Google IT Specialist: Technical Support Best Practices

Pitfalls to watch out for in IT Support

1. Auto Pilot Mode - moving through issues out of habit without careful thought.

2. Not Finding the Root Cause: t's very easy to get distracted by small problems that pop up. But it's super important to remember there's probably a very big problem causing all these small problems. Spend a little extra time investigating the issue instead of trying to fix all the small holes. If you're trying do a quick fix, it's tempting to wipe a system and start from scratch.

What is re-imaging a system:
Wiping a system and start from scratch.

Good customer service :

Builds brand loyalty by:

1. Exhibiting Empathy

2. Being conscious of your tone

3. Acknowledging the person you are talking to

4. Developing trust with the user

Most important is Empathy which is seeing something from someone else's perspective.

The action you take by looking at it from their perspective.

And by the end of the day, you find yourself getting annoyed or upset with users. 

That's the moment when empathy becomes the most important, because anyone can showcase empathy when it's easy. But someone who persistently displays empathy will stand out as a kinder human, and a more professional and effective employee.

Tone is historically thought of as how you speak out loud.

When is the tone set for a user interaction?
The last five minutes of the interaction will set the tone for how the user feels walking away from the interaction. 

So, make sure to end on a positive note. You might have solved their issue, but if they don't feel it was resolved or their unsure of the next steps, then they're going to walk away feeling like it was a poor solution. 

So how do you make a good final impression? Simple, 

1. reiterate the resolution. 

2. State the next steps. 

3. Then, ask the user if they have any questions.

Why do we use tickets in IT suport? What are bugs?

Tickets Are a common way of documenting an issue.

Bugs - Issues with the system that weren't caused by an external source.

What are some Ticketing Systems Used to keep track of IT support calls?

1. Bugzilla

2. Jira

3. Redmine

These are all-in-one solutions that help you track user issues, communicate with your users, and provide updates. A great way to use the system for documentation is to update the ticket with what the issue is, the steps and procedures you're trying to resolve, and the solution you arrived at.

The first, is that it keeps the user in the loop.

The second, is that it helps you audit your steps in case you need to go back and see what you did. You can also write down procedures and policies to create a documentation trail

What makes good documentation?
Documentation should be straight and clear-cut. Your reader should not have any questions when following the instructions you listed. 

Now, this is a good example of documentation. It starts off with a very specific and clear problem. 

It gives you background information on what the issue is. It even gives you the exact instructions on how to fix the issue, including which settings to navigate to and where. Remember, always write documentation that makes it easy for your reader to follow.

Example of Good Documentation and Why?
This is an example of a great ticket documentation. A tech described 

1. what the issue is, 

2. what caused the issue, and 

3. the specific steps they took to resolve it.

One of the more important aspects of writing documentation in a ticket or bug is that you leave an audit trail to see what worked and what didn't.

User unable to connect to an internal system? Questions you should ask:
For example, if you need to solve a problem about a user being unable to connect to an internal system, you should ask follow-up questions like 

1. what operating system the user is using, 

2. how the computer is supposed to connect to the network, 

3. what kind of error messages they're getting, 

4. whether other users are affected.