McKinney, TX – PhaseWare Tracker and Self Service Center v. 3.1.0.0, the latest upgrade of the most comprehensive Customer Service and Support solution in the industry, is now available.
PhaseWare Tracker and Self Service Center 3.1 offers even more enterprise-level features made affordable for small to medium businesses.
For incident deflection, both the Self Service Center and Automated E-mail response now have the capability to offer suggested solutions related to a customer’s issue. Self Service Center uses the Assisted Knowledge Base Search: for each potential incident entered by a customer, the Self Service Center offers links to possible solutions prior to incident escalation. Successful solutions are tagged and the incident entry is not completed. For each incident submission initiated through e-mail the Event Engine feature automatically responds with potential solutions to the issue. Successful solutions are tagged and the incident is closed. Both features are optional.
Customers stay on top of the latest information of interest using the subscription option for the Self Service Center. Customers are notified via e-mail or RSS feed of new content in any of the Self Service Center applications related to their interests.
Increased operational efficiencies are realized with e-mail and incident journal enhancements, and new customer level file storage. Now e-mail and incident journals are drag and drop enabled for easy file attachment. E-mail recipient selection is quicker than before. Customer level records allow attachment of files and documents such as contracts, service agreements, and other customer specific documentation. These files are optionally available to the customer through the Self Service Center on a per-folder and file basis. Outside contacts can be authorized to attach documents as well.
There are many other productivity enhancements available with this update. To see more visit PhaseWare, Inc..
PhaseWare, Inc. is a North Texas-based customer support software provider offering solutions for a diverse group of clients world-wide. PhaseWare Tracker, Event Engine and Self Service Center solutions provide customer support process automation, tracking, escalation, and resolution of trouble tickets from origin to close, along with a wide variety of self service options.
PhaseWare, Inc. was founded by CEO Randall Nelson and Company President Hoyt Mann.
www.phaseware.com
1-866-616-6629
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
New Release! PhaseWare Tracker/Self Service Center Version 3.1.
PhaseWare, Inc. has released its latest version of Tracker and Self Service Center. Tracker/ Self Service Center Version 3.1 contains several major new features as well as refinements to existing features.
Major New Features include:
Both the forced knowledge base search and the e-mail knowledge base article links can help increase productivity and lower support costs by deflecting calls using automatic knowledge base article selection. When an incident is submitted via the self service center or through e-mail, suggested solutions from the knowledge base are given. If the issue is resolved, the incident is closed. No intervention needed from the service desk agent.
With Self Service Center Subscriptions customers can subscribe to your SSC portal and receive automatic updates about topics of interest to them. RSS feeds are also available when new content matches the subscription.
Some additional features allow agents to add attachments to an e-mail by dragging and dropping files into the e-mail form. Faster recipient selection and recipient clearing is now available. An incident journal enhancement allows a new journal entry to open in a second window so agents can review existing journal articles while creating the new one. Security options have been added for editing certain logs.
These enhancements and many others are now available upon upgrading to Tracker/Self Service Center Version 3.1.
For more information about PhaseWare, Inc. please visit www.phaseware.com.
Major New Features include:
Assisted Knowledge Base Search (optional)
E-Mail Knowledge Base Article Links
Self Service Center Subscriptions
Customer Attachment Storage
E-Mail and Incident Journal Enhancements
Both the forced knowledge base search and the e-mail knowledge base article links can help increase productivity and lower support costs by deflecting calls using automatic knowledge base article selection. When an incident is submitted via the self service center or through e-mail, suggested solutions from the knowledge base are given. If the issue is resolved, the incident is closed. No intervention needed from the service desk agent.
With Self Service Center Subscriptions customers can subscribe to your SSC portal and receive automatic updates about topics of interest to them. RSS feeds are also available when new content matches the subscription.
Some additional features allow agents to add attachments to an e-mail by dragging and dropping files into the e-mail form. Faster recipient selection and recipient clearing is now available. An incident journal enhancement allows a new journal entry to open in a second window so agents can review existing journal articles while creating the new one. Security options have been added for editing certain logs.
These enhancements and many others are now available upon upgrading to Tracker/Self Service Center Version 3.1.
