Source Techworks | Source Support

Source Techworks is a community of Field Engineers across the globe, united in their dedication to a continued education and real-life practical experience. Members of Source Techworks join forces with other top certified service professionals from around the world and consistently expand their knowledge through Source’s eLearning program. We invite you to participate in next level IT advancement opportunities and earn a wide variety of industry and partner certifications.

Source Techworks offers you certifications and training courses that will educate you with skills in a virtual classroom that you can apply in real world experience. With more education and certifications comes a higher volume of profitable case work. Apply today and experience all of the benefits Source Techworks has to offer!

Read the Latest from Our Quarterly Source Techworks eNewsletter, Techworks reSOURCE

We're Rocking It In 2017

As we approach the mid-point of 2017, we’d like to thank you for helping us continue to deliver exceptional services to our customers.

Source uses a handful of key metrics to measure our overall performance. One of those, service level agreement (SLA) achievement portrays the successful completion of delivery time and level of service required by the customer. We also measure customer satisfaction to gain insight into how they perceived the support experience. Since January, with your help, we have achieved an average SLA achievement rating of 98.6% and an average customer satisfaction rating of 96.9% across all our customers.

Thank you for all your hard work!

Email Tips and Tricks for Success

The presentation of an email conveys a lot about your professional image. Building a polished email account will benefit your communications with Source and any other professional contacts. The more helpful the email communications we receive, the more easily we can provide an efficient and supportive response. Here are some tips to help ensure that every email you send represents the professional image you want to portray.

Choose a Professional Username
WickedWitch@mail.com might have seemed funny when you created your account, but when Source receives an email from this address, we have no idea who might have sent it. You want to choose a username that can communicat e who you are at a glance so we don’t mistake your username as spam.

If we use Monty Monitor as an example, his professional email address might look something like monty.monitor@mail.com. This presents a professional image and doesn’t offer any doubt as to the validity of his username. If Monty already has an email address that he would like to keep but he wants to help his recipient quickly identify Monty as the sender, he might consider setting up an email account display name. That way his email will appear in his recipient’s inbox like this: “Monty Monitor <mmonitor47@mail.com>”.

Write a Brief, Accurate Subject Line

Another way to help us quickly identify the purpose of your communication is to accurately summarize the context of your email in the subject line. In doing so, you enable your recipient to organize their inbox so that they might provide a quick reference to the type of response needed and the timeline in which we must respond. “Question”, for example, is not a helpful subject line. Try something like “Response Requested: Meeting Availability for 2/28/17”.

Include a Signature

Be sure to include an email signature with your name and contact information so we know how best to reach you. Also, be sure to check that your email signature is synced with your mobile device so all email communications across your devices are consistent.

Proofread Before Sending

This is a basic rule of professional communication, but an important one. Be sure to review your email draft thoroughly and correct any spelling and grammatical errors. Clean, clear copy is the best expression of your intent and enables a more direct, efficient response.

10 Attributes that Create the Most Successful On-Site Engagements

We’ve been performing very well in the first half of 2017. Based on feedback we’ve received from customers and our own observations, we’ve noticed certain attributes you, our Source Techworks network, embody that have really made a difference at our on-sites.

While each attribute is unique, and not all are needed at every on-site engagement, many of these attributes are successful because they are positive, reassuring actions that relieve the stress and frustration of the end-user on a day when things are not going well for them.

#1: ACTING AS A CALMING PRESENCE

Because end-users often request a service when they are frustrated or confused, it makes an immense difference to have both a support team and a field engineer who demonstrate confidence and expertise while keeping their cool. This helps relieve some of the end-user’s frustration and creates a very positive experience for that site contact.

#2: BEING ATTENTIVE

Attentiveness goes a long way in demonstrating your investment in the task at hand. Our Source Techworks network is very good at listening, observing, and taking notice of work instructions from Source, requests made by the end-user contact, signs posted at the site, or behaviors of the employees on-site to help make a positive impression and deliver service to the level of quality that our customer expects.

#3: EXERCISING PATIENCE

On occasion, Source’s support team needs to follow up with a customer or confirm a service detail before you can proceed with a service event. We appreciate the patience you have shown in these situations because it not only helps us ensure the best quality delivery but also portrays to the end-user that we want to deliver great support rather than fast, low-quality support.

#4: USING “POSITIVE LANGUAGE”

We appreciate the initiative many of you have shown while communicating with the site contact. For example, in a situation where you are unable to pinpoint the issue, you haven’t simply told them, “I can’t fix this”. Instead, you have focused on how you intend to solve that challenge and told the site contact something like “I’m unable to pinpoint the issue, but I will contact my support team to troubleshoot further so we can find a solution and get you back up and running as soon as possible.”

#5: BEING ADAPTABLE

Source has a lot of customers, many of whom have their own slightly different process requirements and preferences for on-sites. The adaptability of the Source Techworks network, and your ability to adjust and prepare for each on-site without confusing one customer’s process for another is truly wonderful. Our support team must also navigate these many unique processes and procedures and it makes a huge difference in service delivery that we can count on our FEs to support and track them with the same dedication.

#6: EXERCISING TENACITY

Another method that demonstrates your dedication to the service engagement and leaves a positive impression is when you approach every on-site with a positive work ethic and willingness to do what needs to be done. We want to deliver the best quality service and when you go the extra mile and avoid shortcuts, you are helping to do just that.

#7: BEING OPEN TO LEARNING NEW THINGS

Because we want to deliver the best service possible, we make various training materials available through our eLearning training program, called Source Academy, and it is fantastic to see the number of field engineers who invest in this training. Obviously, course completion has the potential to offer new service opportunities through Source, but it also provides an opportunity for professional development as you familiarize yourself on new systems and technologies. We love to see this passion and interest for learning and investing in new skills.

#8: LETTING END-USERS GET TO KNOW YOU

Beyond providing quality support engagements and presenting a strong professional image, we also occasionally hear of FEs who build a friendly rapport with the end-user site contacts. Obviously, this can be taken too far if one overshares about their previous work or personal experiences, but it is certainly beneficial to exchange some friendly conversation to diffuse any potential frustration the end-user is feeling.

#9: USING CLEAR COMMUNICATION

As I mentioned earlier, there are specific customer processes and procedures that you must follow on-site. Unfortunately, end-users aren’t always aware of these (for example, calling into Source to confirm your arrival on-site). It makes a huge impact on the end-user to simply know and understand what you are doing and that it is a process you follow to ensure a quality service experience.

#10: DELIVERING CONSISTENT END-USER EXPERIENCES

See numbers 1-9. These are some awesome attributes that you are already displaying — if we continue to perform services in this way, we can improve upon our already outstanding service performance.

Keep up the great work!