My name is Valour Nicholas, and I’m the team coordinator for the RM Assessment Software Helpdesk. I’m going to talk to you about the service we offer, what you can expect if you or one of your markers, students, or administrators calls us with an issue, and how we can enhance your experience.
It sounds very cheesy, but I really am passionate about my job. I love what I do, I love our products and the educational opportunity they present, and I love working with Awarding Bodies across the education sector to support them in their journey.
Something that drives Assessment from RM as a market leader in the e-Assessment space is the thorough and varied support available to customers through our Assessment Software Helpdesk. If you’re currently using RM Assessor 3 or Assessment Master and are experiencing an issue, or whether you’re interested in learning about the depth and breadth of support we offer, this blog is for you.
In broad terms, our Helpdesk is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year. We offer a variety of routes in, from the traditional model of telephone-based support where you can talk to an engineer, to digital tickets raised via a support website, and sending an email to get a ticket raised. We’re also working to adopt newer forms of communication into our support model in the future – we’re always looking for the best way to support our end users and make the process as efficient as possible.
I’ve been part of the Helpdesk since 2018, and in that time, I’ve spoken to several hundred people who have been using our services and needed support to resolve a challenge they were facing. One of the things I hear a lot are statements like ‘I’m so sorry for bothering you’ or ‘I’m absolutely useless with computers, it’s stupid I know’. My response to those sorts of comments is to point out that we all have very different skillsets. For example, I can’t mark an English Literature A-Level paper, or set up an English Language Test, but I can help resolve your software problem! We’ve all got a part to play and can work together to produce some amazing results.
The Assessment Software Helpdesk really is unique. We don’t use scripts for our calls or for our call notes. When you phone us, you’ll talk to an engineer, who will discuss your issue with you in real-time and will work with you to get it resolved. We also don’t have any time limits on calls – if you phone us and the issue takes an hour to get fixed, that’s what will happen. If you send in a digital ticket, it will again be looked at by a human engineer and triaged for action, and we will chase down your issue if you feel it’s not getting the attention it deserves. It’s important as an industry that we embrace the opportunities with automation and AI, but we also recognise this should always be driven to enable us to focus our time on supplying higher quality support to customers.
Assessments can be stressful, and whether we’re speaking to a student, a centre administrator, an examiner, or to admin staff at an awarding body, we know the stakes are high, and we’ll always listen to your problem, and go the extra mile to help. That’s why unlike many traditional models of technical support, we incorporate a training module on empathy.
One of the things I say to all new engineers when I’m running their induction is that the purpose of everything we do at RM Assessment is to ensure that the right candidate sits the right exam on the right day. This ethos allows us to really understand why you’re involved in e-assessment, and what you do with our products. We know that behind every single support ticket, someone’s exam/exam result is on the line. We take that very seriously and because we care about students receiving the best outcome, we are passionately committed to resolving those issues. We know why it matters, and that drives our attitude and our focus.
This one doesn’t sound like it’s a bonus, but it is – we pay a great deal of attention to our contractual obligations to our customers and making sure we don’t step outside of our remit. We won’t ask anyone in your organisation for remote access to your laptop unless we really need it, we won’t change any of your hardware settings, or advise you on your Internet package, or suggest you turn off your antivirus. We will always do what is necessary to get you using the right RM product again, and if your issue is because you need to seek advice elsewhere, we’ll let you know straight away. This means you can be confident that the advice you get from us will only fall under the areas we’re qualified to talk about.
These are just some of the ways in which our team bring value to organisations and ensure you meet your assessment needs. By consistently evolving our service delivery within an established ITIL framework, we ensure we can grow with our customers’ needs and ambitions to enhance the lives of learners worldwide.