Head of
Technical Support
Twelve years in industrial automation and nine in support. I know both sides: how the equipment works and how the line that services it works. My most recent specialist role was support for SCADA-class industrial software, where a contact means investigating a technical case and reproducing a fault on a test rig, not answering a routine question.
What I found on arrival
The backlog was cleared by splitting the flow, not by heroics: routine work moved to the first tier and into the knowledge base, case investigation stayed with the second. The way of working was rewritten and the ticketing system reconfigured to match.
How the line is arranged
- First and second tier separated, with product area leads appointed
- Omnichannel: portal, phone, messenger, and a 24/7 first tier with an AI agent
- A knowledge base of 130 articles plus three product courses for staff and customers
- Together with information security, rebuilt the handling of vulnerability claims: settlement time from 14 days to 3
The economics of technical support
In industrial software the cost per contact came out at 4,228 roubles, with cost per minute of departmental work at 210 roubles. For comparison, the same measures on a high-volume service line, using the same calculation boundaries, give 213 roubles and about 10 roubles.
A twentyfold spread explains why the figure cannot be taken from an industry report: the word "contact" stands for different units of work in different companies. I always state the boundaries: what is included in the costs, what is not, and why.
Departmental payroll was reduced by 23% over a year while contact volume grew by 20%, and the department was handed over to a successor in working order.
Engineering background
- Six years on second-tier support for building automation at an international vendor
- Twelve years as an engineer and head of a design office: Siemens, Beckhoff, SPC Salut
- Sites: Zarubezhneft, VTB in the Federation Tower, the data centre of the Ostankino broadcast centre
- Up to forty engineers reporting directly in a maintenance and operations service
- Master of Engineering and Technology, Moscow State Technological University Stankin