Hold the Phone: Why Phone-Based Support Isn’t Enough
by Citrix Online

Phone-based support, traditionally one of the most widely used types of customer support, has proven to be a costly and often inefficient method when it comes to correctly diagnosing and solving a customer’s problem. With customer and management expectations constantly on the rise, support managers need a support solution that provides fast, efficient support to satisfiy customers and reduces costs to satisfy management.

If your support organization currently provides only phone-based support, it’s time to take a close look at the challenges of using the phone exclusively to support your customers. The limitations of phone support can cripple your organization’s efforts to provide a high level of customer service. Here are a few of the limitations of phone support.

• Limited hours — If your phones are only staffed for a certain number of hours per day or if you have a limited number of support posts, how many of your customers are being denied the support they need when they need it?

• Ineffective communication — If your customers and phone-support agents don’t speak the same language, how can you ensure that the support you provide is of the highest quality? If language isn’t a problem, what about professionalism? Are your agents as well trained in behaving professionally as they are in the technology they support? If your answer is no to either question (or if you aren’t sure how to respond), you can’t guarantee that your customers are getting the best quality support.

• Poor service quality — If wait times in the phone queue are getting longer or if it takes multiple calls to resolve a customer’s problem, you likely have an ever growing group of disgruntled customers. Your customers enjoy spending their precious time waiting for you to solve their problems about as much as they like having an untreated dental cavity. Rest assured that this will impact their desire to remain loyal to your organization.

One alternative to phone-based support is to create a Web presence for your support organization, which will enable you to provide support around the clock and in any country. Once you have an established self-service knowledge base, it doesn’t take much effort to translate the content into other languages spoken by your customers. What’s more, wait times will virtually disappear.

Better yet, what if you could actually see your customer’s screen to assess the problem and then fix it while the customer watches and learns? Click here to learn more about Citrix GoToAssist, our remote-support solution.

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, 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.