Cheaper than Running a Call Center

Does your growing business want to offer IT support but can't afford the large expense of running a call center? Then you should consider offering some kind of online technical support as a more cost-effective solution. There are many types of online support, ranging from live video chat to complete remote administration toolkits such as SupportDesk Pro to simple email-response. Considering what products and services your company provides, one or a combination of differing online support offerings could boost your customers' satisfaction and therefore your overall success.

Providing Technical Support is Good Business

Don't provide online technical support for your product? Then unless you have a good 24-hour help desk, a toll-free 800 number, and a slew of operators, then you're probably alienating current customers and intimidating future customers who like to know that help will available to them when something goes awry. You can provide simple IT support in the form of web forms for free on your web site, and simply allow employees to check message from time to time as they appear. Though not flashy, allowing even the most basic communication with customers such as this will help you keep current customers and bring in new customers who get to see “24-7 online support” on your company's front page.

Online Customer Support…for Your Staff

Providing your customers with good online support doesn't just mean posting an email form up on your website or even providing a live chat room in which customers can ask questions of your staff “in person.” One frequently overlooked cornerstone of online technical support is how you organize your support team behind your front lines. How are your IT support staff members communicating with each other? Are they logging information? Are they keeping tabs on which ticket items should be dealt with next? Customer support software such as Polar Help Desk or Remedy Customer Support can greatly streamline your help desk, improve your customers' experiences with your company, and even reduce your IT costs in the process. If you're not taking advantage of good customer support software behind the lines, then you're probably operating inefficiently.

Online IT for Free

Need technical support for your computer, don't have a spiffy extended warranty covering everything from the wires to the software, and can't afford the outrageous fees charge by professional IT support? Fortunately, with an internet connection there are many large communities offering free, online technical support. For instance, protonic.com has a staff of volunteers who will get to your question and try to help you out in a fairly timely fashion, and sometimes in the middle of the night!