7 Key Benefits of Dell Technical Support

    Hello, Habr! Today we want to talk a little about technical support, the role of which, as it seems to us, in the difficult economic situation is growing significantly. Perhaps one of you has already faced a budget reduction for updating or maintaining IT systems. If not, it’s very cool, but it’s better to keep your finger on the pulse just in case. And remember that when the company does not have money for capital expenditures, then you can "buy peace of mind" by setting up a budget for really good technical support and "extend the life" of the old hardware.



    Of course, Dell has several programs for different tasks and at different prices. A list of their features can always be found here.. But simply transmitting information from the official site here would be wrong. Therefore, we decided to highlight the key advantages of Dell technical support, some of which are not only extremely useful, but also unique in their niche.

    1. Proactive Technical Support

    It's no secret that server hardware crashes quite rarely. And if suddenly a problem happened with a separate component, then often there is a special person in the staff who is quite capable of dealing with the problem. Plus, no one cancels the standard warranty, under which the part will be replaced in any case. However, servers are by no means only hardware, but also software. The load on full-time technical specialists is almost always quite large, and they do not always have time to thoroughly understand all the software nuances. When an error occurs in the software, it will probably take much longer to fix it than to simply replace the memory module or disk.

    At the same time, Dell technical support specialists always keep abreast in the direction of software. Every day they help users solve some difficulties and over the years have accumulated vast experience. Of course, we immediately announce all important updates, but practice shows that often our corporate customers simply forget to install them. Proactive technical support solves this problem: Dell experts know about the configuration of the devices used by the client, how they are connected and how they interact with each other. Having discovered a possible problem that may arise with the equipment, they immediately get in touch with the customer and tell in detail what needs to be done so that these problems never arise.

    Our practice shows that not all customers think about the importance of preventing the problems of computer systems. But when a problem suddenly happens, it can hit the business so that all processes simply stop. One of our clients works with servers and storage systems and periodically buys Dell equipment, including technical support with on-site troubleshooting for 4 hours.

    Once, in a panic, the customer called our hotline and said that his entire publishing house had lost access to data on the storage system - work stopped. On the spot, it turned out that from a hardware point of view, all systems are fully operational, and a problem was found in the system software. Six months before this story, a possible bug was revealed, for which they quickly made an appropriate fix. All that was needed was to install it, but the client’s system administrators for some reason did not. As a result, data fragmentation happened - the controller could not collect disparate data from multiple disks. Fortunately, we managed to do this manually, but since then our client always buys proactive technical support, because he learned from his experience how important it can be.


    2. Ease of interaction with Dell technical support

    One of our priorities is to make it easy and convenient for customers to communicate with Dell technical support. For this, we completely excluded administrative staff from the process of communicating on technical issues. When the customer calls the hotline, he does not have to explain to the call center operator what exactly is required. Instead, you only need to press the phone buttons a couple of times, passing a short filtering by an answering machine: at this stage, the language and type of product for which questions arose are selected. After that, a Dell technical support specialist immediately contacts the customer.

    And recently, a new communication channel has appeared - a client can contact a technical support specialist through a form on the Dell websiteand chat with him. The exact same people who answer the phone will help to solve the problem.

    The advantages of this method were immediately appreciated by our customers: “... I assess the use of chat as a way to contact technical support as an extremely positive experience. High speed of access to the service, the minimum response time of a technical support employee (compared to a phone call), the ability to accurately transmit information about errors and diagnostic results, automatic sending of contact history by e-mail, etc. "

    Of course, all our specialists are regularly trained, and we are building the process so that people are ready to help on the widest possible range of issues. We teach employees to connect customers with the right professionals and find out the missing information within the company to give the most accurate and detailed answer instead of fighting off the duty “we are not doing it.” Not so long ago, for example, our employees helped a 70-year-old woman make a backup of the system.

    Another our task for the coming quarters is to tell customers and customers that they can always order an extension of the warranty on equipment and get an offer without leaving home. At the moment, there is even a 10 percent discount when ordering through the site. And a positive feedback comes from users - very many people like to do everything on the Web.

    3. Online spare parts ordering system / Dell TechDirect

    When a server component malfunctions at the corporate customer, when contacting technical support, he waits for him to immediately say “ok, now we will replace everything”. But in practice, everything is not so simple: a specialist will first ask you to run a scanning utility that collects data about the system and logs, then packs all this into an archive. After that, the archive must be sent to the engineer, he analyzes the data and issues his verdict on the cause of the breakdown. Only after confirming the failure in this way the technical support employee proceeds to order the components.

