The call volumes received by IT support fluctuate greatly, not only over the course of a week or a month, but typically also within the course of a day. Every IT support manager knows it: the unloved M-curve. For reasons that are often not well known, there are usually 2 major peaks of incoming telephone requests within a day - a larger peak in the morning and a smaller one in the afternoon. It seems as if, at the same time, a large number of users suddenly have a simultaneous IT problem for which they need help.
The M Curve and its Challenges
The M-curve, so called because of the two characteristic peaks of incoming calls in the morning and in the afternoon, is identical in practically all companies in the IT support sector and can be described as the classic call distribution over the day. The two peaks occur when a very large number of users call at the same time and require IT support. This can happen, for example, when a general software or hardware problem occurs, a major incident that affects everyone equally, but often no specific cause or event can be assigned to the call clusters.
The classic M-curve with the daily call distribution
The red line on the illustration above shows how many calls IT support is able to handle. The two gray peak areas above the red line cannot be handled by the employees within an acceptable period of time, resulting in waiting times and losses in service quality. This uneven call distribution is a major challenge for any IT support manager.
The two gray peak areas above the red line cannot be processed by the staff within an acceptable period of time, resulting in waiting times and losses in service quality.
The Consequences
If users end up on hold and their problems cannot be solved promptly, IT support very quickly falls into disrepute. General dissatisfaction spreads because, firstly, people today are used to everything running quickly and efficiently and that services can often be requested around the clock, and secondly, it is often not possible to continue with one's own work without IT support. Twice as annoying and not a pleasant user experience! It does not matter whether the IT users are internal or external. End users experience downtime while waiting for their issue to be resolved, and service desk agents also suffer from the stress of trying to serve and help all waiting end users.
But how can the IT support manager solve this daily problem without hiring more support staff, who would then be underemployed except at peak times and would also put a strain on the budget?
Mastering the challenges with Smart Call Deflection
The M-curve problem can be solved very elegantly by adding a digital channel with a chatbot. Smart Call Deflection can give your service desk agents breathing room during peaks. Smart Call Deflection means shifting call volume from a channel that cannot be automated or can only be automated to one that can, such as a chat channel or an email channel. To better manage the challenges of the M-curve, a digital helper is best.
The M-curve problem can be solved very elegantly by adding a digital channel with a chatbot.
Here, calls are simply «channeled» to the digital helper, in this case the «e-ticket bot», as needed. This call deflection can either be set up so that calls are automatically diverted to the chatbot if all the supporters are busy and too many users are stuck in the queue, or an «opt in/opt out» system is installed in which those seeking help can choose for themselves whether they want to claim help from the chatbot immediately and without waiting, or whether they want to wait for a supporter to help them. In either case, they don't just hang helplessly on hold with growing annoyance.
What happens when Smart Call Deflection is selected?
If the user chooses the digital channel, a positive user experience is almost assured. The e-ticket bot recognizes the caller immediately, e.g., by the telephone number, and thus also his or her stored data, such as email address and name. This means it can already personalize its response. An email is sent to the user and further communication takes place either verbally or in writing via a chat window. Through clever questions and appropriate answers, the problem is narrowed down and defined and a ticket is created. The ticket already contains all the information that the supporter will later need to solve the user's problem, so no queries are necessary. In this way, the problem can therefore be logged in very efficiently without any waiting time. In addition, the conversation with the e-ticket bot is also fun and guarantees a positive customer experience. Learn more about Smart Call Deflection in our current webinar on the topic.
Is handling all the support calls during daily peaks also a prominent issue for you? Would you like to optimize the image of your IT support team? Tell us about it. We will be happy to advise you and set up Smart Call Deflection at your site as well.