It may seem that with the Internet of Things (IoT), everything is smart. Smart televisions, smartphones, smart refrigerators – you name it – appliances and equipment of all sorts are “smart.” So, with all of this smartness going around, who answers your questions about the Internet of Things devices, apps and software?
IoT companies start to answer these questions with in-house engineers who are subject matter experts (SMEs). The problem is the engineers become overwhelmed with the volume of calls coming in and never have time to do their real work, like implementing your new ERP system or making strategic, long-term plans.
Once this point is reached, growing IoT companies look to help desk support from high-level technical companies like Protocol Networks. Protocol Networks takes over the more routine calls, returning your IT team members to their real desks to move your organization through its growth, new product launch, or next big contract.
Internet of Things Needs a Help Desk Too
Whether your company is pushed over the limit by good news – finally rolling out a new product or landing a big contract – or just by the sheer number of calls overwhelming your call center personnel, it’s time to call in a devoted entity to be your help desk call center. Productivity suffers and key initiatives stall when your vital personnel are busy fielding rudimentary calls about your smart products.
3 Help Desk Issues Protocol Networks Solves
We call this The Big 3: the main help desk issues are staffing, toolsets, and the ability to provide data that’s useful.
Staffing
Think about staffing a call center – 24/7/365, finding subject matter experts – at times 10-15 people. The bottom line is that you want help desk staffing to be somebody else’s problem. It’s only a matter of acknowledging that the help desk has become larger than you want to handle.
Many problems can be solved remotely by the members of our support staff who answer the phone. If that person can’t help, they’ll quickly triage the situation and escalate it to a senior engineer. This reduces the amount of downtime your senior engineers suffer due to the help desk.
Toolsets
Once you scale out of a 1–3 person call center operation, toolsets are crucial to gaining help desk success. Our help desk toolset staples include:
- Scaling your phone system
- Staffing expertise in recruiting, training and retaining subject matter experts
- Voice actors integrated with brand image
We serve as an extension of your help desk – especially if you have proprietary software and products. We field calls and work through remediations – you tell us at what point we need to bring in your product subject matter experts. You leverage our existing support infrastructure while providing high-level support to your clients.
Useful Data
From the beginning, we collect recordings of calls so you can make an educated choice on staffing and servicing your clients. With this recorded data, we’re able to identify where there are potential problems with your products or services. Based on this client base information, you’ll know how pleased your client base is.
The body of knowledge that is developed from these recorded calls also helps identify areas for training for our help desk team members. Thus, keeping your help desk’s knowledge base current and up to the highest standards so you don’t have to worry about level 1 calls. Your team of experts can focus on their work at hand instead of answering the phone!
White-Glove Support for IoT Companies
Together, we come up with a plan to support you for calls to be a seamless pass-through from you to us. Our white-glove support cuts down on the number of times calls need to be escalated to your tier 2 experts.
In help desk situations, 80% of your calls are about 20% of your callers’ problems; therefore, our help desk team becomes even more proficient regarding your callers specifically. This reduces the amount of time your engineers are spending on the phone.
Protocol Networks’ on-shore New England call centers give you and your employees your lives back to focus on your strategic business goals instead of what the next caller needs.
