Watertown, Mass.-- In a provocative new report, the Association of Support Professionals (ASP) suggests that technical support quality could be greatly improved by adopting a more selective approach to the kinds of problems that support agents are expected to handle.
 
"Currently, the gold standard for support is, 'We'll answer any question the customer asks,'" says ASP executive director Jeffrey Tarter. "That sounds wonderful, but in fact this open-ended promise often frustrates customers who find that there really are problems where support can't or won't help."
 
"By failing to set limits on support, moreover, technology companies end up with an extremely inefficient business model.
 
Rather than address root causes--such as usability problems in product design, shortcomings in training portfolios, and inadequate self-service tools--support organizations spend huge amounts of money answering the same 'junk' questions over and over again. This is nuts."
 
The ASP's new "Setting Limits" report suggests a variety of best- practices alternatives to the current open-ended support model, many of which have been suggested by ASP members and other support managers.
 
Copies of the report are free to ASP members; membership is $80/year for individuals and $500 for companies. For more information, visit the ASP Web site at http://www.asponline.com/limits.html .
 
The Association of Support Professionals is a membership organization that publishes research reports for software support managers and professionals, offers workshops in fee-based support, and conducts an annual competition for the "Ten Best Web Support Sites."