You may have heard this complaint at some of the companies you’ve worked for:
“Wow! We always end the day with a bunch of open calls!”
To solve this, many companies desperately try to find new tools, new hires, or various other attempts at solutions that ultimately prove to be ineffective or too expensive – becoming unfeasible.
On the contrary, solving these calls will start with the installation of a good service management process.
Therefore, today, we will learn, in practice, Incident Management and Problem Management, to finally end the piles of open calls.
Defining Incident and Problem
First of all, some definitions are necessary:
- An incident can be anything that causes a service interruption.
- A problem is the root cause of an incident.
There is a warning to be made here: this correct distinction and categorization of terms is essential for the company’s internal organization, but it should never be used to correct a user who contacts announcing that they “have a problem,” even if, for the service desk, it is just an incident.
This distinction is for us in IT and not for users. Users can and should call it whatever they want, after all, they are the ones being prevented from using the service that they probably want to start using urgently.
Remember: the ultimate goal of service management is to generate value for the customer, user, and stakeholders.
Solving the problem
The solution is not always hiring new professionals because it demands new expenses with selection processes, training expenses, and maintenance of new employees. Expenses that can be easily replaced by training the employees we already have in effective management practices.
The acquisition of new tools can also represent an expense, and moreover, they can be deeply ineffective. Why?
On the one hand, a tool can be too complex and confusing for a client, requiring technical information or categorization of concepts with which they are not familiar, all so that they can simply open a call.
On the other hand, the tool may be too simple and not reach the specificity required for the incident to be recognized and treated. In many cases, this causes the need for the company to return to the client requesting more information about what happened.
Therefore, before selecting and acquiring tools, the company must have already clearly defined its processes so that the tools are aligned with its needs and culture. Tools are only useful when the process is already well aligned and established.
Once the definitions of incident and problem are understood, let’s understand how to establish these processes.
1st Step: Treat the Incident Immediately
After opening a call, the immediate first step is to treat the incident, that is, to solve the service interruption that is causing headaches for your client as quickly as possible. This is where most of your efforts will be directed.
For that, be quick. It is not acceptable, in the world we live in, for a company to take 24 or 48 hours to resolve an incident interruption. In many cases, this can mean incalculable losses for your clients.
Furthermore, responding quickly does not mean resolving quickly. There is no point in responding immediately to the call if you take several hours or days to resolve the interruption.
At this point, it is not time to investigate the cause of this incident. Just solve it!
Once that is done, we can take the second step more calmly and solve the root cause of the incident: the problem.
2nd Step: Solve the Problem, the Root Cause of the Incident
The faster you solve the incident, and the client returns to using the service normally, the more time you will have to solve its root cause: the problem.
What caused the interruption? Finding this answer is not your priority, especially when you’re swamped with open calls and incidents that need to be resolved. However, this is where the secret to reducing the number of accumulated calls lies.
For this task, set aside a little time each week, even if it’s just one day. Don’t have that much time? Half a day. Still don’t have enough time? Set aside half an hour!
Spend at least half an hour each week, without taking frontline workers away from solving incidents continuously. One or two employees working for a little while each week can do the work of identifying the causes of incidents.
So, let’s get started!
First, identify the most recurring incidents, those that seem to have a similar but still unknown origin.
Then, also identify the incidents with the most impact, those that can cause major problems for your customers and therefore your company.
Once you have listed these incidents, determine the employee (or team) who will work for a little while each week to investigate the cause. The important thing here is to establish a routine of identifying the cause of the most frequent incidents and the most dangerous ones, and gradually addressing these issues.
By treating their causes, these incidents will stop recurring, and the endless pile of open calls will finally start to decrease.
Conclusion
Relieving your service center requires, above all, establishing and aligning a clear and effective incident and problem management process.
Tools and hiring can help, but without clear and well-known practices, they won’t be as effective as you imagine.
Therefore, immediate incident treatment and maintaining a routine of problem treatment should be your company’s priority in this battle.
A more effective service center is one with well-established processes, a center that listens to its customers, that understands their difficulties in their daily lives. Service center professionals should be close to the customer and, above all, have a clear understanding of the business.
The combination of a service center with these characteristics and a clear process aligned with business objectives and focused on generating value for stakeholders is not only the recipe for reducing calls but also a huge step towards your success.
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