Customer-facing communication

Abstract

Delivering customer-facing support begins with good communication. Communicating technology information such as scheduled maintenance, current outages, software updates notifications, rollouts, changes to systems, etc. to students, faculty, and staff is a challenge to University IT departments. Providing first-class customer-facing communication consists of being on message, using customer-friendly word smithing, providing consistent content, and creating a variety of communication venues. Information Technology Services (ITS) at the University of North Florida appointed a Communications Coordinator to facilitate their client service efforts. This person drafts and proofs IT communication sent to the campus community, maintains the IT web pages, coordinates departmental presentations for new employee orientations, and updates IT entries in University catalogs and handbooks. There efforts have provided the University community with consistent, clear, and reliable information that is obtainable from a variety of venues. Users receive prior notice of scheduled maintenance written for the non-technical. The ITS web page was redesigned so constituencies can locate information tailored to them. It includes a highly visible network and systems status bar that identifies current outages and upcoming maintenance. ITS created telephone distribution groups using the phone system's software, which enables the communication of a voice message in the event network services are not available. Their customer-facing communication efforts have lead to improved satisfaction with clients and other technical staff.