Follow-up is an English word that means continuation, monitoring, tracking, supervision, inspection, or verification. More broadly, we can consider it as the communication involving the monitoring of established objectives and goals.
The service provision contracts deal with the scopes or objectives involved as well as the indicators and their respective goals. To ensure that these objectives and goals are met and achieved, it is necessary to monitor the services and report the assessed situation to both the internal team and the client.
This report is the follow-up, and the lack of it is one of the most common reasons for failure in achieving objectives and goals.
Follow-up in the IT support area
A well-executed follow-up considers factors such as:
- The time interval between check periods: It must be short enough to allow interventions before it is too late, and long enough to convey trust.
- The approach: People are different from one another and perceive environmental stimuli differently.
- Praise: We should not waste the opportunity to recognize good work and boost people’s morale.
- Support: People look for direction, for help.
- Firm follow-up on expected partial results: Support, optimism, and praise are not the only factors.
- Encouraging the use of resources available to each individual: People need to be encouraged to use their capacities to the fullest.
In the IT support area, not everything goes according to plan.
There are times of “crises” in the service desk area when “out of nowhere, an application stops working” and no one knows why. It is precisely in these moments that follow-up with the team and the client is crucial and makes all the difference.
It is important to maintain effective follow-up, including for the company’s SLAs, to convey security, trust, and transparency.
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References:
Follow-up – Accessed on 12/12/2011
Conseguindo Resultados Através de Pessoas, Edson Rodriguez , 2004
