How to Achieve 99.999 Percent Uptime
by Citrix Online

In even the busiest support centers that have a steady flow of calls, support agents are not on the phone 100 percent of the time. Rather than having your agents simply wait for the next call to come in, imagine how much your help desk could achieve if you tasked your agents with specific projects and duties to complete between support calls. To increase efficiency, give each of your support agents different tasks from the following areas.

• Internal and external projects: There’s more to a successful help desk than the agents who answer the phones. Behind each support center is a broad knowledge base that contributes to the education of your employees and the support of your customers. Ask each of your support agents to become an expert on a particular topic. Some can work on expanding the online customer self-service directory and others can work on internal projects that will be used to educate themselves on each others’ particular areas of expertise.
  
  
• Continued learning: Alert your support agents to resources that can enable them to continue their education in the support industry. Newsletter subscriptions, online forums and industry associations are all excellent resources to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their support calls.
  
  
• Personal research: Encourage your support agents to develop their personal areas of expertise and interest. If one of your agents has a strong technical prowess, encourage her to research ways to improve the technology employed by your help desk. If another agent is particularly adept at solving obscure customer problems, ask him to play around with your company’s product, predict potential areas of customer confusion and come up with creative solutions to the problems he encounters. Your agents can then share the knowledge gained from this research with the rest of your team.

The time spent between support calls is invaluable and can be put to good use. Take advantage of each agent’s skill set; not only will your agents be able to help your support center achieve 99.999 percent uptime and greater efficiency, but they will also feel empowered by being able to share and develop their particular areas of specialization.

About Citrix Online
Citrix Online, a division of Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS), offers the leading Web-based access, support, and collaboration software and services. The division offers Citrix GoToMyPC®, the easiest-to-use solution for remote, secure, and managed desktop PC access over the Web; and Citrix GoToAssist™, the most secure, reliable and powerful solution for Web-based technical support and customer collaboration. Citrix Online products are used by more than 4,000 companies worldwide, including Cisco Systems, Siemens, Verizon, Intuit, Cablevision and Microsoft Business Solutions. The division is based in Santa Barbara, California, and is on the web at www.gotomypc.com, www.gotoassist.com and www.citrix.com.