Personnel in Technology

Personnel in Technology

In an ever increasing technology driven world, support and help desk personnel are essential to our daily operations. Notebook sales have soared in the last year. More computers means more support (Lasky, 2007). Whether support is conducted over the phone, via the web, or in person, agents are the true lifeline to the performance of a company. Without systems, work ceases. Building a highly effective technology support tea is the backbone of a smooth operation. With properly trained support staff, a company can feel confident they are in good hands when problems arise.

Personalities

Many misconceptions that all technological people are withdrawn, with no interpersonal skills have been passed around throughout the years. This is a myth. "Techno geeks" have moved from the back broom closet to the limelight in recent years. Hiring someone with a tremendous amount of technological knowledge but no people skills can cause problems when trying to staff a successful help or support desk. Qualities to also look for would include patience, assertiveness, thoroughness, enthusiasm, responsibility, technical knowledge, empathy, good communication skills, and the ability to work well under pressure (Regan & O'Connor, 2002, 249/2).

When an employee seeks the help of a help or support desk, he or she is already frustrated. Having someone with good interpersonal skills can make the difference in a good outcome or a "butting of the heads." On-going training can help keep the support group developing not only their technology skills, but their customer service skills as well. Without interpersonal skills, the incident would result in lost productivity and increased stress on both the help desk agent and the customer calling with the issue. It takes a certain personality to deal with some of the questions that arise and some possibly irate people. When technology fails, tempers do sometimes get aggravated and having a patient, empathetic help or support team member respond can calm a person down quickly.

Types of Service

When staffing a support group, first of all the type of support necessary needs to be analyzed. Several options can be explored to find the one best suited for the business the group is to support. The Call Center concept is where a high volume of calls are routed to the support group. The calls are answered by a live agent who will open a ticket and try to assist the caller with his or her technical issue. Hopefully, the issue will be resolved with the one phone call but there are instances where some research may have to be done and the help desk agent will have to call his caller back for resolution. Upon resolution, the ticket is closed. If this same problem arises again, the customer can refer to his or her ticket number so