For more information about PhaseWare, Inc. please visit www.phaseware.com.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Use the Force! Forced Knowledge Base Search
A comment was made in response to my blog entry at http://phasewareinc.blogspot.com/ that brought up management's need to reduce costs in the call center (when it is still considered a cost center). In his case, this was done by lowering wages offered to customer support agents. Likely this reduces the depth of the talent pool as well. To compensate for that lack of talent, these agents are given scripts to follow that will, hopefully, match any issue a customer should call about. Unfortunately, personal experience shows that this is not the path to great customer service.
PhaseWare, Inc. has a new feature that will directly impact both ROI and customer satisfaction. It is a new, higher functioning method of giving your customers access to the right information at the right time while deflecting calls and incident submissions.
It is called Forced Knowledge Base Search. It works this way:
With E-mail
If a customer e-mails an incident submission to you he will receive the customary auto-response with the incident number. In addition, the auto-response will contain links to specific articles in the knowledge base that could resolve the issue. If one of the articles resolves the issue, the incident can be closed.
With Self Service Center
If a customer submits an incident via the self service center, the incident will not be completely logged in until the customer reviews the knowledge base articles automatically offered by the system in response to the entered issue. If one of the articles resolves the issue, the customer can choose not to complete the submission.
In both cases, a call was deflected and an issue resolved before any of your staff needed to intervene. It is all done automatically. Statistics about these types of interactions are tallied and can be used to support a strong ROI report.
Enhance your bottom line while giving your customers top of the line service.
May the Force be with you.
PhaseWare, Inc. has a new feature that will directly impact both ROI and customer satisfaction. It is a new, higher functioning method of giving your customers access to the right information at the right time while deflecting calls and incident submissions.
It is called Forced Knowledge Base Search. It works this way:
With E-mail
If a customer e-mails an incident submission to you he will receive the customary auto-response with the incident number. In addition, the auto-response will contain links to specific articles in the knowledge base that could resolve the issue. If one of the articles resolves the issue, the incident can be closed.
With Self Service Center
If a customer submits an incident via the self service center, the incident will not be completely logged in until the customer reviews the knowledge base articles automatically offered by the system in response to the entered issue. If one of the articles resolves the issue, the customer can choose not to complete the submission.
In both cases, a call was deflected and an issue resolved before any of your staff needed to intervene. It is all done automatically. Statistics about these types of interactions are tallied and can be used to support a strong ROI report.
Enhance your bottom line while giving your customers top of the line service.
May the Force be with you.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
When is an Incident a Quick Incident? A PhaseWare Tracker Tip
First, the definition of "incident" as used with PhaseWare Tracker: an incident is the reason the customer contacted you. Other names for it are Trouble Ticket, Problem Ticket, Complaint. In Tracker, an Incident record will have all of the information about the customer, the source, the product, billing status, a description of the problem, the assigned agent, and quite a few other details. So....when the customer calls, an Incident is created.
And what is a Quick Incident, you ask? A Quick Incident is " a repetitive incident that is typically entered very quickly by the support staff and resolved on the first contact." (PhaseWare Tracker User Guide). A Quick Incident can be created:
1. From the Main Menu. Select Data Entry options then Quick Incident. You would do this if you recognized at the beginning of the contact that it would be resolved on the spot.
2. From the Incident Screen if an Incident has already been created but still has a status of NEW, meaning it has not been saved or posted and is not yet visible in the Incident Manager. Once it is saved. an Incident can no longer be converted to a Quick Incident.
Quick Incidents are set up as templates by the system administrator. The templates contain prerecorded information to save you unnecessary keyboarding and giving the incident standardized content and format. The templates can be restricted to specific groups which will become evident when viewing the quick incident template list for your group.
For information about Tracker or other PhaseWare products visit www.phaseware.com.
And what is a Quick Incident, you ask? A Quick Incident is " a repetitive incident that is typically entered very quickly by the support staff and resolved on the first contact." (PhaseWare Tracker User Guide). A Quick Incident can be created:
1. From the Main Menu. Select Data Entry options then Quick Incident. You would do this if you recognized at the beginning of the contact that it would be resolved on the spot.
2. From the Incident Screen if an Incident has already been created but still has a status of NEW, meaning it has not been saved or posted and is not yet visible in the Incident Manager. Once it is saved. an Incident can no longer be converted to a Quick Incident.
Quick Incidents are set up as templates by the system administrator. The templates contain prerecorded information to save you unnecessary keyboarding and giving the incident standardized content and format. The templates can be restricted to specific groups which will become evident when viewing the quick incident template list for your group.
