Introduction
The journey to a superior Customer Experience (CX) in the IT Support Services space within the Digital Workplace can be a daunting challenge. Although we’re technically dealing with User Experience (UX) here, as the target audience is comprised of end users internal to a company vs. true external customers, we’ll use the CX vernacular in this article for simplicity’s sake.
The requirements that comprise a superior CX in the Digital Workplace can easily differ across companies, and often strike a balance between what is needed by the business as well as what the business can afford. However a company decides to define a superior CX in its Digital Workplace, many different paths abound to reach that superior CX destination. This article will focus on the Right-to-Left strategy as a means to drive toward superior CX.
Right-to-Left Strategy
The “right-to-left” strategy is a proven service model that aims to continually shift support from higher cost means (e.g. Level 2 onsite desk visit support or Level 3 SME support) to lower cost means (e.g. Level 1 phone or chat support) and even optimal low-cost means (e.g. Level 0 automated or self-help resolution). Each shift from right to left moves customer resolution closer to the source, yielding a more efficient support model where problem avoidance and reduced ticket volumes can be realized over time.
Among the foundational best practices for right-to-left shift is a robust Knowledge Base and solid KB governance. In the Digital Workplace realm, a Knowledge Base serves as a library of KBAs (Knowledge Base Articles) that are reference guides for IT Support practitioners to follow in order to resolve customer issues. By conducting analysis of where resolution occurs in the environment and encouraging Level 2 and 3 teams to document in KBAs the resolution steps to the most common issues found, training and instruction can be conducted with Level 1 IT Support practitioners to affect right-to-left change.
Meanwhile, instilling sound KB governance, where each KBA is assigned an expiration date and reviewed at minimum annually for relevance and correctness, is critical to maintain an effective Knowledge Base that fosters continual right-to-left focus. Many enterprises will make select KBAs customer-facing as self-help reference where customers conduct research to solve their own issues, resulting in a resolution shift to Level 0. And, some enterprises will employ the best practice of having their IT Support practitioners assign the KBA used in the resolution of an incident ticket to foster sound KB discipline.
More Innovation on the Horizon
Returning to the journey analogy, once you reach your particular peak of superior CX, new customer needs and technology innovation will arise on the horizon. The journey does not end but is ever ongoing as part of continual improvement across the Digital Workplace and the broader IT service spectrum.