Recently customers have asked for further details on how to get the best out of our support service and about the guys that pickup support calls.

When you require support there are two ways to direct your request:

1. Email support@intercellsolutions.com. If you are using Intercell Solutions for one of your services you will have an account on our support tracking system - only authorised email addresses can email in to support. If you receive a rejection don’t worry we pick them up and add the email address so that future emails from the address you used will not be rejected.

The support database tracks your requests and creates a thread of communication that our support desk can use to deal with your issue as quickly as possible. When we have resolved the support issue, all recorded communication is archived so that we can call it up again should a similar issue arise at a later date. Please help us to help you and reply back to the support database emails - the curly braces and a number in the subject field are an indication that a support ticket is being used i.e. {ICS-10000}. Please provide as much information about your problem as possible - it does save time.

2. Telephone 0845 004 6789 and choose option 2. Option 2 pushes your call through to the guys on support desk. The support desk staff are there to field calls and deal with 1st line issues only. Please bear with them, they need to take as much detail about the problem as possible so that they can help you get a resolution as quickly as possible. If you call in and it is related to a ticket that you already have open please tell them the number so that they can call it up and provide you with the status and further information.

If the call needs to be escalated to second line following diagnosis they will advise you of this via email or whilst you are on the call.

Second line support is for serious issues that are unusual and do not occur frequently, however the length of time it takes to fix an issue can range from a couple of minutes to days and this depends on whether we need to contact a third party software vendor for information to assist with a resolution.

We have a number of internal staff dealing with your requests but we may also use third party companies to help if appropriate.

Some of you have expressed an interest in knowing who you are speaking to and their role in our company so here is a little insight:

Support Desk Staff Update

Ellis Haines - Support Desk Manager Ellis joined us last year to help field calls following a restructure of our operation. Ellis is computer literate and has skills in computer maintenance. Ellis has a relaxed personality but will do anything for anyone, which is an important trait when handling emergency calls. Following his training Ellis was launched into 1st line support and on the whole has been accepted well. Ellis continues to learn about all of the unusual technologies we deal with and offers a logical mind that can help work through your problem. He always works in conjunction with second line support or his colleagues on support desk when necessary.

Dan Wagstaff - Support Desk Dan is with us until June 2008, he is a student at Nottingham uni where he is studying I.T. Dan came to work with Intercell to gain experience in I.T. support, maintenance, software development and Internet services. Dan is a bright, pleasant young man who has no problem getting his hands dirty and getting stuck in to a problem. Dan has been heading up our Zimbra installs, server setups and first line support. He now knows how complicated and challenging real world support is compared to the theory back at uni.

We will be posting more information about our support desk guys and how on-site support works and the teams involved with that shortly.

We would love to hear from you on this subject so please post your comments below.