Sponsored White Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads
- TechRepublic Author Biography
Sometimes the users drive you mad but would we have it any other way?I work as a field service engineer in England. My experiences of Helpdesk and customer service date back over 15 years and I have personally experienced every helpdesk 'Urban Legend' there is. When I was the Helpdesk...- more about Jeff Dray »
TechRepublic Resources
- Lo, the gas man cometh
- There are times when the cheapest option may not be the best, but how do you justify going for the more expensive option? A recent transaction with a utility provider got me thinking about this equation. by Jeff Dray
- Tags: Customer Service, Product Marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Channel Management, Marketing, Enterprise Software, Software, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-08-04
- Learning to say no!
- Harping again on the subject of stress and burnout, I recently learned about the art of saying no. You will find that regularly taking on any job that you are asked to do will result in more tasks and projects coming your way. by Jeff Dray
- Tags: Job, Hour, Recruitment & Selection, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-07-28
- Button pressers and non-button pressers
- Some people ask for help, others work it out for themselves. Is this what makes the difference between a help desk tech and a user? by Jeff Dray
- Tags: Lady, Advice Call, Help Desk, Call Centers, Team Management, It Operations, Management, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-07-21
- Managing those extra tasks
- There's a minefield of tasks out there, coming your way from an overzealous manager with such preambles as "can you just-" "would you mind popping over to-," and "when you've got a moment-." Beware: sometimes these "half-tasks" are more involved than you think. by Jeff Dray
- Tags: Job, Call, Recruitment & Selection, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-07-14
- Can you take your customers seriously and laugh about them?
- Is it possible to laugh about your work and do it properly as well? Is it necessary to be totally straight faced about your end users in order to provide the correct level of service? Jeff Dray explores these questions. by Jeff Dray
- Tags: Customer, Jeff Dray, Help Desk, Call Centers, It Operations
- Blog posts 2008-07-07
- How does your workplace cope with disability?
- Access for the disabled is a big issue here in the UK and often the simplest solutions are overlooked. Here are a few thoughts based on my experience. by Jeff Dray
- Tags: Workplace, Disability, Wheelchair User, Disability Awareness, Recruitment & Selection, Productivity, Notebooks, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-06-30
- Help desk burnout
- Don't let stress rule your life; take control of your work-life balance by recognizing the symptoms of stress or work burnout. by Jeff Dray
- Tags: Depression, Burnout, Help Desk, Vertical Industries, Benefits, Healthcare, Call Centers, It Operations, Enterprise Software, Software, Human Resources, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-06-23
- Fixing the fault, fixing the customer
- Jeff Dray finds that it's easy to get caught up in the fix for a problem and forget to focus on the user's other concerns. What should you do when you fix a problem but still have an unhappy customer? by Jeff Dray
- Tags: Customer, Training And Certification, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-06-15
- Don't leave new helpdesk people to struggle
- Has your help desk developed a complete training and induction package for new starters? It may be that new starters know the technology inside-out, but they won’t necessarily know anything about the way that your company implements technology in your workplace. Starting a new job...
- Tags: Induction, Help Desk, Call Centers, It Operations, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-06-06
- So why do managers collect so much data on the work we do?
- You may have noticed in recent years that for every job you complete there is a great deal of data recorded that would not have been deemed necessary a few years ago, and you might be wondering why. The main reason is that managers have to constantly...
- Tags: Recruitment & Selection, Benefits, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-05-31
- Think twice, act once
- It is all too easy to assume that users all work the same way. Back in the day, when Windows 3.11 and DOS were the norm, PCs did not have the power that they have today. We took great care that not a single megabyte of hard disk space was...
- Tags: Performance, DOS, File, Performance Management, Microsoft Windows, Memory, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Operating Systems, Software, Semiconductors, Hardware, Components, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-05-23
- The importance of live logging
- Yesterday, I was yet again reminded of the importance of getting into the habit of live logging help desk calls. For anyone who is not familiar with the term, "live logging" means keying the information into the call logging system as the call is in progress, rather than noting the...
- Tags: Call, Help Desk, Call Centers, It Operations, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-05-17
- Expect the unexpected
- There was a ripple of consternation around my team this week. I was dispatched to look at a printer that was apparently freezing up after just a few pages. The type of printer was one that doesn’t normally give us much trouble, apart from wearing out after a very long...
- Tags: Board, Coin, Printers, Corporate Governance, Hardware, Peripherals, Business Operations, Corporate Law, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-05-09
- Being part of a team
- When you work on the road, you spend a lot of time alone, and it is very easy to forget that you are part of a team. I am reminded of part of a poem by John Donne (1572-1631) English metaphysical poet: No man is an...
- Tags: Team, Call, Team Management, Recruitment & Selection, Management, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-05-02
- How much do you use role play in training?
- The thought of role play sessions on training courses often makes the blood run cold, especially when it is employed to teach soft skills. I remember doing a course on phone skills when the trainer recorded role play phone calls. Unfortunately, she played them back to the whole...
- Tags: Role, Board, Student, Training, Corporate Governance, Workforce Management, Telecom & Utilities, Business Operations, Corporate Law, Human Resources, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-04-25
- 10+ dangerous species of help desk callers
- During my years working in IT support, I have become more and more interested in the many types of people who call IT help desks. Like a biologist, I have found that having a classification system is critical in understanding the users I help on a daily basis. With this...
- Tags: Caller, Species, Computer, Expert, Userus, Pig Pen, Help Desk, Call Centers, It Operations, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-04-25
- Recognising the signs of help desk burnout
- Do you find help desk work to be a chore lately? Is it hard to get up in the morning and get yourself into the office? Are you finding it harder to pick up the phone and sound cheerful and interested? Do the users get on your nerves these days,...
- Tags: Help Desk, Call Centers, It Operations, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-04-18
- Giving support can be a two way street
- I’ve been knocking around in the support world for a fair few years now, and the more I learn, the more I realise that I don’t know it all. I suppose I have my own way of working and my own habits. I use a PC in much...
- Tags: PC, Windows Key+Break, Microsoft Windows, Desktops, Productivity, Operating Systems, Software, Hardware, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-04-10
- Streamlining support, getting the job done
- This week I witnessed IT support as it should be. Last weekend Britain switched from Greenwich Mean Time to British Summer time, a painful annual event that deprives us of an hour’s sleep during the last weekend in March. Most Windows-based PCs will, unless other controls...
- Tags: Job, PC, Information Technology, Recruitment & Selection, Microsoft Windows, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Operating Systems, Software, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-04-05
- Are you a good listener? How can you tell?
- Some of the skills you need on a help desk aren’t immediately obvious, a good working knowledge of the technology and the company that you are supporting is a given, but the smaller stuff counts for a lot as well. Take the call I made today, where...
- Tags: Job, Phone, Call, Telecom & Utilities, Recruitment & Selection, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Jeff Dray
- Blog posts 2008-03-26
