. SysAid helpdesk software also offers a somewhat limited free helpdesk solution that may be of interested to many smaller companies as well. With only a minimal knowledge of servers and IT, almost anyone can get this helpdesk software up and running.

Another interesting offer in the helpdesk software offerings is Kayako. Although this web based system offers many similar desktop and on-line solutions, Kayako also claims to offer an automatic installer that can get the helpdesk software running on almost any server with certain access. Kayako review pages often rave about the real-time chat service offered by the company. They offer SupportSuite, eSupport and LiveResponse in three levels of service and license cost.

One interesting benefit offered from these companies in both their free helpdesk software and subscription services is support in multiple languages. SysAid for example offers helpdesk support in English, French Spanish, Italian, Hebrew and German. The perfect mix of language for an international company with a European focus.

Other companies add Asian languages to their helpdesk software support. ServiceDesk Plus 7.6, for example, also offers ready php helpdesk software in additional languages like Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese. All utilizing self service requests in their native language through online forms and dashboards.

Sony BMG

Almost every IT helpdesk software suite will also offer a feature that is often overlooked. That is software compliance. It is every company’s responsibility to make sure that they own licenses for the software installed on their machines. And the liability is great.

In 2008, Sony BMG was the focus of an investigation that found as much as 47% of the software on company machines was out of compliance. This is a company that had been at the forefront in battles trying to stop unauthorized use of their material. This incident was certainly costly, but more importantly, the company was subject to unwanted publicity that could have been avoided. Through an aggressive strategy utilizing IT helpdesk software they could have generated comprehensive reports limiting the company’s liability.

Continue reading »]]> Sharing documents and edocr’s integration with Zendesk Help Desk software. Featuring Manoj Ranaweera.

Sharing Documents. It’s the root of an effective Customer Service and Help Desk organization. Giving a team the ability to pull the right answer — to the right question — at the right time to serve customers needs. Sharing documents is more than just script prompts, it’s intuitive access to the data required to quickly predict and react to business needs.

I recently had the chance to ask Manoj Ranaweera, Founder and CEO of edocr, some questions about his company’s integration with the cloud-based help desk software from Zendesk. edocr is a business built on sharing documents; publishing, distribution and interactivity.

Many of us are familiar with the cloud based presentation sharing site SlideShare. Slideshare offers the ability to upload a Power Point or Keynote files and publish them for the world to see.

edocr offers a similar tool but is based on sharing documents rather than presentations. Brochures, sales pieces, press releases and white papers are quickly uploaded and shared with social sites and search engines – and ultimately to your audience.

In the help desk and customer service environment, edocr is a powerful tool used to get information to your customer service reps or users working through a self-help console. With the ability to share documents publicly or to a select group, you can control who has access to your information.

When a document is shared through the integrated edocr/Zendesk system,newer versions documents can be set to automatically replace out-of-date versions to keep the most current information in your customer’s and user’s hands instantly. This ensures version control and gets the right documents in to the hands of the Zendesk user.

My conversation with Manoj Ranaweera pointed to the importance of information in help desks and in customer service. Rather than just a ticketing and network monitoring systems, the integration of edocr and Zendesk highlights an important trend of information management and document sharing.

John Wall from HelpDeskGuides.com

Q: Am I correct that edocr is primarily a document sharing and distribution tool? Do you handle other content, like video, as well?

edocr founder Manoj Ranaweera on Document Sharing

A: edocr started as a document sharing tool and we focused on building it as a destination site, e.g. Youtube for documents. But lately, we have changed our vision from “unleashing the power of documents” to “upload once, display anywhere”.

Our integration with Zendesk is helping us to launch this. So, as you guessed, our focus is on “distribution” and then delivering exceptional value as a result of it. No we do not deliver any other content, but will facilitate adding embeddable content to enrich the documents, e.g.
http://www.edocr.com/user/salesforce

 

Q: How do you separate edocr from companies sharing documents?

A: edocr has number of competitors. We all provide the same basic functionality, but are focusing on slightly different aspects, e.g. Slideshare is all about presentations, bringing slides, documents and videos to enrich the presentation. Scribd has moved into selling documents taking on Amazon.com, in addition to catering for every type of business. Docstoc is focusing on selling packages of documents to SMBs.

In our case, we focus entirely on helping businesses get extra mileage from their documents. We are becoming a product that serves documents into multiple web apps.

 

Q: What trends to do you see and how are you addressing them?

