Sunday, September 21, 2008

Where to go for "Help"?!

I am pretty confident that when people are evaluating new software solutions, both big and small, we would all agree that good technical support is very important. Depending on the size or complexity of the application, it is much more important than others. But it also has to do with the individual person. Each person has a different competency and has a certain level of tolerance to figure things out on their own. But probably most importantly, each person prefers to find their help in different ways.

Experience has shown that todays senior engineers are used to the either RTFM (read the fing manual) routine or dialing up their favorite support person and having a chat. Today's new engineers rely a bit more on the instant gratification modell and will surf forums, community sites etc. Neither is right or wrong, just a matter of preference. But I believe that a software community model is a win-win for all.

My definition of a community is a place where I can search the Knowledge Base, access the Help system, read and participate in Forums, view Blogs written on the topic, submit a support question, track my support question and access the support phone number if necessary. Notice that I place the phone option as a last resource. Partially, its a matter of preference and historically bad experiences. But, most importantly, if we as "users" are given the information at our fingertips, it will free up the time of the support team to address those that indeed need a quick chat on the phone.

Dell, for example, has a 800 number to call and you are routed all over the world. I dont care if I am routed to Mars as long as I get an answer to my question. But, they also have the "chat" option. I love this. I can do other things as I am waiting in the queue as well as have a quick live chat in short blasts that almost always gets an answer to my question. Dell, provides a Knowledge Base etc, but it is on the extreme side - way too much info. It would take me forever going through their KB, to realize that my battery is fried and needs to be replaced.

My beloved, Skype, has a great Forum section. They have power users around the world that usually chime in with some tips. But (sorry Skype), their actual support system is really bad. The response time is horrendously slow -- they claim 72 hour response (yikes), but takes more like 4-5 days +. HOWEVER, what skype has that I love is when I submit a question, I pick a category and I am presented with 3 possible solutions prior to submitting. They are obviously trying to enforce the self sufficient model. Again, fine with me as long as it answers my question.

I have posted before, that I am a huge fan of videos. I'd rather do a quick search and be presented with Solutions and a Video that explains the solution. Show me and let me figure it out.

Check out my scientific :) poll here at the top of the page. Interesting that email received the least amount of votes. Why is that? My exhaustive analysis of the statistics reveals that email is not instantaneous enough. If I email support, it goes into a queue just like everyone else. I then receive the typical first email that may or may not answer my question. If if does, great, if it doesn't I am back in the queue. The support person will then have a difficult time tracking our conversation and it goes into an oblivion of misunderstandings.

Point of the rant here is, people are different. They should be given options. It is ok to guide them along the process of being self-sufficent, just make sure you are answering their questions.

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