In this chapter, you learned about the relationship between communication skills and troubleshooting skills. You have learned that these two skills need to be combined to make you a successful technician. You also learned about the legal aspects and ethics of dealing with computer technology and the property of the customer.
The following concepts from this chapter are important to remember:
- To be a successful technician, you must practice good communication skills with customers and co-workers. These skills are as important as technical expertise.
- You should always conduct yourself in a professional manner with your customers and co-workers. Professional behavior increases customer confidence and enhances your credibility. You should also learn to recognize the classic signs of a difficult customer and learn what to do and what not to do when you are on a call with this customer.
- There are techniques that you can use to keep a difficult customer focused on the problem during a call. Primarily, you must remain calm and ask pertinent questions in an appropriate fashion. These techniques keep you in control of the call.
- There is a right way and a wrong way to put a customer on hold or transfer a customer to another technician. Learn and use the right way every time. Doing either of these operations incorrectly can negatively affect your company’s relationship with its customers.
- Netiquette is a list of rules to use whenever you communicate through email, text messaging, instant messaging, and blogs.
- You must understand and comply with your customer’s SLA. If the problem falls outside the parameters of the SLA, find positive ways of telling the customer what you can do to help, rather than what you cannot do. In special circumstances, you might decide to escalate the work order to management.
- In addition to the SLA, you must follow the business policies of the company. These policies include how your company prioritizes calls, how and when to escalate a call to management, and when you are allowed to take breaks and lunch.
- A computer technician’s job is stressful. You rarely meet a customer who is having a good day. You can alleviate some of the stress by setting up your workstation in the most ergonomically beneficial way possible. Practice time and stress management techniques every day.
- There are ethical and legal aspects of working in computer technology. You should be aware of your company’s policies and practices. In addition, you might need to familiarize yourself with your local or country’s trademark and copyright laws.
- Collecting and analyzing data from computer systems, networks, wireless communications, and storage devices is called computer forensics.
- Cyber laws explain the circumstances under which data (evidence) can be collected from computers, data storage devices, networks, and wireless communications. First response is the term used to describe the official procedures employed by those people who are qualified to collect evidence.
- Even if you are not a system administrator or computer forensics expert, it is a good habit to create detailed documentation of all the work that you do. Being able to prove how evidence was collected and where it has been between the time of collection and its entry into the court proceeding is known as the chain of custody.
- The call center is a fast-paced environment. Level one technicians and level two technicians each have specific responsibilities. These responsibilities might vary slightly from one call center to another.