Nelson Burrell (@Nelson_Burrell) has shared a Tweet with you: "TechCrunch: And Here It Is: The New Google Reader Revealed http://t.co/bmRZv9lD by @sarahintampa" --http://twitter.com/TechCrunch/status/131117974072459265
TechNology
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Tech crunch Beijing hackathon
Nelson Burrell (@Nelson_Burrell)
has shared a Tweet with you: "TechCrunch: We Came, We Saw, We Hacked #TCDisruptBJ http://t.co/AwOFf8CU by @alexia" --http://twitter.com/TechCrunch/status/130586390751752192
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Chapter 3 Working with People in a Technical World
A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC,
• Learn about some job roles and responsibilities of those who sell, fix or support personal computers
• Learn what customers want and expect beyond your technical abilities
• Learn how to interact with customers when selling, servicing, and supporting personal computers.
Job Roles and Responsibilities
• PC support technician
- Work on-site and closely interacts with users
- Responsible for ongoing PC maintenance
• PC service technician
- Pays service calls to customers
• Technical retail associate
- Responsible for selling computers
• Bench technician
- Works in a lab environment
• Help-desk technician
- Provides telephone or online support
Certifications and Professional Organizations
• Benefits of certification and advanced degrees
- Proof of competence and achievement
- Enhanced job opportunities
- A higher level of customer confidence
- Qualification for other training or degrees
• A+ Certification
- Pass the A+ 220-701 exam
- Covers hardware, operating systems, security, soft skills
- Validates entry-level skills
- Pass the A+ 220-7-2 Exam
• A+ Certification industry recognition
• Other vendor specific certification programs
- Microsoft, Novell, Cisco product certifications
• Ongoing education
- Requires staying ahead of new technology
Record-Keeping and Information Tools
• Working for a service organization
- Tools for the job provided
- Printed forms, online record keeping, procedures, manuals
• Software provided
- Programs supporting remote control of customers’ PCs
- Control-F1 by Blueloop: http://www.blueloop.net/
- Windows XP/Vista Remote Assistance
• Other resources, records, information tools
- Specific software or hardware supported
- Copy of user documentation
- More technical software or hardware documentation
- Online help targeted to field/help-desk technicians
- Expert systems to analyze and solve problems
- Call tracking systems (electronic or paper-based)
- * Ticket entered into the call-tracking system
- * Ticket stays open until issue resolved
What customers want: Beyond Technical Know-How
• Two types of customers
- Internal: an associate within the company
- External: an individual outside the company
• Traits of an exemplary PC technician
- Positive and helpful attitude
- Listening without interrupting your customer
- Proper and polite language
- Sensitivity to cultural & Handicap differences
- Taking ownership of the problem
- Dependability
- Credibility
- Integrity and honesty
- Know the law with respect to your work
- Looking and behaving professionally
Planning For Good Service
• Customers want good service
• Servicing customers on the phone, online, on site, or in a shop
- Requires good plan from the beginning to end
Initial Contact with a Customer
• Scenarios
- Retail setting
- Travel to the customer’s site
- Customer call on the phone
- Customer reaches technician via chat or e-mail
• Always follow employer specific guidelines
• General guidelines to begin a phone call professionally
- Identify yourself and your organization
- Ask for and write down the name and phone number of the caller
- Follow company policies to obtain other specific information
- Be familiar with company customer service policies
- Open up the conversation for the caller to describe the problem
Interview the Customer
• Troubleshooting
- Begin by interviewing the user
- * Ask questions, Take notes, and keep asking questions until problem thoroughly understood
- Have customer reproduce problem
- * Carefully note each step taken and the results
• Questions to determine problem and its root cause
- Can you please describe the problem?
- When did the problem start?
- What was the situation when the problem occurred?
Set and Meet Customer Expectations
• Creates expectation of certainty with customers
- Do not leave them hanging
- They should know what will happen next
• Setting expectations
- Establish timeline with your customer for project completion
- Provide customer opportunity to make decisions
Working with a Customer on Site
• Avoiding distractions
- No personal cell phone calls
- Keep work calls to a minimum
- Be unobtrusive
- Consider yourself a guest
- Protect customer’s confidential materials
• Follow general guidelines when working at user’s desk
• Technician may consider themselves a support to the user
Working with a Customer on the Phone
• Phone Support
- Requires more interaction with customers than any other PC support type
• Phone support skills
- Visualize what customer sees at the PC
- Excellent communication skills, good phone manners, patience
- Drawing diagrams, taking notes when speaking with the user
• Practice good phone manners
Dealing with Difficult Customers
• Tips for when customer is not knowledgeable
- Be specific with instructions
- Do not ask customer to do something that might destroy settings or files without backup
- Frequently ask the customer what is displayed
- Follow along at your own PC
- Give customer opportunity to ask questions
- Compliment customer
- * To help build customer confidence
- If customer cannot help
- * Tactfully request for user with more experience
• Tips for when customer is overly confident
- Compliment the customer’s knowledge, experience, insight when possible
- Slow the conversation down
- Do not back off from using problem-solving skills
- Be careful not to accuse customer of making a mistake
- Stick to policy of not using jagon (Technical Slang)
- * Unless certain user understands
• Suggestions for when customer complains
- Be an active listener
- * Let customers know they are not being ignored
- Give customer time to vent
- * Apologize when possible
- Do not be defensive
- Know how to handle verbal abuse
- Let customer complain about another company’s product
- If the complaint against you or your product
- * Identify and report underlying problem
The Customer Decides When the Work Is Done
• Remote support
- Customer ends call or chat session
• On-site work
- Technician performs several steps
- * Reboot system if necessary
- * Verify equipment working
- * restore backed up Data
- * Review service call with customer
- * Explain preventive maintenance
Sometimes you must escalate a problem
• Escalate problem only after all options have been exhausted
• Know your company’s policy on how to escalate the problem
Working with Coworkers
• Learn not to be offended
• Practice good organizational skills
• Know your limitations
- Be willing to admit when you cannot do something
• Learn how to handle conflict at work
• Learn about some job roles and responsibilities of those who sell, fix or support personal computers
• Learn what customers want and expect beyond your technical abilities
• Learn how to interact with customers when selling, servicing, and supporting personal computers.
