Lecture 15

Communication Skills

CT4005NI - Computer Hardware andSoftware

Architectures
 7. Introduction
•This chapter provides an overview of
communication skills , professional behavior
and responsibilities.
Objectives

• Explain the relationship between communication

and troubleshooting.
• Describe good communication skills and
professional behavior.
• Explain ethics and legal aspects of working with
computer technology.
• Describe the call center environment and
technician responsibilities.
10.1 Relationship between communication and
troubleshooting
• Good communication skills enhance a technician's
troubleshooting skills.
• Both of these skill sets take time and experience to develop
well.
• As your hardware, software, and OS knowledge increases,
your ability to quickly determine a problem and find a
solution will improve.
• . A knowledgeable technician who uses good communication
skills will always be in demand in the job market

• Speaking directly with the customer is usually the first step in

resolving the computer problem.
• As a technician, you also have access to several
communication and research tools.
10.2 Describe good communication skills
and professional behavior
• Whether you are talking with a customer on the phone or in person,
it is important to communicate well and to represent yourself
professionally.
• Your professionalism and good communication skills enhance your
creditability with the customer.
• Your body language can be seen by your customer. Many call-center
technicians use a mirror at their desk to monitor their facial
expressions.
• A good rule for all technicians to follow is that a new customer call
means a fresh start. Never carry your frustration from one call to the
next.
 10.2 Describe good communication skills and
professional behavior
10.2.1 Determine the computer problem with customer
Remember these three rules at the beginning of your
conversation:
• Know – Call your customer by name.
• Relate – Use brief communication to create a one-to-one
connection between you and your customer.
• Understand – Determine the customer's level of knowledge
about the computer to know how to effectively
communicate with the customer.
To accomplish this
• practice active listening skills.
• Don’t interrupt the customer while he/she is explaining his story
• Ask follow up question which should be targeted, closed-ended
questions
10.2 Describe good communication skills and
professional behavior
10.2.2 Display professional behavior with the customer
• Handle customer with respect , attention and professional behavior.
• Be positive while communicating and focus on what you can do
• Let the customer finish talking
Here are the list of things you should not do when communicating with customer:
• Avoid minimizing customer problems.
• Avoid using jargon, abbreviations, acronyms, and slang.
• Avoid a negative attitude or tone of voice.
• Avoid arguing with customers or becoming defensive.
• Avoid culturally insensitive remarks.
• Avoid being judgmental, insulting, or calling the customer names.
• Avoid distractions or interruptions when talking with customers.
• Avoid taking personal calls when talking with customers.
• Avoid talking to co-workers about unrelated subjects when talking with the customer.
• Avoid unnecessary holds and abrupt holds.
• Avoid transfers without explaining the purpose of the transfer and getting customer consent.
10.2 Describe good communication skills and
professional behavior
10.2.3 Focus the customer on the problem during the call
• Part of your job is to focus the customer during the phone call.
• Just as there are many different computer problems, there are many different types of
customers
Talkative Customer
• A talkative customer discusses everything except the problem on the call. It can be
difficult to get a talkative customer to focus on the problem.

Rude Customer
• A rude customer complains during the call and often makes negative comments about
the product, the service, and the technician.
Angry Customer
• An angry customer talks loudly during the call and often tries to speak when the
technician is talking

Knowledgeable Customer
A knowledgeable customer wants to speak with a technician that is equally experienced in
computers..

Inexperienced Customer
An inexperienced customer has difficulty describing the problem.
10.2 Describe good communication skills and
professional behavior
10.2.4 Use Proper netiquette(the correct or acceptable way of using the Internet)
 10.2 Describe good communication skills and
professional behavior
10.2.5 Implement time and stress management techniques
Workstation Ergonomics
• make sure that the desk layout works well
• Your chair should be adjusted to a height that is comfortable
• Adjust your computer screen, keyboard, mouse to a comfortable position
• Try to minimize external distractions such as noise
Time Management
• prioritize your activities
• carefully follow the business policy of your company
If you have to call back a customer, make sure that you do it as close to the callback
time as possible
• When working with many customers, do not give favorite customers faster or
better service
• Do not take the call of another technician, unless you have permission to do so.
Stress Management
• take a moment to compose yourself between customer calls
• you should not carry any frustrations from one call to the next.
• do some physical activity to relieve stress
• Take a break if you can, and try to relax and be ready to taking next customer call
effectively.
10.2 Describe good communication skills and
professional behavior
10.2.6 Observe Services level Agreements(SLA)
An SLA is a contract that defines expectations between an organization and the service
vendor to provide an agreed upon level of support.

