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Technical Support Software: Essential Tool for OEMs Success

Intellinet Systems
5 min read

Why There is a Need of Effective Technical Support Software for OEMs

OEMs, or Original Equipment Manufacturers, are constantly striving to improve their products and services to meet customer demands and stay ahead of the competition. However, with increased complexity and technological advancements, the need for effective technical support has become paramount. Technical support software plays a crucial role in managing and resolving technical issues reported by dealers and customers.

Technical Support Software for OEMs

Challenges Faced by OEMs

One of the main challenges faced by OEMs is the lack of a structured system to track and resolve technical issues efficiently. Without such a system, it can be difficult to prioritize and resolve field issues promptly. Effective technical support software helps in solving these challenges by providing mechanisms to log, track, and report technical issues. This ensures timely response, effective communication, and collaboration between dealers, service managers, back-office teams, and suppliers.

Technical Assistance Request

To achieve this, OEMs use TAR, or Technical Assistance Request, to log/register problems encountered by dealers. TAR captures complete observations related to the problem, providing crucial details for analysis and resolution. Upon submission, it is directed to the service manager or any other person designated to provide the first level of technical support to the dealer. Service managers respond to TARs with their knowledge and available information, aiming to address as many TARs as possible promptly.

Dealers can supplement TARs with serial numbers or VIN numbers, enabling the OEM to correlate and determine the root cause of the problem. This information facilitates accurate analysis and enhances the resolution process. If the service manager is unable to provide a solution for all TARs individually, they can combine one or more TARs to create a Field Technical Report (FTR). FTR consolidates related TARs, enabling a comprehensive view of the problem for the back-office team.

Capture Product Concerns

Another key feature of technical support software is the ability to capture product concerns. Product Concerns capture a holistic view of the problem, providing a deeper understanding beyond the case details. This allows OEMs to provide additional context and insights to better explain the issue. OEMs can attach various media types, including images, videos, and PDF documents, to support their point and enhance communication. This additional visual and multimedia information helps in conveying the problem effectively.

The availability of diverse details in product concerns facilitates a more comprehensive analysis of the problem. The back office team can leverage this information to devise effective resolution strategies and address the issue more efficiently. Product Concern serves as a documentation repository, preserving all relevant information related to the problem. It acts as an evidence-based reference for future analysis, audits, or continuous improvement efforts.

Identification of Root Cause

Effective technical support software also helps in identifying and addressing the root cause of problems reported by dealers. By tracking and analyzing technical issues, OEMs can identify trends, patterns, and recurring issues. This enables them to take proactive measures to prevent future occurrences, enhance product quality, and improve customer satisfaction. It also helps in prioritizing technical issues based on severity and impact, enabling OEMs to allocate the right resources and expertise to address them.

Knowledge Transfer

Technical support software also facilitates knowledge transfer from service managers to back-office teams and suppliers. This ensures a proper understanding of the problem, accurate and efficient issue resolution, and effective collaboration between different departments. It also helps in providing training and support to service managers and dealers, enhancing their skills and knowledge.

Conclusion

Effective technical support software is crucial for OEMs to provide timely and efficient technical support to their customers. As the complexity and technological advancements in products and services continue to increase, OEMs must invest in effective technical support software to make their lives easier.

Effective technical support software should provide a seamless communication channel between OEMs and dealers for efficient business processing through messaging. It should enable the prioritization of issues in TAR/FTR submissions to improve customer satisfaction and provide insights into the Turnaround Time (TAT) for request resolution by OEMs or suppliers through SLAs.

The software should have a user-friendly issue-tracking system, including color-coded TAR/FTR and product concerns based on defined aging criteria, and should allow various file types to be attached for comprehensive documentation and support.

Other features may include dynamic setup configuration, draft facility, mail alerts, easy integration with other modules, and an audit trail capturing all activities related to TAR/FTR and product concerns for comprehensive audit tracking. The software should also track unresolved requests and take appropriate actions to escalate and address delayed problems.

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