> We are actively searching for qualified support people, we just don't take
> applications, we also recruit from the industry. (Me for example.) So if
> you know of *good* support people, it wouldn't hurt to let us know, or let
> them know we're looking. Maybe they'll end up on this team.
The other problem is that qualified tech support people tend to be the
kinds of people other companies would want to recruit off. :-) I've been
drooling over one of my competitors support guys for a while now (they
don't use portmasters, I can say that here). I suspect other people have
similar stories.
> We don't want that to happen here, we are committed to providing free support
> to everyone and don't want to start dividing the base into those who pay and
> those who don't. The fact that we don't charge is not the problem, the
> problem is human resources.
>
> Honestly, I think that is really the only major problem - human resources to
> handle the load.
Or the institution of approaches to handle the load which bypass much
of the human resource necessity. There are several pretty easy ways to
reduce your tech support call volume, many of which you're currently
working on.
* Publicize this list more. Hell, I'd even put it in the official docs.
I was lucky enough that my sales rep suggested I subscribe to the list
_before_ I purchased our first portmaster, but there are probably
others out there who aren't as lucky.
* The faq.. <repeat> the faq... :) Borrow the information from
www.vii.com/portmaster if needs be. Or put a link to it from
the support page. <shrug>
* Email support with a library of FAQ questions that're easily
incorporated in to a message. It meets with varying success
depending on the rate of repeat questions, but I'd wager you
receive a lot of "My modems don't ..." questions and the like.
The problem, of course, is getting the framework for all of this set
up. Once you have it, it works like a charm.
> I'm not a management type, of course, so there may well be things I am not
> aware of. That's what I see from the trenches.
As is typical in ISPdom, I'm a bit of both. I agree with you about
the qualified personnel situation, but sometimes it's best to hire
someone who is perhaps too expensive, have her get the job done (e.g.
taking over for you while you get the web pages done so you don't have to
work 600 hour weeks. :) and then see how things settle. Getting a solid
framework for handling these things is oftentimes worth double the cost
of getting it done.
*shrug*
-Dave Andersen
--
angio@aros.net Complete virtual hosting and business-oriented
system administration Internet services. (WWW, FTP, email)
http://www.aros.net/ http://www.aros.net/about/virtual/
"She totally confused all the passing piranhas"