Last week we covered what makes BOLD’s Client Services Team so successful. This week’s topic discusses how BOLD manages and categorizes the Case types that come in and the vast amounts of information we use for troubleshooting.

How BOLD Categorizes Incoming Cases and Distributes Among the Team

Organizing Cases

BOLD’s approach to categorizing our Cases is a four-tiered process. Each tier is the method we use to keep our incoming cases organized and pull reporting based on support’s workload.

Tier 1- Customer Type: Our system automatically assigns Cases to either the PRM or Client Services Queue based on the Customer Type field. 

Tier 2- Case Type: A general grouping of Cases that can be used to assign these cases to a specific team within the PRM or CS team. For example, BOLD’s Case Type for “Setup/Terminal Builds” can automatically be designated to the team or member who specializes in file builds.

Tier 3- Case Category: Case Category adds more detail to the Case Type. In the example listed above, a file build might pertain to a specific gateway or terminal (i.e.- setting up an Auth.net account or building a Pax file for a partner). This allows us to choose a Case Owner who is more familiar with different boarding systems. 

Tier 4- Stage/Category: This tier allows us to track the progression of these Cases. A Case Stage may start at “Awaiting on VAR Information” but can be moved to “Awaiting File Build” once the VAR information comes in. 

It is important to note that there are a number of triggers/notifications built into our CRM system that might assign tasks to a team member or send an email to a group based on the selected Case Type or Category. 

Distributing Case Categories to Team Members

BOLD’s Case Types and Categories are primarily handled by designated Customer Service Reps who specialize in that topic/field.  This allows us to distribute Cases based on current workload and expertise/experience. This also ensures we are not offloading more labor-intensive Cases onto someone who is already at capacity or requires more training. 

For example, when we handle more straightforward Cases, such as bank or fee changes,  these are distributed to the entire team so every team member gains experience with these types of cases. We do this to give everyone an opportunity to grow into their position. We are a team and work as a team.

The simpler Cases are designated to new team members so they can understand and acclimate themselves with internal systems and day-to-day communication with partners. This provides new reps real-time experience in Case management and builds their confidence as harder Case Categories are assigned to them as they gain more knowledge and experience with cases.

Managing Vast Amounts of Information

There is no doubt that one can drown in the overwhelming information when it comes to point-of-sale and merchant processing. The industry is constantly evolving and so are the regulations. No two cases are alike and that is what makes each partner unique. One approach BOLD has taken to organize this information in order to stay ahead is to rely heavily on a Knowledge Base that we have made available to our internal team and partners. 

Internal Knowledge Base Documentation

BOLD isn’t shy when it comes to the upkeep of our internal Knowledge Base. One important rule we have is Document Everything. Whenever someone learns something new, it’s important to document and save it to the Knowledge Base so everyone has a reference if that issue were to come up again. This has cut down the number of internal questions dramatically as our internal rule is always “check the Internal KB”. 

Using the Knowledge Base to Cross-Train

BOLD designates one member from the PRM and CS team to manage the articles available for the Knowledge Base. While one person may be in charge for the organization, the entire team is responsible for the information. This allows us to familiarize certain team members with topics by giving them the opportunity to research and write up an article further developing their training. 

External Knowledge Base Documentation

Perhaps the biggest benefit our knowledge base provides our partners is that they have access to our research. The knowledge base is readily available with information to help our partners. When creating a knowledge base article, BOLD selects whether to designate the article for internal use only (i.e.- Standard Operating Procedures) or give external partners access (i.e.- steps for troubleshooting error codes). 

For example, assuming a partner needs to perform an OS update for a PAX terminal, our partners can simply search our knowledge base or our internal reps can email a link from the Case covering a step-by-step guide to do so (found here). Furthermore, Salesforce can identify similar cases based on history and recommend articles to future reps if the issue were to arise again.

All of the information above is the process we chose to adopt to continue our success with our partners as well as how we manage our cases and information here at BOLD. 

Next week we will share our final Blog – Managing Multiple Team members and how to take advantage of our customer feedback tools. 

(Coming soon)
Part 3 of 3:
Managing Multiple team members 
Taking advantage of the customer feedback tools

Are you an ISV or VAR looking for ways to organize your support team? 

Contact us below for more information