IT Customer Service — ‘The Best You’re Going to Get Today’

In our tech-driven world, it’s easy to get lost in the many trends of generative artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud and quantum computing, and digital transformation. Embedded within these topics are discussions of how technology can take over human tasks to achieve increased automation, efficiency and effectiveness, with reduced risk, 24/7. These benefits are particularly prevalent in the corporate sector and can also be seen in higher education, with the added capabilities of more personalized learning, improved teaching, and increased access to educational design and development. Unfortunately, one area sometimes overlooked is quality customer service, particularly in IT. I was once reminded of why customer service is so critical to our success, both in business and education, when ordering a simple ice cream cone from Dairy Queen. Let me explain.

‘THE BEST YOU’RE GOING TO GET TODAY’

I vividly remember one hot and humid afternoon ordering a chocolate-dipped cone at a local Dairy Queen. As I waited in the hot sun, the attendant took my order, eventually opened the drive-through window and served me a dripping greasy mess of chocolate goo, streaming down the sides of the cone. I said to the attendant, “I am kind of a Dairy Queen purist and was expecting more of a classic dipped cone.” The attendant abruptly shut the order window and came back with an identical-looking greasy melting messy dipped cone and exclaimed, “This is the best you’re going to get today,” and abruptly closed the sliding window. With that, I muttered, “We’ll see what your manager thinks about that.” I photographed the melting mess. The words “This is the best you’re going to get today” stuck in my head.

TAKING A COMPLAINT TO THE TOP

The next day I dashed off an email with an attached photo to the regional corporate headquarters explaining the issue. I received a prompt reply and an acknowledgement they would look into the matter. A few days later I was driving some of my IT staff after a meeting and decided to see if a different Dairy Queen had higher standards. Sure enough, the attendant had a great personality and served up a classic chocolate dipped cone. I promptly photographed the cone and sent another note to the district manager saying, “This Dairy Queen had excellent customer service and served a perfect dipped cone. It only took me $8 to get there.” The district manager wrote back and said he would personally follow up on the issue, which he quickly did. The district manager informed me that they changed their training program to ensure better quality control and improved customer service. It reminded me of a quote by Bill Gates: “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

A few months later, I returned to the original Dairy Queen. This time a new attendant greeted me with a friendly smile and served up a classic dipped cone. I told him I was so impressed I would tell the district manager how happy I was with the service and the quality of the product. The attendant said, “You would do that for me?” I responded saying, “Of course, good customer service deserves to be acknowledged.” The attendant’s smile was memorable. I sent a note of appreciation to the district manager, and he responded with sincere thanks, noting an updated training program was in place, and provided several courtesy coupons for taking the time to document the entire story. Mission accomplished.

CUSTOMER SERVICE BROUGHT TO IT

This is an important reminder of how we should treat our customers, especially in the field of IT. Prior to the pandemic, I had encouraged our help desk staff at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse to conclude each phone interaction with the words, “It’s my pleasure.” Some staff quickly adopted this regimen, while a few others questioned the reasoning. It took about a month for the entire staff to accept this. In addition, we had representatives from each IT unit serve a few hours at the help desk for two key purposes: 1) to show that all the IT staff were engaged in helping the clientele, and 2) to help the IT staff better understand the specific problems customers encountered from each unit. This concept helped to demonstrate the IT staff were vested in solving our clients’ problems, which in turn provided insights into networking, server, classroom and office issues that occurred throughout the year. This process turned out to be helpful when the campus closed due to the pandemic. I quickly gathered the staff to develop a plan to move our IT business functions remotely while simultaneously migrating the call center. This had never been attempted before, and we constantly had to consider our traditional support services, and how we could make the process seamless and transparent. Having the IT staff work as a team while maintaining excellent customer service was our highest priority.

HUMAN INTERACTION IN IT

It has been documented that customer service is essential for effective businesses. In 2019, Forbes cited a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey that found “90 percent of CEOs believe the customer has the greatest impact on their business.” When an IT customer contacts the help desk, especially when they are frustrated or nervous, it’s important to carefully consider their specific issue and resolve it with understanding and empathy. Providing superior customer service affords an opportunity to create strong loyalty toward your services and promotes customer retention with less service complaints. Actively and carefully listening to your customers and correctly acting upon their needs can help build strong relationships and encourages advocacy to support your IT department.

Carefully tracking each customer’s interaction provides valuable data and feedback to continually improve your services. As the company Salesforce stresses, “customer service tools can help you to do more than just support customers. They can help you to improve virtually every aspect of your business. Data from your help desk lets you see how your agents are performing and provides indicators for optimizing your support team.” Customer service in higher education supports the IT department as well as the institution’s overall success. While AI may be an effective and efficient tool, we must also consider the value of human interaction, interpretation and issue resolution. Remember, Vince Lombardi once said, “It takes months to find a customer … seconds to lose one.” Don’t treat your customers by saying or even thinking, “This is the best you’re going to get today.” Always strive to be better.