Varying aspects of the job

[LNorris]

i handle mechanical calls and network/connectivity calls. lately we have had more in-depth connectivity/network calls. we are a small operation < 5 employees.

for those that have a small operation, how do you handle the IT and service calls? do you have specialized techs or do they handle all the calls, regardless of the degree of difficulty? what kind of training is needed? we handle kyocera if that matters.

thanks

[TheOwl]

We used to be a small operation until we got bought out by a bigger business. Even still, I was the network specialist that also fixed the printers and faxes when we were a small operation. If anyone had an IT issue that they couldn't solve themselves, I would go and fix the issue.

IT style jobs for copiers can be a tricky area of interest. About 25% per cent of the IT related calls that I do have nothing to do with the machine as such, but this is what the customer believes. These calls are then charged to the customer as there was nothing wrong with the machine.

On the other hand, the rest of my calls are setting up printing and scanning, diagnosing print / scan issues and so on. When I first started working on copiers / printers / scanners, I didn't really know alot about the IT side either. The biggest thing you do need to know is basic networking. From there, the rest was self taught until I was finally sent away on some training courses with the manufacturers that we deal with.

If you have a sound connectivity knowledge, then why not do some in house training with your other techs? All that is required is a couple of copiers a network of some sort and a few beers.

I have been doing this sort of thing with our techs for quite some time now and it has paid. Our techs are getting more and more complicated IT style calls done with out my assistance, which means more machines are getting fixed without time wasting. Don't forget, that you always have your manufacturer support as well which should have a connectivity specialist as well.

Hope this helps.

[fixthecopier]

We are a small company. We used to keep one IT guy, then we bought a computer company and kept 2 of their people. Calls that can be determined are IT related we send one of them. Sometimes I may be on site and if I can fix the problem with phone support from my office I will. I try to pick up as much knowledge as I can. I believe that a small company would benefit from having all techs at the same level by sharing information. If I had any input as to how we are run, I would have everyone able to set up a network and do basic troubleshooting. Knowledge is power, the more you know, the better off you are.

[blackcat4866]

I have drifted over to the network side mostly by default. With various manpower changes I found myself knowing very little, but more than the others. After getting tossed repeatedly into the fire, I've started to pick up some skills.

As phone support I'm not able to help that much, but in person I can usually muddle through.

I think that's how most of us have gotten into networking. For a small company I would recommend to have an IT consultant available to subcontract for those difficult installations.

Did I answer your question? I'm not so sure... =^..^=

[TheOwl]

I use this motto all the time.

If at first you don't succeed, use google.

It has gotten to the point where I have slowly been moved out of the Copier division here at work and now starting to do desktop and server support. It all started from installing copiers on networks and giving google an absolute thrashing.

[unisys12]

I use this motto all the time.

If at first you don't succeed, use google.

It has gotten to the point where I have slowly been moved out of the Copier division here at work and now starting to do desktop and server support. It all started from installing copiers on networks and giving google an absolute thrashing.

Absolutely! Same here!

Our company is very small as well. Although we have two offices, we only have 6 techs right now and yes, looking to hire more. When I started, one of our owners did all the connectivity. I slowly started helping him and about a year and half ago, took over completely. But, I also had to carry all the color machines and help with black and whites if calls were high. The rest of the guys just did b/w calls.

I have tried and tried to get the other guys to help with connectivity stuff, but... well, they can all make a MFP print, but scanning or troubleshooting is pretty much out of the question. The owners and I have pretty much given up on them helping much past that and relialize that we will have to bring someone new into the company to help out. So, if I cannot make it out to an install that requires connectivity, then one of the other techs set's them up to print and I come back at a later time (most of the time, the next day) to set up scanning and any fax forwarding needs, as well as train on scanning/printing features and such.

For the most part, things work out. We've never had a customer disapointed or anything. Well, not enough to tell us anyway. But, if calls volumes shoot up or I have one rough day.... oh hell....