Job Roles and Responsibilities
• PC support technician
- Work on-site and closely interacts with users
- Responsible for ongoing PC maintenance
• PC service technician
- Pays service calls to customers
• Technical retail associate
- Responsible for selling computers
• Bench technician
- Works in a lab environment
• Help-desk technician
- Provides telephone or online support
Certifications and Professional Organizations
• Benefits of certification and advanced degrees
- Proof of competence and achievement
- Enhanced job opportunities
- A higher level of customer confidence
- Qualification for other training or degrees
• A+ Certification
- Pass the A+ 220-701 exam
- Covers hardware, operating systems, security, soft skills
- Validates entry-level skills
- Pass the A+ 220-7-2 Exam
• A+ Certification industry recognition
• Other vendor specific certification programs
- Microsoft, Novell, Cisco product certifications
• Ongoing education
- Requires staying ahead of new technology
Record-Keeping and Information Tools
• Working for a service organization
- Tools for the job provided
- Printed forms, online record keeping, procedures, manuals
• Software provided
- Programs supporting remote control of customers’ PCs
- Control-F1 by Blueloop: http://www.blueloop.net/
- Windows XP/Vista Remote Assistance
• Other resources, records, information tools
- Specific software or hardware supported
- Copy of user documentation
- More technical software or hardware documentation
- Online help targeted to field/help-desk technicians
- Expert systems to analyze and solve problems
- Call tracking systems (electronic or paper-based)
- * Ticket entered into the call-tracking system
- * Ticket stays open until issue resolved
What customers want: Beyond Technical Know-How
• Two types of customers
- Internal: an associate within the company
- External: an individual outside the company
• Traits of an exemplary PC technician
- Positive and helpful attitude
- Listening without interrupting your customer
- Proper and polite language
- Sensitivity to cultural & Handicap differences
- Taking ownership of the problem
- Dependability
- Credibility
- Integrity and honesty
- Know the law with respect to your work
- Looking and behaving professionally
Planning For Good Service
• Customers want good service
• Servicing customers on the phone, online, on site, or in a shop
- Requires good plan from the beginning to end
Initial Contact with a Customer
• Scenarios
- Retail setting
- Travel to the customer’s site
- Customer call on the phone
- Customer reaches technician via chat or e-mail
• Always follow employer specific guidelines
• General guidelines to begin a phone call professionally
- Identify yourself and your organization
- Ask for and write down the name and phone number of the caller
- Follow company policies to obtain other specific information
- Be familiar with company customer service policies
- Open up the conversation for the caller to describe the problem
Interview the Customer
• Troubleshooting
- Begin by interviewing the user
- * Ask questions, Take notes, and keep asking questions until problem thoroughly understood
- Have customer reproduce problem
- * Carefully note each step taken and the results
• Questions to determine problem and its root cause
- Can you please describe the problem?
- When did the problem start?
- What was the situation when the problem occurred?
Set and Meet Customer Expectations
• Creates expectation of certainty with customers
- Do not leave them hanging
- They should know what will happen next
• Setting expectations
- Establish timeline with your customer for project completion
- Provide customer opportunity to make decisions
Working with a Customer on Site
• Avoiding distractions
- No personal cell phone calls
- Keep work calls to a minimum
- Be unobtrusive
- Consider yourself a guest
- Protect customer’s confidential materials
• Follow general guidelines when working at user’s desk
• Technician may consider themselves a support to the user
Working with a Customer on the Phone
• Phone Support
- Requires more interaction with customers than any other PC support type
• Phone support skills
- Visualize what customer sees at the PC
- Excellent communication skills, good phone manners, patience
- Drawing diagrams, taking notes when speaking with the user
• Practice good phone manners
Dealing with Difficult Customers
• Tips for when customer is not knowledgeable
- Be specific with instructions
- Do not ask customer to do something that might destroy settings or files without backup
- Frequently ask the customer what is displayed
- Follow along at your own PC
- Give customer opportunity to ask questions
- Compliment customer
- * To help build customer confidence
- If customer cannot help
- * Tactfully request for user with more experience
• Tips for when customer is overly confident
- Compliment the customer’s knowledge, experience, insight when possible
- Slow the conversation down
- Do not back off from using problem-solving skills
- Be careful not to accuse customer of making a mistake
- Stick to policy of not using jagon (Technical Slang)
- * Unless certain user understands
• Suggestions for when customer complains
- Be an active listener
- * Let customers know they are not being ignored
- Give customer time to vent
- * Apologize when possible
- Do not be defensive
- Know how to handle verbal abuse
- Let customer complain about another company’s product
- If the complaint against you or your product
- * Identify and report underlying problem
The Customer Decides When the Work Is Done
• Remote support
- Customer ends call or chat session
• On-site work
- Technician performs several steps
- * Reboot system if necessary
- * Verify equipment working
- * restore backed up Data
- * Review service call with customer
- * Explain preventive maintenance
Sometimes you must escalate a problem
• Escalate problem only after all options have been exhausted
• Know your company’s policy on how to escalate the problem
Working with Coworkers
• Learn not to be offended
• Practice good organizational skills
• Know your limitations
- Be willing to admit when you cannot do something
• Learn how to handle conflict at work
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