\nIt is sometimes useful to compare the differences between an internal help desk and a customer\nhotline to the differences between the a full-service and a fast-food restaurant. Like the\nfull-service restaurant, a customer hotline will provide you almost anything you ask for (within\nreason, of course). On the other hand, you are more limited in what you can get at the fast-food\nrestaurant. Granted, it is likely that you can get your hamburger without ketchup or pickles, but\nthat\u2019s about it.<\/p>
The key here is that you\u2019re providing fair quality at a fair price. This\nsuccess of fast-food restaurants such as Burger King and McDonald\u2019s are clear indicators that the\ncustomers are satisfied with the service. However, it is unlikely that either chain would survive\nvery long if they decided to increase their prices to a level comparable to a full-service\nrestaurant. <\/p>
In essence, the same thing applies to your help desk. If your customers (that\nis, the users) are notpaying as much as they would for external support, they are generally\nsatisfied with the level of service. It is simply a matter of economics that you cannot provide the\nsame level of support that you could for paying customers.<\/p>
However, my experience has been\nthat customers who don\u2019t pay for support are often more demanding than those who are paying for it.\nThis is due primarily to their not understanding what the limitations are. This is because the\nlimitations are rarely spelled out for them. When I worked in support, we provided 30 days of free\n"installation" support. However, the customer was never told what "installation"\nreally meant. I often got calls where the user was having trouble installing a third-party\napplication. Well, the word "install" was in there somewhere.<\/p>
On the other hand,\nyour users might actually be paying customers. There are organizations that have broken down each\ndepartment into separate business units. In general, each business unit is a separate financial\nentity. Each time services are requested, the requesting department is "charged" for the\nservice. In such cases, the customer (user) might be in a better position to make demands on the\nhelp desk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is sometimes useful to compare the differences between an internal help desk and a customer hotline to the differences between the a full-service and a fast-food restaurant. Like the full-service restaurant, a customer hotline will provide you almost anything … Continue reading