Tech support follows the Pareto Principle: 80% of the support requests involve just 20% of the questions that users have. These frequently asked questions tie up resources that could be used on other problems.

The tech support manager can see that his techs are answering the same small set of questions over and over, but the problem isn’t a support issue. Rather it’s a documentation issue: If users come up with the same problems consistently then chances are those issues aren’t addressed, or aren’t addressed adequately, in the user docs.

A technical writer can help free up the support department’s resources. The writer can work with the support techs and review their ticket tracker to identify the most common questions and learn how the techs usually address them. Then the writer can survey the existing user documentation, identify trouble spots, and create new content to help users get the help they need without a call to tech support.

Now your techs have more time to deal with the truly difficult problems. They can reduce escalation to more expensive support levels or even begin to develop a knowledge base to improve the support process overall.

The result is a more effective, more efficient technical support process.