Saturday, April 29, 2006

10 user complaints about IT support

Source:Tech Republic
Apr 25 12:21 PM

Being a support pro can entail a fairly high level of aggravation, some (maybe a lot) of which can be laid at the doorstep of the very customer you serve: the end user. But IT pro Becky Roberts advocates taking a step back occasionally and considering the situation from the user's perspective.

The issue of complaints and their resolution is a perennially hot topic in the virtual world of TechRepublic, with views expressed about the peeves of an IT manager and a support tech and complaints about CIOs. But nowhere in all these discussions have the most important people in our universe--our users--been given a voice.

In an attempt to redress this imbalance and put our own complaints in perspective, I took the liberty of asking my users to provide me with their complaints about us, the IT professionals. So here, in no particular order, are my users' grievances, together with a few thoughts about how they might be addressed and/or how they could have been avoided.

#1: Applications and hardware that don't work
#2: Inconsistency of WiFi configurations
#3: Slow computer/network
#4: Frequently required password changes
#5: Not being administrators of their machines
#6: Spam filtering
#7: Restricted Web access
#8: Not being allowed to use company computers for personal use
#9: Unresponsiveness of the IT department
#10: Arrogance of the IT department

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I could think of a few more I have heard.

Anonymous said...

Technical support responsiveness, item number 9 I believe has improved tremendously. With so many options for computer remote control over the web being available in recent years, support comes faster than ever. There are free services and even service for remote support software that permit access and remote control of computers through the web. Remote support software such as software provided by 4RemoteSupport allow remote computer desktop control through the web online. 4RemoteSupport remote support software is full desktop screen-sharing over the web. Information technology support departments and managed services organizations can access remote desktops through the web online without having to have a VPN, SSL clients or configure firewalls. The connection to desktop through the Internet or on the local area network permits tech-support to access and fix problems so fast. We use remote control software through the web to provide support to our users and clients daily. We have a help-desk ticketing system and our users are astonished at how fast we get to their tickets. Most often if is minutes from the time they requested and submitted a technical support ticket to the time we contact them back to resolve the problem they are having.

gtech said...

We have a managed services division of our hardware and software development group and we provide computer remote control assistance through the internet. With web based desktop support software we can access our clients computer desktops in minutes and resolve any outstanding or new issues. We are also able to train users on new features with desktop sharing remote desktop control through the web.

gtech said...

We have a managed services division of our hardware and software development group and we provide computer remote control assistance through the internet. With web based desktop support software we can access our clients computer desktops in minutes and resolve any outstanding or new issues. We are also able to train users on new features with desktop sharing remote desktop control through the web.

Anonymous said...

Technical support responsiveness, item number 9 I believe has improved tremendously. With so many options for computer remote control over the web being available in recent years, support comes faster than ever. There are free services and even service for remote support software that permit access and remote control of computers through the web. Remote support software such as software provided by 4RemoteSupport allow remote computer desktop control through the web online. 4RemoteSupport remote support software is full desktop screen-sharing over the web. Information technology support departments and managed services organizations can access remote desktops through the web online without having to have a VPN, SSL clients or configure firewalls. The connection to desktop through the Internet or on the local area network permits tech-support to access and fix problems so fast. We use remote control software through the web to provide support to our users and clients daily. We have a help-desk ticketing system and our users are astonished at how fast we get to their tickets. Most often if is minutes from the time they requested and submitted a technical support ticket to the time we contact them back to resolve the problem they are having.