For information about Tracker or other PhaseWare products visit www.phaseware.com.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
7 Important Features of Online Self Service from PhaseWare
It can seem like adding a feature that puts the onus of work back on your customer is counterintuitive. Kind of like when we all had to start pumping our own gas. But this type of self service means more convenience for your customer and a significant cost savings to you. A deflected call is one call you don't have to spend dollars on. Instead you spend only cents because the customer could look online, at a time of their choosing, and access what they need.
So there really aren't any more than these 2 reasons for having this application. But the application itself can contain some features your web savvy customers will love.
Downloads: When your customer can download the newest software version or the latest user guide or anything else you can offer, this is one less step for you. Even a request for these things by email will use more time that could be put to better use.
Notice Board: Let your customers know any important news right up front when they log in. The notice doesn't even have to visible to everyone. Maybe only one segment of your business needs a particular piece of information.
FAQs: Well, how could we get along without them?
Solutions: Let your customers look for solutions here for their issue before they call and leave a message on your phone at 3 am. If an issue has already been researched and resolved, put it here.
Forums: Your web savvy customers want a community to discuss their business, your products, and other experiences with. It could be that another customer could answer the question just as readily.
Knowledge base: Here is a feature that will give access to all of those above via a natural language search function able to comb through all the solutions, notices, forums, and downloads to answer whatever is on that customer's mind.
Incident Submission: Sometimes it's unavoidable. Something happens that cannot be fixed by self service. This gives your customers a place to submit their problems and track the status and resolution online.
Not all features are needed in all instances, but when you think about how people are using the internet these days, you realize that expectations have been raised regarding access to almost everything. Service has become the only differentiator between you and your competition. Leverage every channel of service you can manage and do it well. You'll keep your customers coming back. And they will bring their friends.
Link to an example of a self service center.
So there really aren't any more than these 2 reasons for having this application. But the application itself can contain some features your web savvy customers will love.
Downloads: When your customer can download the newest software version or the latest user guide or anything else you can offer, this is one less step for you. Even a request for these things by email will use more time that could be put to better use.
Notice Board: Let your customers know any important news right up front when they log in. The notice doesn't even have to visible to everyone. Maybe only one segment of your business needs a particular piece of information.
FAQs: Well, how could we get along without them?
Solutions: Let your customers look for solutions here for their issue before they call and leave a message on your phone at 3 am. If an issue has already been researched and resolved, put it here.
Forums: Your web savvy customers want a community to discuss their business, your products, and other experiences with. It could be that another customer could answer the question just as readily.
Knowledge base: Here is a feature that will give access to all of those above via a natural language search function able to comb through all the solutions, notices, forums, and downloads to answer whatever is on that customer's mind.
Incident Submission: Sometimes it's unavoidable. Something happens that cannot be fixed by self service. This gives your customers a place to submit their problems and track the status and resolution online.
Not all features are needed in all instances, but when you think about how people are using the internet these days, you realize that expectations have been raised regarding access to almost everything. Service has become the only differentiator between you and your competition. Leverage every channel of service you can manage and do it well. You'll keep your customers coming back. And they will bring their friends.
Link to an example of a self service center.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
How do software companies justify expending money for Customer Service?
The problem:
Let’s face it – if you are running a small to midsize software company, your resources are precious and they are best used in building a competitive solution; keeping it competitive with new features and functionality; and fixing the bugs that creep into the code occasionally. Add to that mix the resources necessary to market, sell and install your solution – and there are very few cycles left over for supporting your growing customer base. At first, this is not a large problem, but as your products mature and your customers become more savvy in using your solutions. You see more demands from your customers – more questions, more problems, more data to track – and things start falling through the cracks. You add more resources to customer support, but this doesn’t completely fix the problem. More and more you are having to use your development and implementation resources to stay on top of customer issues. What are you going to do?
The choices:
1. Well, you are a software company after all -- why not develop your own customer service solution? As you think about this several problems pop into your thought process – 1) it will take resources from your development team, 2) this is not an area of expertise within your company, and 3) it will continue to take away resources as it needs changes, fixes and updating.
2. You could outsource your customer support. After thinking about this for three and half seconds, you decide that this is not an acceptable answer.
