How can you measure resolution time for technical support issues?

2 Why is resolution time important?

Resolution time is important because it reflects the customer's satisfaction and loyalty, as well as the support team's productivity and effectiveness. Customers expect their issues to be resolved quickly and effectively, and they are more likely to stay loyal and recommend your services if they have a positive support experience. On the other hand, long or inconsistent resolution times can lead to customer frustration, dissatisfaction, and churn. Moreover, resolution time can help you evaluate and improve your support processes, resources, and performance, as well as identify and address any bottlenecks, gaps, or inefficiencies.

4 How to reduce resolution time?

In order to reduce resolution time, it is essential to optimize your technical support processes, resources, and performance, and ensure that you meet or exceed customer expectations. One way to do this is by defining and communicating clear service level agreements (SLAs). SLAs are contracts that specify the expected quality and speed of your technical support services, such as response time, resolution time, availability, and reliability. This helps you set and manage customer expectations, as well as monitor and report compliance and performance. Additionally, you should implement best practices and standards such as ITIL, ISO, or COBIT. These guidelines help you deliver consistent and effective technical support services while improving quality, efficiency, and alignment with business goals and customer needs. It is also important to provide training and coaching to develop and enhance the skills of your support agents. This can increase their competence, confidence, and productivity while reducing errors, escalations, and rework. Finally, using automation and self-service technologies can reduce the workload of your support agents while empowering customers to find answers on their own.

5 How to benchmark resolution time?

Benchmarking resolution time can help you evaluate your technical support performance, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and set realistic and achievable goals for improvement. You can do this by comparing your resolution time measurements with your own historical data, SLA targets, or industry or peer averages. Internal benchmarking involves comparing with your own past or current data, such as previous month, quarter, or year, or current average, median, or percentile. This can help track and analyze trends, patterns, and variations and identify any anomalies or outliers. External benchmarking involves comparing with SLA targets or industry or peer averages. This can help assess and validate your resolution time performance and learn from others' best practices or challenges.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?