Immediate, competent support – that’s an important expectation customers have of companies. Customer service not only shapes public perception but is also an important factor for revenue. In other words: even with excellent products and services, outstanding service and support are indispensable.
In this article, you’ll learn what specific steps you can take to have a productive service team and happy customers. You can do this with a balanced mix of proven methods, useful software features, and clear, practical tips.
Intelligent Request Management
Handling inquiries skillfully lies at the heart of the criteria for a well-positioned customer service team. Inquiries must be centrally recorded and traceable – with clear responsibilities, centralized communication, and ideally, service level agreements.
In a few words: intelligent request management exists when agents have immediate access to all the important information and the right tools to handle customer concerns competently and quickly.
On the one hand, this requires an excellent internal structure and organization, achieved for example through comprehensive onboarding and training of employees, but also through clear analysis of needs and performance outcomes. On the other hand, it requires dedicated software support.
These tools help support employees handle inquiries more effectively:
- A central knowledge base allows relevant information to be quickly accessed.
- A ticketing system must provide an detailed overview of communication histories.
Tip: Context is the most important tool in support. Valuable references include ticket histories and customer data that are centrally captured in software. Equipped with such information, inquiries can be handled quickly and efficiently, which has a positive correlation on customer satisfaction.
Making Smart Use of Self-Service
Self-service portals are firmly established in modern interactions between companies and customers. Where employees once had to be involved even in simple processes, customers now handle these steps themselves in many cases. This applies not only to bookings or managing their own data but also to guides and simple problem-solving. If that doesn’t work, employees are still available as points of contact.
With functional self-service, support now has more time and can focus on complex problem-solving. This means less tedious, time-consuming work on the same recurring cases and more meaningful work, which increases motivation. This creates a double positive effect: employees can use their time more productively and profitably while also being more motivated which further increases productivity.
Tip: It’s worth investing a lot of time proactively in a self-service portal. In the end, the benefit of helpful guides and knowledge bases is so great that both companies and users benefit from it in the long term. For example, employees can write “guides for guides” resources that enable them to share their knowledge easily and effectively.
Process and Workflow Management
Efficient work requires the right processes and workflows. In other words: even if support makes great efforts, it must be done the right way with functional structure and order.
Accordingly, a well-thought-out process and workflow management are required so that agents achieve measurable results. The path usually involves process optimization and automation, once processes are mature.
Optimizing Processes
Borrowed from Japanese culture, the principle of continuous improvement has become firmly established, especially in IT Service Management (ITSM). New processes have the potential to improve efficiency and effectiveness but are often characterized by low maturity. Instead of constantly introducing new processes, it’s better to continuously improve existing ones, even to the point of perfection.
A perfect support process might look like this: tasks, including escalations, are clearly defined and properly assigned, and all potentially useful resources are available. With such a process, employees can act with maximum productivity and fully develop their potential, while customers enjoy a positive service experience and satisfactory problem resolution.
Tip: Don’t overdo process optimization. Often, “semi-good” processes are already enough to support employees to work productively. Instead of endlessly optimizing already mature processes, focus on identifying which current processes have weaknesses and fix them step by step.
Managing Workflows Professionally
A workflow is a sequence of work steps. In customer service, this might mean that a specific problem requires a series of steps to solve. Workflow management organizes and structures these steps systematically so that processes lead to expected results faster and with fewer errors.
In support, such workflows are especially needed for complex issues where one step – often depending on the result of the previous one – leads to the next. A good workflow shows agents exactly how to handle a specific issue – for example, a local system outage – to resolve it as quickly as possible.
Tip: Does the term “workflow management” sound complicated? Thinking of it as setting up a logical sequence of work steps sounds simpler. Don’t be intimidated by seemingly difficult tasks – software providers typically offer excellent consulting support.
Introducing Meaningful Automations
It’s entirely possible and reasonable to automate some steps in customer support. For example, software can automatically assign tickets correctly, provide standard responses, or generate solution suggestions. Partial workflow automation is also feasible.
In support, automations are typically most effective for standard responses and recurring tasks, saving a lot of time without risking errors or inconsistencies.
Tip: As mentioned earlier in this article, processes should be optimized before they’re automated; otherwise, errors or suboptimal workflows will just be repeated. To evaluate where your organization stands, an ITSM maturity assessment can be useful.
AI Integration
Where automation exists, artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t far away. And indeed, AI can help support teams in many ways. However, it should be used consciously and with clear goals in mind. For example, instead of deploying it broadly right away, it’s better to use it strategically for specific, value-oriented processes.
When implemented correctly, AI in customer service can ease the workload for employees and enable efficient operations – for example, by detecting issues early and potentially preventing escalations. AI can also allow for personalized customer engagement, such as through data analysis or individualized reminders.
Tip: To be successful with AI integration in support, take an incremental (iterative) approach. This way, support gradually gains experience and customers slowly become accustomed to AI functionalities. Organizations can take a flexible approach, beginning with individual AI services.
The Factor of a Productive Working Atmosphere
Many factors that are highly beneficial for professional ITSM or Enterprise Service Management (ESM) have already been discussed. These are extremely valuable, but they can only unfold their full potential under the right conditions.
A positive, productive work climate is the basic prerequisite for support to reach its full performance. This includes setting clear expectations for employees. Instead of defining many vague goals, a few clear objectives should always be front and center. In most organizations, these include minimizing time to first response, achieving a high first contact resolution (FCR), and maintaining a strong customer satisfaction score.
Organizations should also ensure that their support employees feel comfortable. This includes providing comprehensive onboarding and training, facilitating (cross-team) collaboration – for example, through good information flow and joint work on tickets – and celebrating achievements appropriately. The work climate should be based on strong mutual support and minimal pressure, avoiding unrealistic targets whenever possible.
Social Proof: How OTRS Customers Achieve Higher Productivity
The best way to learn how support can become more productive, faster, and more successful is from organizations that have already achieved it. Following this principle, several of our customer stories provide a clear picture of how support can operate more productively.
Example 1: Structured Request Management for the State Office
The State Office for Schools and Education (LaSuB) Saxony (Germany) faced the challenge that its request management had become too inefficient, unclear, and complex due to the large number of teachers it served. With OTRS, the State Office now saves enormous amounts of time thanks to centralized, transparent information, well-organized request management, and a user-friendly system.
Example 2: Effective Support Processes for an IT System House
SIEVERS-GROUP, an IT system house headquartered in Osnabrück (Germany), follows the principle of continuous improvement to make its support more efficient. With OTRS, it has implemented standardized processes for ticket processing, including automated ticket creation for monitoring events. As a result, it now successfully models and implements efficient service and support processes.
Example 3: More Speed for Lifesavers
The DLRG (German Live Saving Association) needs fast IT services for various hardware across its nationwide teams. Thanks to OTRS, its IT services are now excellently organized, and requests and issues can be processed quickly. Processes are intuitive and traceable, and users immediately receive all the information they need.
Conclusion: The Many Ways to Achieve High Support Productivity
There are many ways to increase productivity in support. Professional IT Service Management or Enterprise Service Management, for example, involves establishing intelligent request management, creating self-service options, and introducing promising processes – as well as continuously improving them. AI applications and automations can also be valuable additions for certain workflows.
Alongside proven methods, the right software support is crucial to achieve the highest possible productivity and deliver excellent support. The case studies of several OTRS customers show how this can be achieved.
There are many paths to optimizing service and support operations. The approaches, recommendations, and tips shown here are meant to provide inspiration for organizations.