3. You could purchase a customer support solution. You are reluctant to purchase software. You build software, you don’t buy it, right? Plus, the needs of a software company to support their customers are more specialized than what you are aware of being available. Then you get two calls in one morning from long term clients that are less than happy because of the lack of communication and responsiveness they are experiencing with issues that they had reported last week. You decide that it is time to make this a priority. You start looking at potential products. You are surprised at the number of customer support and help desk solutions that are available. Your hopes are buoyed. This turns out to be temporary euphoria, as your research shows that there seems to be a mix of either complex, expensive solutions or low cost, low function, inflexible products. It is very confusing.
The decision:
You decide that option #3 is your only viable choice. But, only if you can find a company that specializes in customer support; builds a flexible, but robust product; and will continually update it with new functionality. In other words, a company just like yours. You will let them be the experts in customer service, while you concentrate on keeping your clients competitive by enhancing your solution. And, if you can find the right company – one like yours – their product will make your customer service a differentiator. It will be one of the reasons that your customers choose you and stay with you. After all, that’s what your solution provides to your clients. You feel better.
Narrowing the field:
You’ve made your decision. Now all you have to do is find the company that makes the best solution for your business. You have found a few companies that seem to meet your needs as far as the functionality that you are looking for, but their features vary and their price tags are quite different. It is tempting to go with the low cost solution, but you want to be wise in making your choice since this is a long term commitment and you have decided that customer support will be an integral, strategic part of your business. You have an idea.
Let’s face it – if you are running a small to midsize software company, your resources are precious and they are best used in building a competitive solution; keeping it competitive with new features and functionality; and fixing the bugs that creep into the code occasionally. Add to that mix the resources necessary to market, sell and install your solution – and there are very few cycles left over for supporting your growing customer base. At first, this is not a large problem, but as your products mature and your customers become more savvy in using your solutions. You see more demands from your customers – more questions, more problems, more data to track – and things start falling through the cracks. You add more resources to customer support, but this doesn’t completely fix the problem. More and more you are having to use your development and implementation resources to stay on top of customer issues. What are you going to do?
The choices:
1. Well, you are a software company after all -- why not develop your own customer service solution? As you think about this several problems pop into your thought process – 1) it will take resources from your development team, 2) this is not an area of expertise within your company, and 3) it will continue to take away resources as it needs changes, fixes and updating.
2. You could outsource your customer support. After thinking about this for three and half seconds, you decide that this is not an acceptable answer.
3. You could purchase a customer support solution. You are reluctant to purchase software. You build software, you don’t buy it, right? Plus, the needs of a software company to support their customers are more specialized than what you are aware of being available. Then you get two calls in one morning from long term clients that are less than happy because of the lack of communication and responsiveness they are experiencing with issues that they had reported last week. You decide that it is time to make this a priority. You start looking at potential products. You are surprised at the number of customer support and help desk solutions that are available. Your hopes are buoyed. This turns out to be temporary euphoria, as your research shows that there seems to be a mix of either complex, expensive solutions or low cost, low function, inflexible products. It is very confusing.
The decision:
You decide that option #3 is your only viable choice. But, only if you can find a company that specializes in customer support; builds a flexible, but robust product; and will continually update it with new functionality. In other words, a company just like yours. You will let them be the experts in customer service, while you concentrate on keeping your clients competitive by enhancing your solution. And, if you can find the right company – one like yours – their product will make your customer service a differentiator. It will be one of the reasons that your customers choose you and stay with you. After all, that’s what your solution provides to your clients. You feel better.
Narrowing the field:
You’ve made your decision. Now all you have to do is find the company that makes the best solution for your business. You have found a few companies that seem to meet your needs as far as the functionality that you are looking for, but their features vary and their price tags are quite different. It is tempting to go with the low cost solution, but you want to be wise in making your choice since this is a long term commitment and you have decided that customer support will be an integral, strategic part of your business. You have an idea.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
PhaseWare Help Desk Tips #2
PhaseWare Help Desk Tips #2
Time tracking is so important when working on a help desk. When time is spent on any activity, that time should be tracked. If the time can be captured in a system then it can be pulled into a report. This is such a fundamental idea, but it amazes me how many help desk do not make this a priority. These help desks work on customer issues as they arrive, but there is no way to tell if one customer is taking up more resources of a help desk than another.
Actions to take are to record every interaction with a customer and document how much time you spend with each customer. Even if the phone calls is only 5 minutes. The simple action of logging each call will supply data to management when the time comes to evaluate the need for additional help desk resources.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)