Effective Communications During Service Disruptions and Outages

What’s worse than service disruptions or outages?

A lack of clear, timely communications from service providers to customers/clients related to the disruption or outage including, but not limited to:

• The service provider is aware that an issue or potential issue exists

• The service provider is currently investigating the issue or potential issue

• Timing of subsequent updates

• Transparency upon identifying the potential cause of the issue and subsequent action steps to address/resolve the issue

• Continuous updates and follow up communications on progress until final resolution

• Advising customers/clients on who to contact for further assistance (if necessary)

• A final report on root causes, contributing factors, and steps to mitigate recurrence

While customers/clients should be encouraged to open trouble tickets to report issues, service providers should provide timely communications across service dashboards, social platforms, e-mail, and other mediums/platforms to keep customers/clients informed in an effort to mitigate a bombardment of support calls and trouble tickets related to the same issue while potentially reducing frustrations amongst customers/clients who’ve opened/submitted tickets and are awaiting a response from the provider’s support team.

Take ownership. Demonstrate accountability. Communicate clearly, timely, and effectively.