Checklist – 15 Things to Help Plan for a Service Outage: Part 2
Ensure your customers’ needs will continue to be met in the event your contact centre experiences a service outage.
Note: The following is part two of a two part article. Find part one here.
When we last left off on Wednesday, we had covered 8 steps on how to plan for a service outage. The remaining 7 steps will be the focus of today’s article. These steps will ensure your customers’ needs will continue to be met in the event your contact centre experiences a service outage.
9. No News is Not Good News
Even if you don’t have the full story, customers appreciate having access to some information about what’s happening and when service will be restored. Don’t wait until you have every last detail before sharing your story. Offer what details you can to tide your customers over.
10. All Hands on Deck
When drafting your service outage crisis management plan, make sure you have a plan for bringing all available team members on deck until your services are fully restored. Assess how each role can be of use in a crisis and include all hands in the crisis plan.
11. Be Honest
Don’t lie to make yourself or your customers feel better. Be honest about why service failed and when you estimate it will be restored. Telling a tall tale will create resentment if your deception is revealed.
12. Keep Calm and Restore Service
Don’t panic. No one makes good decisions under duress, so keep your head screwed on straight and demonstrate calm, responsive leadership.
13. Rotate Shifts
Getting things up and running may require around-the-clock work, but a 24/7 schedule is too much for any one individual. Establish rotating shifts and be sure all members of your team are relieved to keep them fresh and focused on fixing the problem.
14. Don’t Let Communication Fail
Just because your business’ service has failed doesn’t mean you can go into radio silence. Be sure your plan includes a backup contact centre solution so that a third party can handle client calls even if your own contact centre is down for the count.
15. Take to Social Media
Use your social network accounts to reach customers even if your website and contact centre are down. Social media makes a great backup communications solution.
When disaster strikes, it can be an opportunity for infamy or for excellence. Be sure your company has a thoroughly researched and practiced plan to handle unexpected operational outages and to start the ball rolling on restoring service. See our free whitepaper below for more information on how to deal with potential service outages.
