Whether customers call technical support or need a service technician on site, they expect a quick solution to their problem. Long waiting times on the phone or multiple inquiry calls frustrate them and cause dissatisfaction. If a service technician comes by to repair a machine, it should be ready for use again when he leaves. Customers do not accept further delays or downtimes.
At the same time, technical products are becoming ever more complex and their innovation cycles ever shorter. The knowledge available in the company about this is constantly growing and is distributed across more and more sources: from ERP, CRM and PDM systems to wikis, spare parts catalogs and the intranet to manuals, documentation, and FAQs on file servers. This makes it difficult if not impossible for support staff to find the information quickly, and efficiently they need to solve individual customer problems.
Enterprise Search can provide a remedy. Intrafind, a specialist in enterprise search and AI, explains how enterprise search software ensures speed and precision in technical support:
1. Central Cockpits. Enterprise search software connects all the necessary systems and data sources and makes them searchable from a single interface in a central location. NLP (Natural Language Processing) technology not only enables employees to search for terms. The software can also process queries in the form of sentences or phrases - for example, "seal leaks" or "engine loses oil”.
2. AI technology. With AI technologies such as machine learning, enterprise search links content in an intelligent way. This makes it possible to search large databases with just a few pieces of preliminary information. If a customer has a defective V-belt, for example, all that is needed is to enter the customer number together with the word "fan belt". The software then guides the support employee to information on the type of V-belt installed at this customer's site and to instructions on how to replace it.
3. Quick access. The software displays found documents in easy-to-read hit lists. Employees can open them directly in a preview, where their search term is highlighted in color. The locations where the documents were found are displayed as jump links for each page. Employees can jump directly to the relevant paragraphs and thus do not have to sift through pages of operating instructions, for example.
4. Individualization. Search profiles can be set up individually - both for the service department as a whole and for individual employees. The software then gives higher weighting to documents and records that are particularly relevant to their work or specific cases, and automatically places them higher up in the hit lists. In addition, employees can favor documents and save search queries that match frequently occurring problems or recurring questions.
5. Mobile support. Companies can make the search available to their employees regardless of location and across devices: on PCs, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones. This gives service technicians the option of searching for additional information directly on site. It also allows companies to support home-office scenarios for their telephone support staff.
"Enterprise Search allows service employees to do their jobs more professionally because they can get to the relevant information faster," explains IntraFind CEO Franz Kögl. "For companies, this means stronger customer loyalty, increased efficiency and cost reductions. As experience shows, they can achieve ROI times of well under twelve months in the process."
