david raistrick wrote:
On Sat, 27 Dec 2008, JF Mezei wrote:
The problem with oursourced first level support is that they are totally disconnected from real time operations and wouldn't be aware of problems that network engineers are currently working on.
Not always true. Our outsourced support in India were also our first layer of network troubleshooting, and they monitored everything related to the products they supported. They were almost always the first to call the engineers (in .us and .ca) to alert them of issues.
It's all about /what/ you hire them to do.....
Not only that. It also depends on the call center. I used to work for a quite large call center, that would deal with anything from computer support for vendors, cellphone support, cable-tv, cable-broadband, etc. And just as an example for cellphones, the people on the floor had access to internal systems of the telco's and where able to send real-time commands to the switches. When $TELCO decides to use this call center, it can sometimes take 2-3 years, before the calls end up in the call center. This is down to the fact, that the call center has to implement structures with $TELCO that will make a handover possible in the first place. Also stuff with enough technical knowledge needed to be located within the agents or new staff hired in. Some customers had to be told, that it is impossible to do support for them on the expectations, that they have, because their own internal structures simply are a mess. Outsouring and off-shoring is never the problem. The problem is, and this was stated by the original poster, that the lads off-shore he deals with have no clue and simply stick to the script. No intention of looking what the real problem is. And that problem lies not in the call center. It is the deal, that $TELCO struck with $CALLCENTER and the procedures, that were put in place, that are the problem. Only solution: find a provider, who's support (off-shore or not) does have a clue, has an escalation process and is willing to find a solution. Kind regards, Martin List-Petersen -- Airwire - Ag Nascadh Pobal an Iarthar http://www.airwire.ie Phone: 091-865 968