HelpDesk Humor

There are not a huge number of opportunities for humor in telecom, so when someone does a great job at creatively addressing an issue that plagues the industry, it deserves to be shared with everyone!

I recently found the “HelpDesk Humor” video on YouTube – and it is an absolute must see!   We’ve all got a heap of war stories about our experiences with less than adequate tech support.  But this little video let’s us get a glimpse into the frustrations brought about by less than skilled users.  I suspect most of us rarely think about that side of the equation!

HelpDesk Humor

Not only will this video give you a great moment of laughter today, it also speaks to some truly critical issues in the broadband era, the least of which is the importance of training!  Customer and tech support is a two way relationship, with each party bearing some responsibility for being properly educated and prepared!  The interactions and steps demonstrated in this video clearly highlight the need for not only technical training for support reps, but also softskills training.  These days, what gives a company a competitive edge boils down to two things – how knowledgeable their people are, and how well they interact with their customers, in other words, their customer service operations!

The video also makes a giant point about the fact that the industry is very quick to sign up new customers and subscribers, but then leaves them to flounder about on their own, without the slightest bit of knowledge as to how to use the wondrous tools of the information age.  One of the greatest added value services a vendor or service provider can offer to its users is education.  If you invest in educating your customers, you’ll find you’ve created not only a more loyal user, reducing customer churn, you’ll also create a customer with the knowledge to order and use new services as you introduce them!

A little bit of education can go a long way in securing your relationships with your support staff and customers!  Knowledge is power, so empower your personnel, and empower your customers – create an educational program that will provide them with the basics they need to understand the nature of computing and telecommunications. 

To wind up today’s post - there’s a wonderful quote by Edgar Watson Howe (1853-1937) that really speaks to this “bits of humor” episode –  ”If you don’t learn to laugh at trouble, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you’re old.”

So have a good laugh at the world of Internet help desks, and remember……

“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”  e.e.cummings (1894-1962)

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