Double Coverage: Using A Live Answer Service In Conjunction With A Technical Support Call Center

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Using a live answer service for your technical support call center sounds like it would be a rather obvious solution. The two are, however, very different areas. While technical support call centers handle calls, questions, and help lines, they may on occasion become so busy (especially on the unveiling of a new product or service) that they can’t keep up with the high volume of calls coming in. Using a live answer service in conjunction with a technical support call center, especially during those times when call volume is expected to be higher than normal, can be a great asset. Technical support call centers often have several areas, or tiers, for varying degrees of inquiry. Some customers may call with general questions, and need a quick, concise answer to be on their way, and others may have much more complex issues that require an agent’s full dedication for several minutes… even longer. A live answer service can be used in the foreground, as a triage of sorts, for a technical support call center. The service can answer incoming calls, gain an overall feel of the problem, and then use their best judgment to ...
... dispose of the call properly by directing it to the appropriate area. If, for instance, a customer calls with some minor, general questions (the kind of things that would be located on FAQ sheets), they can be forwarded to that particular area, however it’s labeled. If, though, a customer calls with an intricate problem, a live answer service can direct them immediately to the right tier to have their concerns addressed quickly, and without the frustration of being bounced around from queue to queue while an ever growing ire forms.

The current standard for technical support call centers is to have a machine or menu automatically answer the call, play some hold music or advertisements, and every few minutes, inform the person calling that their call will be answered in the order it was received. That’s all well and good, and to be honest, it’s fair; however, if those calls were picked up by a secondary live answer service handling overflow, they could be streamlined and sorted in such a way that wait times would be drastically minimized, and the agent at the technical support call center could spend less time calming down irate patrons, (remember, they’re calling in the first place because there’s already a problem), and more time sorting out the issue at hand. This alone would maximize efficiency, and enable your technical support call center to do what they do best: help customers get the most out of your products and services.

Kris Leeds is a freelance writer for Anser.com, a leading live answer service provider. For more information on technical support call centers, please visit Anser.com.