This will be a bit short but I thought I had a need to post something on this. I have been working with our new tech support trying to smooth out the bumps, providing better tech support to our customers. Well I am finding a few things out along the way.
First, we are the first Wireless ISP this support company has ever had. Now that is really not a bad thing it just introduces a bit more complexity into the equation. We get to introduce new terminology to them so that they talk with intelligence to the customers. Another part to that is we had to decide to what level their tech support went to and when they then escalated to us. Now that is some fun. We were looking to provide good tech support and cut our cost. Cutting our cost came in the form of cutting a few employees and they were replaced by this service. You might say well how did that work out cost wise. Actually, it worked out well. With the old way, we provided tech support from 8 to 8 and voice mail after that. With the new way, we provide tech support 24/7 and by cutting a couple of people we covered the cost. Not too shabby.
Now the interesting part. I knew there were tech support issues in the past but I didn't realize how much of an issue it was. You might ask why. Well I was not directly involved in that part of the business but kept hearing we were having "network" issues. With this new system/company, I kinda became the head honcho in directing and establishing procedures etc. Low and behold it seems our old tech support/service call methods were not good. Items got dropped, lost in the reschedule, service calls not made and no one really knew and so on and so on. I am now finding that out, just how bad our keeping track of calls and our methods are in handling these things.
So not only do we deal with the new tech support company, we also get to review and change our procedures. One of the main issues is lack of records and accountability. Awfully hard to know what is done or not if no one enters their notes on these calls. So we end up with mud on our face because we appear, and actually can't, take care of business as we should.
Well, we will muddle through hopefully. I think some folks will have to change their attitude to make it.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
VOIP, SIP and the Droid
Some may know that I have Droid now. I was on AT&T and the phone that I had was having issues and so was the coverage/service. So after some research I decided to go the Verizon/Droid route even though I really wanted the Iphone. I will have to say that I am very happy with both the Droid and the service. Coverage seems to be much better in the areas of Texas that I frequent which just happens to include my home so I am not looking back.
So as work is allowing me a bit of time, I have started playing, ok testing is really what I meant, with apps on the Droid. One of these I am just starting to look at is sipdroid.
We use an Asterisk VOIP server for work and I have a softphone at my home office. So naturally I am "tethered" to the computer on phone calls when working in the office. I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have something "cordless" so I could walk around. Now there are SIP phones out there for purchase but I really didn't want another piece of hardware to purchase and have on my desk. So I looked at apps for my Droid, no rooting required, and came across sipdroid.
It was very easy to install on the phone via market. Since I am somewhat knowledgeable on void setup, I admin the asterisk server, it was no problem to set up the app to use our server. First test was to set the app to use wlan only and low and behold it worked great both dialing out and receiving calls. No Verizon minutes used that way since it was wlan. Now there are settings in it to use 3g network and I thought what happens if I want receive or send calls that way like I am out in the field. Low and behold, that works very well also. That is convenient since I can set the phone to do it, don't have to mess with follow me or other settings on the phone server and can send or receive calls either via cell or voip on the Droid as I choose.
Since I am just starting with this then there is more exploration/testing to do. But I have to say I am impressed initially with the way this is going. Along with that and me being the network sort of dude I am, I can see more and more use of our services in the future by our customers. Ok, some may say that is a bit over the hill for the rural user but I would say look where we were last year in use and look at us now. What a change!
I will try this a bit more and let y'all know how it goes.
tk
So as work is allowing me a bit of time, I have started playing, ok testing is really what I meant, with apps on the Droid. One of these I am just starting to look at is sipdroid.
We use an Asterisk VOIP server for work and I have a softphone at my home office. So naturally I am "tethered" to the computer on phone calls when working in the office. I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have something "cordless" so I could walk around. Now there are SIP phones out there for purchase but I really didn't want another piece of hardware to purchase and have on my desk. So I looked at apps for my Droid, no rooting required, and came across sipdroid.
It was very easy to install on the phone via market. Since I am somewhat knowledgeable on void setup, I admin the asterisk server, it was no problem to set up the app to use our server. First test was to set the app to use wlan only and low and behold it worked great both dialing out and receiving calls. No Verizon minutes used that way since it was wlan. Now there are settings in it to use 3g network and I thought what happens if I want receive or send calls that way like I am out in the field. Low and behold, that works very well also. That is convenient since I can set the phone to do it, don't have to mess with follow me or other settings on the phone server and can send or receive calls either via cell or voip on the Droid as I choose.
Since I am just starting with this then there is more exploration/testing to do. But I have to say I am impressed initially with the way this is going. Along with that and me being the network sort of dude I am, I can see more and more use of our services in the future by our customers. Ok, some may say that is a bit over the hill for the rural user but I would say look where we were last year in use and look at us now. What a change!
I will try this a bit more and let y'all know how it goes.
tk
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Outsourced tech support
One of the things my company has struggled with is providing tech support 24/7. Small company, small budget, really can't do it well hiring people to do that on demand. So we tried working it with live during the day and into the evening with voice mail "after hours". Well things get lost, people are not happy because there is no help on hand right then. So we did a bit more research into the outsourcing it.
We are now in our third week of live support with the company we decided on, and I have to say it is going well I think. The folks doing it for us put on a nice demo when we approached them and all I could think was why can't I get our folks to do their stuff like that. These guys are in New York, accent and all. There was some setup time, getting the troubleshooting trees put together and so on. And as you might imagine, there is tweaking going on now as we make adjustments in workflows and info. There have been some oops in the early stages here but all in all, it has been good. I have to say these guys have been good to work with and are putting the effort into it. To be blunt about it, I have seen more effort, progress and documentation (history) from these guys than I every have from our own folks. And some of our folks is another story. Some are not very happy at all with the way it is going. Not because it is bad but because it is happening.
We have weekly meetings right now to go over items and I email them issues in the interim to either fix because it needs to be done quickly or so they can have it for the meeting. There is no blame from either side on items. Its just lets get this ironed out, what can we do to make it better. So I have to say, even though it has been some work and still is for a bit, it is turning out to be a good thing working with the folks at Fused Solutions.
So, while I am initially impressed with them I have to do the smart thing a reserve judgement for a bit to see if we continue this way or is it one of those "lets get um hooked" deals.
tk
We are now in our third week of live support with the company we decided on, and I have to say it is going well I think. The folks doing it for us put on a nice demo when we approached them and all I could think was why can't I get our folks to do their stuff like that. These guys are in New York, accent and all. There was some setup time, getting the troubleshooting trees put together and so on. And as you might imagine, there is tweaking going on now as we make adjustments in workflows and info. There have been some oops in the early stages here but all in all, it has been good. I have to say these guys have been good to work with and are putting the effort into it. To be blunt about it, I have seen more effort, progress and documentation (history) from these guys than I every have from our own folks. And some of our folks is another story. Some are not very happy at all with the way it is going. Not because it is bad but because it is happening.
We have weekly meetings right now to go over items and I email them issues in the interim to either fix because it needs to be done quickly or so they can have it for the meeting. There is no blame from either side on items. Its just lets get this ironed out, what can we do to make it better. So I have to say, even though it has been some work and still is for a bit, it is turning out to be a good thing working with the folks at Fused Solutions.
So, while I am initially impressed with them I have to do the smart thing a reserve judgement for a bit to see if we continue this way or is it one of those "lets get um hooked" deals.
tk
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