Getting the most out of your tech support requests
by Nicholas Karonji of Paper Tiger Tech Support Team
The other day as I was walked through the store to buy some milk and eggs for my Sunday brunch, I couldn’t help but notice the young mother trying to calm the persistent cries of her little boy. She repeatedly kept trying to find out what was going on, asking the boy, “What is wrong, tell mama why you are crying?” and all the boy kept saying is “it hurts”.
In a way, this reminded me of my role as a tech support specialist. Everyday we receive technical support requests from customers, which range from simple statements or questions to elaborate error messages that are preventing the user from using Paper Tiger. Our ability to solve customer requests rests in our comprehension of the support ticket. Just like that mother in the store, it is our job to find out what’s going on before we can figure out how to remedy the situation in a timely manner.
The down side to figuring out what is going on, is the time it takes to gather all the appropriate information necessary for us to understand the user’s problem. It is humbling and quite frankly, very enjoyable to serve our customers, but we must know as much as possible about what is going on, if we are to be of any help.
Experience has taught us that well articulated requests, which contain all necessary information pertaining to the problem, take less time to figure out.
1. Search the knowledge base and support site for your answer
8 times out of 10, the answer you are looking for has already been answered and posted in a knowledge base, blog or website. This will point you directly to your answer, and reduce the time between problem and results, without any wait for response time from our tech support team.
2. Let Tech Support know what product you are using (The more specific the better)
For desktop software, if you go to the Help or Preferences Menu and click “About” you can find information about the software product. In the case of Paper Tiger desktop version, let us know what build and edition you have, ex: “Paper Tiger Network Build 4.1.28.” In our new support portal, you will be able to choose the drop down box to select the build and edition you have.
3. Let Tech support know what exactly is wrong (Be detailed in describing the problem)
This can help tech support get the issue resolved in one response without having to write back and forth to figure out what is going on. Below are some classic requests that are impossible to figure out without actually asking like the mother in the store “What is wrong, how can we help you?”
4. Let Tech support know what if you did anything prior to the problem
More often than not problems arise as a result of changes made either by users or by other system and other applications. If you recently installed something, changed the configuration, or dropped your machine, include this information. It is useful in determining how best to solve your problem.
5. Let tech support know what you are seeing
If you can take screen shots of what you are seeing and information on any other errors, please include them. If we can see the same thing you are seeing we can get a better feel on what the problem may be.
Using our new Tech Support Portal will help you get the most out of your tech support requests.
Thank you for using Paper Tiger Filing System Software and Document Management!
Tags: tech support portal