A: There is lot more focus on document sharing now than when we first started. We grew by average of 33% over the last 3 months. The mainstream social media activities are still focusing on the big four, and believe they will start using services like edocr.com in the near future.

 

Q: Why should users think of combining edocr and Zendesk?

Zendesk Help Desk

A: Zendesk is a great product for customer service. Whilst it has the ability to upload documents,  his feature is hardly used. We can enrich user dialogue by giving relevant content through documents. And edocr.com is making this process very simple, and fun!

 

Q: How does edocr integrate with Zendesk?

A: edocr integrates with Zendesk through a widget which displays the last 5 documents uploaded by the customer service Agent. We then provide the ability to search for more documents, not just those uploaded by the Agent or his/her company, but from the large inventory of documents on edocr.com. By Drag and drop, you can now liven the Forums and Tickets with highly visual documents.

edocr was founded by Manoj Ranaweera in 2007 as a tool to bring social interactivity and access to business documents. The company is one of the leading document sharing, cloud-based solutions for business. Twitter: @edocr

Zendesk is familiar to most help desk and IT pros. The company offers a robust platform for help desk integration and improves customer service. Zendesk’s clients include OpenTable, Groupon and Sony. @Zendesk

SlideShare is the largest presentation sharing site in the world. With over 130 million monthly page views it is one of the top 200 sites globally. Twitter: @slideshare

Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM solution that is developing in to a tool for companies to stay better connected with their employees and customers. Twitter: @salesforce

Continue reading »]]> The Cost of Customer Service

In a recent meeting of senior executives at a fortune 500 company, an agenda item on the cost of customer service hit the docket. The CEO was looking at long-term plans of how to best manage the company’s customer service costs as the number of interactions in Call Centers have dropped with the growth of social media.

The CFO quickly pulled out this year’s budget and budgets for the previous 3 years. Then, the VP from customer service pulled out the info-graphic below.

Quickly, the management team realized the risk of looking at the cost of customer service as a black and white spreadsheet issue. The true cost of customer service is one of out-of-pocket expenses balanced against the risk of lost customers and revenue caused by an under-performing customer service organization.

According to Herndon, Virginia based Parature, Inc., US firms lost over $83 billion due to abandoned purchases and defections caused by poor customer service. This amazing statistic comes from a company providing web based customer service and support software.¹

Certainly all of this loss won’t be recouped through integrating new customer service software, but a portion of it is within reach through an integrated customer support system maximizing customer interactions across platforms.

Cost of Customer Service

Many companies are currently examining the cost of customer service looking to leverage reduced budgets by utilizing new technologies. But technology is only one tool used to reduce costs.

* Reduce Turnover: According to F. Curtis Barry & Company, attrition costs the average customer service organization between $3,000 and $10,000. This includes recruiting, training, and other expenses related to a new employee.²

* Rewards and Recognition: One of the first costs cut is also one of the most under-appreciated. With little investment, creating a rewards and recognition program can benefit a company at a pace far outstripping the costs. Happy, engaged and motivated employees improve conversion and reduce abandonment and turnover.

* Training: A well trained staff performs at a higher level. They are better prepared to answer questions and have higher job satisfaction. Well trained staffs also reduce the cost of customer service. By successfully navigating a customer need the first time, repeat calls are reduced and costs plummet.

* Feedback as a carrot, not a stick: Many companies monitor their customer service employees as a way to drive efficiency at the detriment of long term cost savings. By punishing employees who aren’t performing rather than rewarding them for hitting targets through continual feedback the cost of customer service can increase.

* Simplified prompts: I’m often quoted as saying, “work to the norm, not the exception”. This rule is crucial when addressing customer service costs, vru prompts and success rates. By creating a system of prompts that work toward satisfying the majority of customers, the cost of customer service will be quickly reduced.

An interesting addition to these ideas comes from Parature who offer the Five Top Causes of Poor Customer Service ³:

1. Customer having to repeat themselves
2. Callers caught in automated IVR systems
3. Customers waiting too long for service
4. Representatives who don’t understand a customers value or history with the company
5. Customers who find it’s too hard to switch between communication channels.

Article Sources
^{1 and 3} Parature, Inc
http://blog.parature.com/customerserviceexperience/the-cost-of-poor-customer-service-infographic/

² F. Curtis Barry & Company

http://www.fcbco.com/services/FCBCO-Cost-Reduction