One of the complaints I hear all of the time is that getting help with technology is just not worth the hassle. It is just easier to live with the problem, even if that problem makes work more complex and time consuming. Most of the time, folks first line of tech support ask their spouse, neighbor’s kid, colleague or friend. And most of the time, those folks just take the device and “fixes” it. No explanation of what was wrong or how to address the problem should it come up again.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, sometimes the person doing the “fixing” decides to “help out” some more by reconfiguring something. This too usually comes without explanation. That kind of help often leaves folks determined just to make-do in the future. Why bother getting help when you know it will just add more complexity to an already frustrating situation?
Usually, calling for professional technical support is no better. In fact, in many ways it is worse. In addition to the insulting demeanor and useless advice, there is usually a long time caught in phone queue hell. Once you finally get a real human being on the phone, getting him/her to really listen can be its own exercise in frustration. I even know the right language to explain the problem and still have had to elevate an issue just because the first line of tech support refused to listen to what I had to say.
That sentiment is exactly what a long-term client told me when she bit the bullet and asked me to help her sync her iPhone to her Mac. She told me she was very impressed with me. Not because I worked some technological magic in getting her phone to speak to her laptop. But that for the first time in her life, someone took the time to show her how to do it for herself.
I have worked with Eva for last 3 years. She help me with everything IT related in my company from setting up a computer, updating my website, choosing and training me on a new software. She is reliable, speaks in a language that I can understand and have fast results. I highly recommend her services without reservation.
My client tells me regularly that I have helped give her a sense of empowerment and independence when it comes to technology. She is now comfortable trying to solve problems on her own. She is calling me less frequently and when she does it is for increasingly challenging problems. That is exactly the way I like it.