that you need in front of you everyday. In fact, there is so much information in this database that you will be coming back time and again to explore specific areas of your support business. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
This year we have greatly expanded the study to include substantially more important sections that are vital parts of running a technical support operation. For example, peer group benchmarks will allow you to measure yourself against other companies of similar size and service delivery models. Also, new sections like support finance, services sales and marketing, maintenance agreements and pricing will provide great insight into running support as a business. Of course, there is still a heavy dose of operations data included. Elements like industry hold times, abandon rates and talk time are displayed with ease and allow you to measure yourself against the industry and your peers.
One of the most notable findings that I saw was that the “First Call Resolution Rate” across our industry is dropping again. This is a measure of how effective we are at giving the customer the Right answers the First time they call. Well, we are not doing very well in this area. In fact, there is a steady drop in fixing customer issues the first time over that past four years, and it seems to be getting worse. So why is this happening? What can we do to turn it around? How can you leverage this industry data to differentiate yourself from the competition?
First, there are two key factors that we must consider. There are more service calls placed today than ever before, and these calls are getting more complex each year. When you couple that with the fact that large numbers of customers are more unsophisticated than ever while at the same time some are more expert than in the past, we have the “Perfect Storm” heading our way. Simply, there are more support requests made by a higher variety of customers about extremely complex service environments. So what are we supposed to do? What we always do….Fix the problem! Let’s get focused on the root causes here and understand what is happening when a customer first places a service request and what it takes to fix it the first time. It could be a training issue, a technology solution or even a management problem as we drive our support reps to get off the phone faster. What ever the issue is for you, this is one area where you can shine and “out service” your competitors.
I started this discussion talking about the 2005 SSPA Benchmark Study and ended discussing one small data point that has major impact to our entire industry. You can do the same by digging into the study, checking your support operation against the industry and identifying those key areas where you need to improve. Taking the pulse of your support center is not something you should do each year; it is something you should do each day. To access the Benchmark Study, please visit the SSPA web site at www.thesspa.com and select the Benchmark Results link on the right.
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