Customer Support
Managing customer service operations.
Workflow
- 01Inquiry Initiation
- 02Ticket Generation
- 03Assignment and Notification
- 04Issue Resolution
- 05Follow-up and Feedback
Why it matters in an ERP context
Support inside the ERP can draw on everything the system already knows — the customer's orders, their history, what they were shipped and when. That is the difference between a personalised answer and asking the customer to explain their own account back to you.
The workflow
- 01
Inquiry initiation
A customer makes contact through one of the available channels.
- 02
Ticket generation
The system raises a support ticket and logs the detail of the inquiry.
- 03
Assignment and notification
The ticket is assigned to a representative, who is notified of the new case.
- 04
Issue resolution
The representative draws on ERP data to resolve it, involving other departments where needed.
- 05
Follow-up and feedback
The customer is contacted for feedback once resolved, and it is logged against the record.
The DX Guides wiki carried the Sales Force Automation workflow on this page. Support is not a sales process: it begins with a case and ends with a resolution, and modelling it as a pipeline produces the wrong metrics and the wrong queue behaviour.
What you need in place
- Multi-channel integration: Email, phone, live chat and self-service portals all landing in the same queue.
- Customer data management: Centralised customer data so a representative is not searching three systems mid-call.
- Knowledge base management: A maintained repository of answers, for both self-service and agent use.
- Ticket management: Tracking, assignment and escalation that someone actually owns.
- Feedback and reporting: Tools for collecting feedback and reporting on support performance.
Implementing it
- 01
Define the support process
Map it end to end, from inquiry through resolution to feedback.
- 02
Select and customise modules
Choose the modules that support service operations and configure them to the mapped process.
- 03
Integrate communication channels
Bring every channel into one support experience.
- 04
Train support staff
On the system and on the procedures around it.
- 05
Deploy the knowledge base
Make it accessible to customers and staff alike.
- 06
Implement feedback mechanisms
Set up collection and analysis of customer feedback.
Questions to ask vendors
01Channels
How does the system integrate with different communication channels?
Confirm which channels are native and which need middleware.
02Ticketing
What features exist for ticket management and tracking?
Check escalation, SLA handling and queue routing against real scenarios.
03Reporting
Can the system report on support performance?
Ask to see the standard reports rather than a report builder.
04Knowledge base
What tools exist for knowledge base management?
Establish who can author and approve articles, and how stale content is found.
Metrics and KPIs to track
First response time
Time taken to acknowledge an inquiry.
Resolution time
Average time to resolve an issue.
Customer satisfaction (CSAT)
Customer rating of the support received.
Ticket volume trends
How ticket numbers move over time, and why.
Self-service usage
How far customers resolve their own issues through the knowledge base.
Alongside this