By Sylvia Carr, 11 November 2005 14:40
NEWS
IT helpdesk workers have a tough job - most take considerable abuse from the end users they're hired to assist.
According to a recent survey, 81 per cent of IT support workers have been verbally abused by callers. And about one in five admitted to receiving calls that were so bad they considered quitting on the spot.
Older male callers were found to be the most difficult to deal with. Women and younger callers were easier on the helpdesk workers, the research showed.
So how could service desks be improved? The number one response among end users was to get rid of automated voice response systems. They'd also like helpdesk workers to have the technology to solve problems remotely and - evidence of the recent wave of offshoring for IT support - 70 per cent say IT service workers need a better command of English.
The survey consisted of interviews with 1,000 adults and was conducted by Touchpaper, a company which provides technology for IT service management.
Comments
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1. anonymous
I work in IT support but often have to call support for other products, the current trend in off-shoring leads to many difficulties including command of the english language but more worryingly these people are lying to you!
BT ADSL 24x7 support is mostly supplied from Aberdeen, when I ring "out of normal hours" the call goes to the sub continent and yet they insist they are in the Aberdeen call centre but cannot provide the post code when questioned.
Upshot, you can only get monkey-see, monkey-do support until the UK network team are available, 24x7 support for BT ADSL - my arse!
2. anonymous
I agree 100% with the article. Be able to speak and understand English is a major AOL problem.
Plus there has to be another solution other than to Uninstall and reinstall a program. 99% of the time it does nothing to help anyway.
May I also ad, that I have sent this newsletter to several business people I know and they really like it.
3. Anonymoose
How about having real technicains instead of 'script readers' that currently reside in place of technicians? Maybe they would get less profanity if they could actually support a technical product?