It’s no secret that IT problems can negatively impact a company’s productivity. To the point of affecting customer satisfaction, employee performance, and service quality.
A study made by A&OA revealed that four out of ten companies claim to have suffered losses due to the lack of IT support. These companies also commented that their service providers did not offer suggestions for improving the system, which led to a poor performance.
To understand better the importance of this type of technical assistance, in this article we will analyze the elements of an IT support and the consequences of having a poor service.
How does having IT problems affect my business?
IT problems can cause serious repercussions on business processes, including lost customers, decreased sales, and low productivity. Next, we will show you the most serious consequences:
Unavailability of a service
When a computer failure occurs, if the incident is not solved quickly, it can lead to serious problems that not only affect the team involved. But also the customers and other employees who depend on the operations of that personnel.
If we extend the problem to more than one person in an organization. We realize that the number of employees affected and the severity of the problem increase exponentially.
For example, if a call center unexpectedly disconnects the local area network (LAN), customer service representatives may not be able to access the information stored in a database.
As a result, many customers will not get answers to their questions and their requests cannot be processed. The longer the problem persists, the greater the difficulties this team will have to face.
Solution:
If your IT team faces such a failure, we recommend solving it with a methodical approach to identify the cause of the incident and effectively manage the problem lifecycle. You achieve this by completing the following stages:
Identification of the problem: It consists of identifying the tendencies of the incident and detecting the risks that it may be repeated. Then you must record the information in a management system.
Classification of the problem: The next step is to classify and compare the fault with other known errors. If the IT problems persist for a long time. We recommend you implement a quick workaround, so you can significantly reduce the interruption of services.
Error control: In this phase, you must consult the database of known errors, to find a permanent solution to the problem. We also recommend that you periodically evaluate these errors to find out the impact they have on your company. And check the effectiveness of the solutions implemented.
Increase of dissatisfied customers
It’s not hard to imagine what the consequences would be if a customer can’t use a product or service for some time. Regardless of the nature of the failure, all technology-related incidents, which require IT support, can leave a negative impression on them.
When this happens, customers will tell other people about their bad experiences. Just by posting a couple of tweets or Instagram posts, you can unleash a nightmare on your business’ social media.
Remember that you don’t want to be associated with poor customer service. Especially at this time when competition in this area is extremely high.
Solution:
Transforming a dissatisfied customer into a fan of your company is not an impossible mission. To change their opinion, you can implement new communication channels, speed up the submission of requests or train your team to handle requests efficiently.
Another technique that you can use is to carry out campaigns to improve the image of your business. Here are some examples:
- Conduct case studies with loyal customers.
- Send marketing campaigns via email or SMS.
- Contact your customers after making a sale to find out their level of satisfaction.
Low employee productivity
Companies should keep in mind that IT support includes both employees and customers. If you have an IT department in your business, that team is responsible for the performance of the hardware and software that facilitate your company’s operations.
When a failure occurs, if you don’t solve it quickly, it can leave your employees stressed and unproductive. This scenario is when the importance of IT support in organizations comes into play.
The objective of these teams is to solve IT problems as soon as possible. That way, employees can resume their tasks in no time.
When this goal is not met, technological issues can affect not only the productivity of your employees. But also the efficiency of sales and transactions with customers.
Solution:
To mitigate the impact caused by a computer failure, the IT department must always be willing to listen to users when they contact them to report an incident.
You can start the conversation by apologizing. With this, you will make the user understand that you recognize the situation. And that you value the relationship they have with your business. We encourage you to be humble and apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused.
While you’re fixing the bug, you should also keep the user informed of your progress. And if possible, let them know how long it will take to apply a permanent fix.
Information security breaches
Something that worries companies a lot and keeps them on constant alert, is the threat of an attack on their information security. When the risk of a cyberattack increases, you will surely want to put as many security measures as possible. And the IT department is responsible for carrying out this task.
If a company has IT problems, it has a higher risk of having security breaches. That occurs due to having outdated technology and the lack of performing maintenance tasks.
By having optimal technical service, improvement plans can be created to mitigate security risks. These strategies include installing updates, email security, two-factor authentication access’, among others.
Solution:
If your company suffers a breach in information security, you must manage it in the following way:
Record the fault detected: Investigate to determine the place, day, and time when the incident occurred.
Know the scope of the breach: You must evaluate the magnitude of the failure, to know the systems, data, and equipment that have been affected.
Report the incident to the authorities: If the breach affects or could pose a risk to users, you must notify the authorities within a maximum period of 72 hours.
Notify affected people: You must inform users that an incident has occurred that puts their safety at risk, so they can protect themselves and take the necessary measures.
Inform when a solution is adopted: Let users know the measures you took to stop the attack and the changes you will implement, to protect the areas that were not compromised during the incident.
Keep reading! With this tool, you can avoid these IT problems
When evaluating the importance of technical support for customers and your employees, we recommend you invest in a help desk software, which allows you to meet user requirements efficiently and raise the quality of IT support.
With this technological solution, you can automatically manage IT problems through tickets and maintain constant communication with users. This way you can offer them a timely response to all their requests.
Help desks allow IT agents to have more context when solving an incident. This is a very valuable feature, since it will help them better understand the requirements and offer a quick solution.
Freshdesk will help you solve all your IT problems!
Among the systems that have these features, Freshdesk is the favorite platform for IT teams, as it has features that make it easier to manage tasks and improve the user experience.
Freshdesk has tools that will help you prevent incidents and facilitate maintenance tasks. So your IT infrastructure will remain up-to-date and without issues.
With this help desk, you can also create a knowledge base where users can consult technical information to clarify their doubts and manage requests.
Do you want to implement this technological tool in your business? Contact us!
At GB Advisors, we have a group of experts, ready to help you find all the solutions your company needs.
