Information technology teams are often the farthest removed point from customers. Combine that challenge with the fact that a lot of your employees could be on a contract status, so at the end of the day, they really don’t have a long-term connection (beyond the end of their contract) to your company’s employees and customer base.
Very rarely have they directly involved with the end users until the recent moves into enterprise software. With the acceptance of new technology, IT departments are embracing something very different than the “I am just going to code in my cubicle and not see another person all day.” New IT department approaches require a better model, one that makes the customer service component prominent. Sometimes, managers have found some resistance to the new approaches.
In order to build team buy-in, managers must first make the team fully understand that their role is to help the members of the company do their jobs efficiently and effectively. This means everything from working with the product engineers while designing the perfect, robust database for research and development to staffing the help desk with friendly faces who can troubleshoot the nasty giant plotter for the sales and marketing department. Each component of the organization is important, and each department has its own corner of customer service. IT should pride itself on being the glue that holds the ship together as it rides out the waves of the marketplace. Anything the IT team can do not only will help the company achieve but also could help their career. Consider yourself an IT contract worker who goes above and beyond in their ability to help out internal employees. If you step right in and help people you have no real connection to, that helpful attitude will follow you throughout your next job search.
Even beyond the basics of customer service, IT should be challenged to exceed expectations with external customers in particular. Unfortunately, IT has a bad reputation for long hold times and less than stellar attitudes. The reality is that in a competitive marketplace, good customer service is often the deciding factor in purchasing decisions. In fact, many of the market leaders have been pushed to the top by the willingness of their employees to go a few extra minutes out of their way to assist customers. Plus, do you really want to hear how the other company had much better customer service than your company at the next reputation review meeting with marketing? Being a contract employee, you don’t want that potential reference to say you only did what was necessary or were unhelpful to external employees during any communication.
If you are looking for the best team members to motivate the rest of the IT department to up the ante on customer service, we can help. Consultant Specialists matches clients with top IT talent ready to help your organization. Contact us today to work with a leader in IT recruitment in San Francisco, and we will find your perfect fit.