NEC Corporation of America (NEC) recognizes that technical support is extremely important to our Resellers. In order to offer the best services, the NEC National Technical Assistance Center (NTAC) is rolling out some exciting new changes to the way it manages technical support.

In an effort to streamline and enhance the overall support experience, NTAC has launched an interactive website to help speed problem resolution. A great deal of effort has gone into the design of the new NTAC Incident Report Management System (IRMS) and Knowledge Base Website, which will significantly improve the overall support process for our Resellers.

The Incident Report Management System (IRMS)

The Incident Report Management System (IRMS) provides 24/7 access and allows the NEC Reseller technician to create an on-line incident report, which will be reviewed by NEC Technical Service (NTAC) engineers, who will then provide the necessary response.

Advanced Ticket Tracking:
Each technician will be able to see a full and complete history of tickets opened against each of their locations. This helps to identify trends and it provides the ability to view the complete support history for a specific site.

Site Locator:
A handy search utility will help field technicians locate their customer and site within the NEC database.

The IRMS Website allows a technician to monitor the progress of a specific Incident Report.

Knowledge Base:

The new Knowledge Base tool allows the NEC Reseller to search for technical information regarding specific issues on a 24/7 basis. The information provided in the Knowledge Base is updated whenever new issues and solutions are identified.

Each solution is based on key indicators within the incident report itself. The solutions are ranked based on context and user feedback, so over time, certain common solutions are presented more often than others. Tickets that have been successfully solved and closed in the past can also be promoted to Knowledge Base articles. These solutions will be added to the pool of knowledge and can be shared as solutions for others that may experience the same problems.

Registration:

Access to the IRMS/Knowledge Base Website requires registration. Although we encourage every technician to be trained and certified, it is not a requirement of IRMS registration.

Simply go to http://www.necntac.com and click the “To Register for a Support ID: Create an Account.“

Upon completion of the registration, a “Support ID” will be provided to each registrant.

This “Support ID” provides two very important functions:

1. Effective November 28, 2011, it allows access to the new IRMS & Knowledge Base Website.
2. Effective December 1, 2011, it will be required for telephone access to NEC Technical Service (NTAC). Again, product certification is not required to register. Each technician that has not registered by that date will simply be asked to register with our administrative personnel, prior to speaking to an NTAC engineer. Please avoid this unnecessary delay by registering online.

Use of the Support ID will speed up your NTAC calls! When a call is processed with a Support ID, the NTAC engineer is automatically provided with the caller’s name and company information.

The first registrant of your company will be flagged as the “Profile Manager.” This person will create a company profile and can then invite technicians to register under your company name. We therefore suggest that the company principal or technical manager be the first registrant. However, if a non-manager registers first, the “Profile Manager” can be reassigned at a future date.

We have created (2) presentations that will guide you and your technicians through the IRMS Website:

Click here to review a presentation that guides you through registration and how to use the IRMS system.

Click here to review a presentation that addresses how to manage your IRMS company profile.

We strongly encourage each NEC Reseller technician to register as soon as possible, so that you can take advantage of this exciting support offering, and as noted above, effective December 1, 2011, a “Support ID” will also be required for telephone access to the NEC Technical Service Department (NTAC). Each technician that has not registered by that date will be asked to register with our administrative personnel, prior to speaking to an NTAC engineer. Please avoid this unnecessary delay by registering online.

NEC sincerely hopes that these new tools and procedures will help improve the overall support experience at NEC, by providing the NEC Reseller with access to a wealth of technical information and resources. We are very excited about these changes and will continue to make further improvements to our systems going forward.

If you have any questions, please contact your NEC Account Manager.

Sincerely,

NEC Corporation of America
General Channel