Some of the contents of an SLA usually include the following:

• Response time guarantees (often based on type of call and level of service agreement)
• Equipment and software that is supported
• Where service is provided
• Preventive maintenance
• Diagnostics
• Part availability (equivalent parts)
• Cost and penalties
• Time of service availability (for example, 24x7; Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST;
and so on)
There might be exceptions to the SLA For example, a long-standing customer or a customer
from a very large company might have a problem that falls outside the parameters stated in
their SLA. In these cases, your management might choose to support the customer for
customer-relation reasons.
10.2 Describe good communication skills and
professional behavior
10.2.7 Follow Business Policies
As a technician, you should be aware of all business policies related to customer calls.
Following are some of the examples of different types of rules.
Customer Call Rules
• Maximum time on call (example: 15 minutes)
• Maximum call time in queue (example: three minutes)
• Number of calls per day (example: minimum of 30)
• Passing calls on to other technicians (example: only when absolutely necessary and not
without that technician's permission)
Call Center Employee Rules
• Arrive at your workstation on time and early enough to become prepared, usually about
15 to 20 minutes before the first call.
• Do not exceed the allowed number and length of breaks.
• Do not take a break or go to lunch if there is a call on the board.
• Do not take a break or go to lunch at the same time as other technicians (stagger breaks
among technicians).
Customer Satisfaction Rules
• Offer different repair or replacement options to the customer, if applicable.
• Give the customer proper documentation on all services provided.
• Follow up with the customer at a later date to verify satisfaction.
 10.3 Explain ethics and legal aspects of working with
computer technology
When you are working with customers and their equipment,
there are some general ethical customs and legal rules that you should observe.
Ethical Customs
You should always have respect for your customers, as well as for their property. Property includes any information or data
that might be accessible. Such information or data includes any of the following items:
• E-mails
• Phone lists
• Records or data on the computer
• Hard copies of files, information, or data left on desk
Before accessing a computer account, including the administrator account, you should get the permission of the customer.
From the troubleshooting process, you might have gathered some private information, such as usernames and passwords
which you must keep confidential.
 10.3 Explain ethics and legal aspects of working with
computer technology
When you are working with customers and their equipment, there are some
general ethical customs and legal rules that you should observe
Legal Rules
Several computer-related activities are not only unethical but are illegal. Be aware that this is not an exhaustive list:
• Do not make any changes to system software or hardware configurations without customer permission.
• Do not access a customer's or co-worker's accounts, private files, or e-mail messages without permission.
• Do not install, copy, or share digital content (including software, music, text, images, and video) in violation of copyright
and software agreements or applicable federal and state law.
• Do not use a customer's company IT resources for commercial purposes.
• Do not make a customer's IT resources available to unauthorized users.
• Keep sensitive customer information confidential.
• Do not knowingly use a customer's company resources for illegal activities. Criminal or illegal use includes obscenity, child
pornography, threats, harassment, copyright infringement, university trademark infringement, defamation, theft, identity
theft, and unauthorized access.
10.4 Describe call center environment and
technician responsibilities
10.4.1 Describe the call center environment
A call center might exist within a company and offer service to the employees of that
company as well as to the customers of that company's products. Alternatively, a call center
might be an independent business that sells computer support as a service to outside
customers. In either case, a call center is a busy, fast-paced work environment, often
operating 24 hours a day.
10.4 Describe call center environment and
technician responsibilities
10.4.2 Describe Level 1 technician responsibilities
The Primary responsibility of level 1 technician is to gather following information
 10.4 Describe call center environment and
technician responsibilities
10.4.3 Describe Level 2 technician responsibilities
• Also known as product specialist or technical support personnel
• Usually more knowledgeable than level 1
• Problems that require opening up the computer needs a level-two technician.
• Level-two technicians can also use remote diagnostic software to connect to the customer's computer to update
drivers and software, access the operating system, check the BIOS, and gather other diagnostic information to solve
the problem.
Following are some of the guidelines that a level 1 technician consider while escalating problem to level 2 technician:
• Escalate problems that require opening the computer case.
• Escalate problems that require installation of applications, operating systems, or drivers.
• Escalate problems that will take a long time to walk a customer through - like CMOS changes.
• Escalate down calls. The entire network is down, and a more experienced technician might be able to resolve the
issue faster.
Thank You