‘service packages’ made available to customers, or
through a publicly available ‘compatible equipment’
list, similar to those published by computer equipment
vendors who have tested various releases of operating
systems on specific hardware platforms (an example of
this can be seen on Hewlett Packard’s Web site [5]).
Analysing trends in support requests
Analysing trends in support requests can also help to
reduce demand on the support service. Careful
monitoring of problem reports, especially those
received shortly after the product has been launched,
can result in changes to the equipment or service
design, and its supporting literature, that will reduce the
number of support requests.
Common ease-of-use issues can also be identified
and then addressed.