Ten years ago today I wrote about managing a technical support team. Although the landscape has changed since then, the general principles — which is what I was focusing on — still hold.

Indeed, I would say that these days an efficient and effective technical support function is more important than ever. I have been at the sharp end of technical glitches in Zoom and so on, and although I was able to figure them out for myself, it was a very frustrating experience.

One of the things people appreciate is visible support. Obviously, it’s not going to be possible to provide 24/7 live support to teachers and students, but if an email is sent to an unmanned technical support email address, please at least make the auto-response email provide links to help pages!

Insist on the proactive involvement of the senior management team. In the work I've done with schools, a consistent message has come through that a passively supportive attitude, while better than an unsupportive one, is not enough.

Read more here: Managing A Technical Support Team

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