    However, there are customers who are familiar with Dell hardware and can quickly diagnose on their own. Specifically for their convenience, we have created the Dell TechDirect online parts ordering system. It is very convenient for customers with a large fleet of equipment and in need of prompt repair in case of malfunctions. Everything works very simply: the customer’s technical specialist sees the problem in some node (for example, the system board or memory module) and immediately orders the necessary spare part. In some cases, when the problem is difficult to diagnose, you can order several components at once. When the components arrive, the customer engineer sequentially tests suspicious components, changing them to new ones. After the malfunction is "felt",

    Of course, for customer engineers who really need a quick ordering system for spare parts, we conduct online training courses on how to use it and how to diagnose and repair Dell equipment that they operate.

    One of our regular customers is a system integrator who has a serious customer - a very large Russian bank using equipment from different companies, including and Dell technology. The integrator serves the bank under a contract with rather stringent conditions, among which, for example, there is a requirement to fully restore the system within 24 hours after a failure. Having access to the Dell TechDirect portal, our customer’s engineers can always quickly order spare parts to carry out operational repairs and fulfill the terms of the contract. Components are delivered to the right place within 4 hours after ordering.

    4. Dell Field Visit for Diagnostics and Repair

    Different customers have different requirements for technical support. Even two or three special programs may not be suitable for everyone, so we selected a separate option with a Dell engineer visiting the place where the equipment was used to collect diagnostic data. Without this option, all diagnostics are carried out remotely - a technical support specialist by phone or chat asks an employee of the client, for example, to rearrange the memory modules on the board if it seems that the problem is in them, etc. However, not everyone in the state has a person who is ready to deal with diagnostics and generally has competence in this matter.

    One of Dell's global customers in Russia, a large chain of stores, always buys this option along with servers as the budget requires only one IT specialist per store. And this person is always in the customer service area, his priority is the smooth operation of scanners and cash registers. When there is a problem at one of the cash registers, it simply won’t go to the server room. And while the IT engineer is working on the front-end, a Dell specialist just comes to the backend and solves all the problems on the spot.

    In addition, often enterprises do not have their own data centers, but rent them. Access to the premises where the mass of equipment of various tenants is located is strictly regulated. Moreover, the servers can simply be located at a distance of hundreds or thousands of kilometers from the office of the company renting them. Sending an IT specialist there to solve the problem is long and expensive. And these data centers often do not provide their specialists for such tasks. The option with the Dell engineer’s departure is just relevant for such cases: as agreed with the client, our employee gets access to the data center and quickly leaves the site in case of problems. By the way, we try not to be limited to simple diagnostics. If you need to update the system software on the server, then our person will also do this.

    6. The term of serviceability is 7 years.

    Any modern technology has a so-called “life span”, during which the manufacturer undertakes to service it. With a technical support contract, of course. For most server manufacturers, this period is 5 years, while for Dell it is 7 years, which allows you to plan your infrastructure more flexibly and invest less in it. Moreover, now obsolete hardware can be used longer thanks to virtualization technologies.

    Note that the term end of service is not as simple as it seems at first glance. This is not just a whim of management, but a very complex system of agreements between many vendors with each other. The server manufacturer must be sure that, if necessary, its partners in motherboards, hard drives, memory, etc. will provide the necessary components for 5-7 years.

    7. High Level Support Program for the Most Important Systems / Pro Support Plus

    A common feature of standard technical support programs is that they are reactive, i.e. “Turn on” when something is out of order or just any problem occurs. But if the system is critically important, then any breakdown and delay in operation is fraught with great disasters for business. Of course, such systems are almost always duplicated, but, in any case, their condition must be monitored to prevent unpleasant situations. That's what Dell Pro Support Plus is for.

    Its essence lies in the fact that Dell specialists regularly receive information on critical systems (hardware configuration, logs, system software level, subsystem performance), analyze all indicators, compare them with the recommended parameters for these systems and, based on the results, compile a categorized report. inside of which there is a detailed breakdown with all identified problems according to their degree of importance. Dell also helps to install updates. A special technical manager orchestrates such support: together with the customer, he determines the circle of necessary tasks, offers algorithms for solving them and helps in preventive matters. Simply put, this is a personal liaison inside Dell, which tries to solve any problems as quickly as possible and finds the best specialists on specific issues within the company.

    One of Dell's customers is a large group of companies. In fact, our client is the managerial link for a large number of factories and representative offices in various parts of Russia. It is very important for the customer that the equipment works smoothly and is quickly repaired. In addition, it is quite difficult to plan the development of such a complex and ramified IT infrastructure on your own, and Dell specialists help in this. We draw up a support plan, agree in advance on all preventive measures, give recommendations on system software for storage systems. In addition, the client has certain wishes for the qualification of technical specialists, and Dell technical support always sends engineers suitable for these criteria.

    Thanks to everyone who read the material to the end! If you still have questions regarding Dell technical support, we will answer them in the comments.

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