[treloyarakias]

i handle mechanical calls and network/connectivity calls. lately we have had more in-depth connectivity/network calls. we are a small operation < 5 employees.

for those that have a small operation, how do you handle the IT and service calls? do you have specialized techs or do they handle all the calls, regardless of the degree of difficulty? what kind of training is needed? we handle kyocera if that matters.

thanks

It is important for the company to answer all the service calls immidiately.Of course your employees should be trained for this.After sales in these days is very important for the clients!You should handle the situation very carefully.And yes in our company we have a well trained tech who anwsers to the questions for network / connectiuvity issues.

[schooltech]

I believe that one of the key points to making connectivity go a bit easier is to "TRY" to get sales and service on the same page. When sales heads back to the office with a potential sale, write it up, move the box to the customer, and then set up the network call with dispatch. A tech goes out to install it and the customer says, "We'd like the machine to print from over there," fifty feet from any sort of network drop, as an example. Of course, this doesn't stop there, because now the machine also needs to support features that their office network will not properly support, whatever that problem is.

I guess what I'm saying is that if the people doing the installs can talk to their techs, if they use a company, or at least head out and survey the environment, they can even have the machine IP installed, for instance, so when the machine goes out there, it makes the installation quite a bit easier. I developed for our company a network survey form that the salespeople used. Surprisingly, it worked very well, as I kept it simple, yet effective. It made many of the subsequent installations much easier, and we had customers that were impressed with the smoothe installs.

Also, in these years, salespeople should be CDIA+ certified, so they will feel more comfortable "selling" the IT portion, and bring a company IT person to help talk-the-talk with anyone else. If some companies require their techs to be certified, why should the salespeople not also be certified to sell highly advanced pieces of equipment? It is a tall order for some companies, as complacency is an easy road to go down.

[LNorris]

thats exactly what i've been bringing up, the salesmen have been reading the manuals/promo material and telling customers what the mfp will do, some of this stuff we have never had to do becuase the technology WAS ahead of most of our customers. well, the customers are catching up and we (our company) is pedaling faster to get caught up as well. so i've been made the IT person for our machines and all my IT experience is hands on. so i'm climbing the hill. i've worked with computers since 83, just not that deep into networks/servers or any certifications.

what is CDIA+ certification? i will be getting deeper into the machines and networking. will be taking courses for this as well. hoping to find out what avenues to pursue first.

I believe that one of the key points to making connectivity go a bit easier is to "TRY" to get sales and service on the same page. When sales heads back to the office with a potential sale, write it up, move the box to the customer, and then set up the network call with dispatch. A tech goes out to install it and the customer says, "We'd like the machine to print from over there," fifty feet from any sort of network drop, as an example. Of course, this doesn't stop there, because now the machine also needs to support features that their office network will not properly support, whatever that problem is.

I guess what I'm saying is that if the people doing the installs can talk to their techs, if they use a company, or at least head out and survey the environment, they can even have the machine IP installed, for instance, so when the machine goes out there, it makes the installation quite a bit easier. I developed for our company a network survey form that the salespeople used. Surprisingly, it worked very well, as I kept it simple, yet effective. It made many of the subsequent installations much easier, and we had customers that were impressed with the smoothe installs.

Also, in these years, salespeople should be CDIA+ certified, so they will feel more comfortable "selling" the IT portion, and bring a company IT person to help talk-the-talk with anyone else. If some companies require their techs to be certified, why should the salespeople not also be certified to sell highly advanced pieces of equipment? It is a tall order for some companies, as complacency is an easy road to go down.

[schooltech]

CompTIA CDIA+, Certified Document Imaging Architech

It's a Comptia certification for showing that they can better assess an office and better understand the technology of today's office equipment.

I know it's not a whole lot for the salespeople, as most think they have better things to do, but I have read in some of the industry pubs that some companies require their salespeople to be certified within a certain, usually three months. This, surprisingly, gives some of the salespeople more confidence too. Of course, there are the salespeople with named accounts and are lifers, who do actually make quite a bit of dough. They are the perfect ones to set examples for the newer salespeople.

Again, we go off to school, why should they not at least get certified too?