Help on the Front Line

There’s no doubt that the services you offer drives customers through the door, but what makes them stay? There are a few things to consider… but let’s start with the basics. Are they inspired to be the most productive versions of themselves when working in your flexible workspace? 

Connectivity is often voted the most valuable service in flex space but keeping it consistent and tailored to the user is another conversation. To enable productivity and keep members loyal, you will need support from a highly knowledgeable and experienced resource.

We spoke to Frontline Yardi Kube Helpdesk Manager Craig Russell of Yardi, a provider of resilient Wi-Fi, network data solutions and real estate technology. Craig explains the importance of having access to a Helpdesk and the benefits to your business.

Q. How does the Yardi Helpdesk support flex space operators?

A. The Yardi Help Desk is designed to offer remote assistance to our flex space clients who use the Yardi Kube IT solutions. We operate a team of experienced technical engineers who are always happy to help keep clients connected and operational. 

We’re at the centre of our client’s IT infrastructure. We offer technical support and system diagnostics to inform clients of exactly what’s going on, even when handling requests remotely. We’re here to guide them through using the systems we install, from start to finish. 

Q. Yardi’s technology is renowned for being resilient & reliable. What might go wrong to need support from the Helpdesk?

A. We receive a range of ticket requests from different types of users. A common one is ‘my member’s connection is running slow’. Nine times out of ten, we discover an incorrect set up of their bandwidth usage package. If a coworking member has an agreed package of 10Mbps, but they’re using all of it, the likelihood is that they will experience slow connection issues. This gives our clients the opportunity to upsell bandwidth packages to their members which increases revenue and ensures their members receive the best quality connection for their needs. 

Those that are IT literate love the Yardi Kube IT Helpdesk system because they can take their requests as far or as little as they want. For example, they might ask us if it’s possible to see the collective usage of their main internet connection for all their users at any one given time, or even if they can fully manage the local IP address ranges given to an end customer if they happen to have certain bespoke network requirements. On the other end of the scale, we have people contact us asking to help with their power cut, clearly not a Yardi Kube IT issue but we are always happy to help point them in the right direction. This is the level of service we like to give. We like to educate our clients when we help them too so that they’re clued up going forward should the same problem arise.

Q. Do you offer remote support or onsite support? 

A. It’s very rare that we have to send one of our guys in to deliver onsite support. Where onsite support is needed, it’s usually due to a hardware fault which raises the question, ‘how long have you been using this for?’ We encourage all of our clients to keep their hardware up to date to avoid outages.  

Q. What’s your average response time? 

A. There are 250 sites across the UK that operate connectivity using Yardi Kube IT and we strive to deliver exceptional technical support to all 250 of them. We pride ourselves on our response times. We aim to respond within one hour, but the majority of our tickets are resolved within 10-15 minutes. Yardi’s Help Desk service is the premier proptech service for keeping our clients’ finger on the pulse and keeping clients satisfied.

Q. Has the Helpdesk been impacted by COVID-19?

A. The Help Desk is still running at full capacity, even in downtimes through the COVID-19 pandemic, our clients are still receiving the same level of service. We’re seeing less requests obviously because many locations are temporarily closed, but there are still businesses out there performing ‘house-keeping’ in preparation for the eventual return of members.