Working with a Managed IT Service Provider, they regularly prepared new desktops and laptops for their customers.
But there was one major roadblock the process they kept running into headfirst with remote users:
If the customer already had the machine, a technician couldn't immediately gain remote control to perform the setup.
First, the customer had to:
Unbox it and connect it properly.
Work through the initial account setup screens.
Get connected to the internet.
Follow several explicit steps to connect to a company remote-access site.
And if they were using a Macbook, there were a whole host of other complicated permissions needed before remote access worked properly.
Only then could a technician take over and perform the setup procedure.
Would you feel comfortable doing this on a work computer without detailed instructions?
The old approach was to walk customers through those steps verbally over the phone. It worked. But it was slow, and almost always frustrating for the customer.
The next time the opportunity presented itself, I started taking photos and screenshots of every step.
I turned them into a knowledgebase article with visual instructions customers could easily follow.
The difference was night and day.
The customer-controlled portion of the setup became considerably shorter, and customers were much less frustrated. The number of times techs heard “I’m just not very tech savvy!” decreased dramatically.
Technicians could now easily get them connected, end the call, finish the configuration remotely, and call them again when the computer was ready.
Life was much easier for technicians when they could connect and get to configuring!
For the technicians, there was much less stress in the process and for the customer, the process felt much more like a white-glove service than a homework assignment.
They could spend more of their time working instead of sitting on the phone with IT.
That taught me something I've carried with me into other support environments:
When you're trying to improve a process, start with the effort you're asking the customer to perform.
Yes, internal efficiency matters.
But reducing the customer's work can improve both sides of the process at once.
Seeing some of these same problems with your product?
Apply for a Product Success Sprint and let’s take a closer look at where customers are getting stuck and what you can do to improve the experience.
