NBO NBO Help Desk Responsibilities

NBO Help Desk Responsibilities

While working at the NBO Help Desk, you will be responsible for the following:

Answering help requests

Customer service

Tracking help requests via the NBO Help Desk database

Coordinating equipment moves/repairs/lockdowns

Help Requests

The first priority of the NBO Help Desk is to consult and solve problems for users of the ANONYSERVICEnet Europe email service. In the past, the NBO staff have found it difficult to respond to the growing computing needs of ANONYSERVICEnet users and ANONYSERVICE departments. The large number of help requests that come into NBO every day makes it difficult to field them all separately. The NBO Help Desk is intended to be a centralized source of information, able to answer questions itself or to forward matters to the NBO staff member most appropriate to solve the problem. It also creates a standard procedure for dealing with questions, so that similar help requests will be handled in a consistent manner.

Customer Service

Since the NBO Help Desk was created to assist ANONYSERVICEnet users and ANONYSERVICE staff with their computing related problems, working at the NBO Help Desk is a customer service position. No matter how busy the day is or how many problems have arisen, courtesy and good communication are necessary to keep the NBO Help Desk running well.

Customer Service Tips

Here are some general tips for dealing with users:

Be polite and courteous while talking with them.

Be patient. Never make someone feel silly or stupid for asking a question.

Listen. Listening well to someone both helps you to understand the problem, and makes them feel good about coming to you for help.

Even if they don’t have the technical knowledge to understand a high-tech answer, try not to "talk down" to them.

Defusing the "Angry User"

Everyone on occasion has probably dealt with an angry or frustrated person. You may encounter such a person while working at the NBO Help Desk. Perhaps the person was shuffled around for a while over the phone, perhaps they tried to solve the problem themselves until they wanted to scream. More often, however, you will encounter people who don’t understand that their problem is not within the resources or scope of NBO, (maybe it’s the phone lines) and they are frustrated that they are not being helped. Whatever the reason, it is sometimes difficult to deal with frustrated or angry people. Here are some tips to help you through it.

First rule: Take a deep breath and stay calm. If you react angrily things may become much worse.

Other helpful tips:

Agree with the person. It’s hard to argue and be angry with someone when they’re agreeing with you. Phrases like "Yes, you’re right. That’s definitely a problem," can go a long way towards calming someone down.

If there are no other higher priority problems, deal with the person’s problem right away. If other priorities intervene, then gently explain that something else has taken precedence and their problem will be dealt with as soon as possible.

Focus all your attention on this person; don’t read mail or write something while you are talking with them. If they feel ignored or slighted, it will make them more angry. Put anything else you are doing aside for the moment—unless it’s an emergency.

A common cause of anger is miscommunication. However, usually you are the first point of contact. If the person’s problem was lost between the cracks or (s)he was misled, don’t make excuses. Get results. Assure them that you will look into the problem, and that their needs are being considered.

Find a safe way to work out your frustration afterward. If you need an immediate outlet, talk it out or take a short walk outside Don’t keep the stress inside.

Tracking Help Requests

Answering the questions that come into the NBO Help Desk, however, is not the end of the process. We need to keep track of all help calls in a database. This database contains information such as the date, time, the caller, the category of problem, and any other pertinent information. Eventually we plan to compile and analyze the information to determine how to improve NBO services. If a certain type of problem crops up frequently, for example, we could introduce more training in that particular area. In this way, we can serve the ANONYSERVICEnet & ANONYSERVICE community better. Be careful to log every call and request that comes in, and enter all the information you can into the database; this will make it significantly easier to tally the information when needed.