"Scope of Support" is a phrase that every tech support phone rep should be familiar with. It's the guideline that determines what you're allowed to help a caller with. It helps avoid the liabilities of messing with third party products, and makes sure you don't set unrealistic expectations for the next agent. It also causes headaches for customers and support agents alike who know the simplicity of what they're asking for, but simply aren't allowed to get satisfaction.
After years of being told "We don't do x" or "We can't support y" a handful of brave companies are shrugging off these limiting shackles and providing help for their confused callers. The genius move? They're also charging a premium for this service, allowing you to recruit them as your own personal 'tech people' for any issue that you might need to look into. It's like roadside assistance for your technology.
Today I'm sharing a Q&A with Kayli Barth at @Sasktel. This DSL, TV and Phone provider has been around in Saskatchewan for as long as I can remember, and is just beginning to roll out a new subscription service called LiveExpert, where a small monthly fee of $5.95 gets you unlimited access to their tech support. A premium version at $14.95 also includes proactive monitoring and management through their provided software. (Sasktel LiveExpert)
1. Where did the idea for this expanded scope of support come from? How did it grow from an idea to its own product?
The idea for offering a service like SaskTel LiveExpert was derived from a multitude of SaskTel resources, industry trends and the support/customer experience environment. SaskTel receives a substantial number of calls per month that are considered to be out-of-scope, or in other words; questions/support issues pertaining to products and services that are not provided by SaskTel. The SaskTel HelpDesk would do their best to refer customers to online resources and/or manufacturer websites, but ultimately, their responsibility is to provide support for various SaskTel branded products and services.Customers then needed to seek out information, support or remediation for their non-SaskTel related issues, be it online or from a friend or from a PC repair shop.
With the launch of SaskTel LiveExpert we can improve the customer support experience by offering customers an affordable, 24/7 unlimited, technical support service for their PC and PC-related technologies that are considered to be out-of-scope.
2. Do you have dedicated staff for this? Any special training or extra procedures to consider when putting agents in an expanded support queue?
There are dedicated professional resources to provide support for SaskTel LiveExpert customers, powered by Global Mentoring Solutions Inc.
3. What happens if/when you get stumped? Do you have any special resources for your agents to fall back on?
There is a standard escalation process that is implemented should this happen. In the rare instance where the SaskTel LiveExpert technician is unable to resolve the issue initially, they have additional technicians, support-coordinators and seemingly endless knowledge-base tools at their disposal to resolve the issue.
4. Any interesting feedback or customer stories that you can share?
We actually only launched on November 9th, so customer feedback/stories will be forthcoming.
5. With the blurring lines between online services and the products that use them, what do you see in the future of tech support?
There will likely be a continued push for always on, always available customer support as more and more products continue to become I.P. based. The shift towards online chat functionality will continue to push towards the norm, as more and more people (particularly younger generations) have accepted and continue to accept online chat support as the norm. There will likely be an increase in product/service specific tech support, but also more all-encompassing, at your finger-tip type support from various providers.
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