DocFinity® Workflow is the Ticket to Success for a Technology Support Center (TSC) in the Southeast
Exemplary customer service is essential for any successful business to keep its customers and attract others. When you think about ‘customer service’, it is NOT very likely that you would expect a lax, laissez-faire, “take it or leave it” approach to generate much customer loyalty. Nevertheless, this technology support center’s “ticket or leave it” approach is exactly what makes their support extraordinary. “Exemplary” means to set an example for others, which the staff of this company does every day.
“Ticket” or leave it – a novel approach
All of us are faced with customer service issues on a regular basis, and regardless of the company, the process is similar: the customer contacts the company via telephone, e-mail, letter or fax, leaving a message about the problem (or telling a representative, if one can be reached), and waiting for someone to provide a solution to the problem, or at least a progress report. Phone tag, voice mail jail, unanswered e-mails, misfiled or lost requests, and requests delayed in holding patterns are common problems. Not so at this TSC – they’ve found the answer, and it’s completely paperless!
Background of the TSC
Unlike smaller TSCs, this support center not only plays a main part in the smooth running of the company at large, but also in electronic transactions with other healthcare provider organizations with which its parent company works. Whether there are IT problems in the corporate offices, issues with the communications and operations between the larger company and its healthcare customers, or glitches with the many vendors’ integrated technologies that are part of their automation projects, TSC is the hub for solving these problems. In any given day, TSC handles hundreds of customer support issues, the majority of which are more than simple support calls and which require documentation and investigation.
Understanding the issue: who, what, when, where and why
By marrying the idea of an informational, digital ‘ticket’ with DocFinity Workflow, DocFinity Email Manager, and DocFinity Web Services API, the customer service team at this TSC can either solve problems immediately or create an electronic ticket that records the ‘event’ information that the customer service team will need in order to solve the problem. Like a real ticketed event, the ticket includes critical data about the five W’s that describe the event, spelling out who (which customer), what (the issue at hand), when (date/timestamp of when the issue was reported), where (the unit or department experiencing the problem), and why (the eventual report of why the problem occurred and the solution that addressed it). When an issue is introduced by a customer, the TSC team can “ticket or leave it” – leaving it out of the system if it can be solved on the spot verbally, or ticketing the issue for immediate handling if it will require further investigation or processing.
DocFinity Workflow: behind-the-scenes stage manager at work
Some of the calls this TSC receives are simple, but due to the nature of technology, many of them are complex and require dialogue with other players. They often include the IT staff of the parent company, the IT staff for other customers with whom they are conducting business, and IT vendors whose technologies they employ to service their customers. While the complimentary ‘ticket’ is the transaction proof that allows each recorded issue to be ‘heard’ and addressed in the processing ‘auditorium’, a series of behind-the-scenes tasks powered by DocFinity Workflow must be addressed by a variety of people in multiple locations before many of the issues are resolved. Like an audience expecting a top-notch performance on the date printed on a ticketed event, the federal government has strictly enforced service level agreements that require issues to be handled and solutions to be rendered within a tight timeframe, demanding staff efficiency. A well-planned study of TSC’s processes and a rehearsal plan for the problem-solving process resulted in an automated workflow dream that could address the company’s needs, and positive referrals from another company in the industry resulted in their decision to implement DocFinity Workflow, by Optical Image Technology (OIT).
Web Services and Workflow: ensuring successful performance
Behind OIT’s powerful workflow product is the equally robust DocFinity Web Services API, an attractive option for this TSC. The API acts as a stage manager for the flow of work and discreetly tells DocFinity Workflow what needs to happen next, posting the relevant task lists related to solving each issue and pushing the data and forms to the right people for handling. Consequently, the service representative does not see any more on his desktop than what he needs to complete each job. The progress of both the customer’s package of issues and the individual issues is monitored by the system, as it sends e-mail alerts and provides real-time reports that help the managers predict if any service level agreements are in jeopardy of being missed. This enables them to adjust priorities accordingly.
Making it to the show on time
As with any type of customer service, some issues are more complicated than others, and truly challenge the staff to meet the prescribed timelines for handling. DocFinity Workflow forecasts when a case is in danger of missing a deadline, and hands these cases to a separate group of staff which is dedicated to resolving them and meeting the strict timelines prescribed by the service level agreements. By monitoring and handling these cases with a separate team, the staff automatically offers preventive care that ensures that these tickets are returned with solutions to customers’ problems on time.
The future: taking the show on the road
As the show at this TSC expands to become a larger-scale production and all calls are handled electronically, management will be looking to take the show on the road. The success of immediate, remote processing by TSC nurses and other agents across the USA has created a new demand: making the processing even more portable by tying it into PDAs. With the collaborative work of the TSC IT team and Optical Image Technology’s DocFinity suite of products, such a road show a logical future step….and is only a few paces away. “Ticket or leave it” – this is a great production, courtesy of a team of producers from the TSC and Optical Image Technology, and their innovative solution to the everyday challenges of customer service.
