Working with KWRI Tech Support: Tips and Best Practices

We know how frustrating it can be when you aren't sure where to turn for support, or how long it will take to solve an issue. To help, we created this guide about the ins and outs of working with KWRI Tech Support. Our goal is to shed light on our internal processes, ultimately helping you get the support you need, faster. 

What can Tech Support help with?

The KWRI Technical Support team is here to troubleshoot bugs and other issues in KW technology. We're primarily focused on Command, but can also help with listings, @kw.com email accounts, agent sites, DocuSign, mykw.kw.com, and Consumer app issues. Bugs is our game, and we work hard to triage emerging issues to the engineers for resolution, as well as provide temporary workarounds to minimize any disruption to your business. 

What can my local Market Center help with?

The first point of contact for questions about your local office's operations, including new agent onboarding, offboarding, MC intranet access, calendar events, accounting, and other admin topics is your Market Center Administrator (MCA).

As a Tech Support team at the corporate headquarters, we unfortunately lack insight into local franchise operations. If you're unsure where to turn, here's a guide detailing the best teams to contact for various issues. That's a great page to bookmark and share with your MC.

How do I know if I'm running into a bug?

First, head to answers.kw.com and search for your topic or issue. Our help center provides you with step-by-step training guides and FAQs for just about every category in KW. This content is updated daily and arms you with the knowledge that you are on the right track. For example, if you follow the steps in a guide and an error message pops up, or the guide doesn't match what you are seeing, then we're the team to help you out.

How should I contact Tech Support?

For the fastest resolution, we recommend using our web form to submit a ticket. We built the form with custom fields that help gather as much information as possible in the first touch, minimizing back-and-forth troubleshooting. To talk to someone live, you can also reach us via Live Chat directly in Command, M-F 9am-5pm CT. 

What happens when I report a bug to Tech Support?

Our first step is to try and replicate the problem on our end. If we can't, often due to heavily-customized team and individual account settings, we will ask for a quick screen recording of the issue using a free service like Loom.com. This allows us to view your unique setup in Command and prepare a well-documented case to submit to KWRI's Development team. The more info we gather up front, the faster they can de-bug the issue.

Once your ticket is escalated, this kicks off the Development team's process for investigating and prioritizing bug reports. After their work is completed, you will receive an email notification from the Tech Support team that the issue is resolved. 

That sounds great! How long until my issue is resolved?

After the Development team reviews a bug, a priority is assigned. Priority level is based on overall impact to Command and the user experience, as well as the number of reports about an issue. Anything significantly impacting business (e.g. flow of transactions) or core functionality will have a higher priority than an issue affecting a small number of users with an available workaround.

In some cases, a fix for one issue will also fix another before the engineers can get to it. In most cases, ETAs range from several weeks to months for lower-priority tickets or feature requests, while higher-priority tickets can be resolved within a couple of hours to 1-2 weeks, depending on the extent of work required on the code base. While development timelines are unfortunately out of Support's hands due to many factors that go into engineering resource allocation, we do work hard to advocate for our users. 

How can I follow up on my ticket?

The best thing to do is wait, which we know isn't easy! Our team works 7 days per week escalating tickets and sending notifications that issues are resolved. As soon as we know that a fix is live (and we've tested internally), our team starts the process to update you ASAP.

If you do want to check in, please head to your email inbox and respond to the same ticket thread that you originally submitted. That original ticket contains your escalation info and important notes that we've added to your case. We need this to provide you the most accurate info in our response. 

Pro tip! Submit one ticket per issue

As a best practice, always submit one ticket per issue. Following up separately creates duplicate tickets that then need to be merged into your support history. For example, if a follow-up ticket comes from your assistant, teammate or one of your alternate emails, the ticketing software won't know the requests are related, and Tech Support may not be able to connect the dots as quickly. This can result in delays or a response from our team that does not reflect the whole picture, which we never want to happen.

We understand that some bugs have a major impact on your daily business. Investigating each ticket takes time, and if many duplicate requests come in about the same issue, we can't be as helpful and efficient as we'd like. For example, rather than emailing Tech Support and following up later on chat, we recommend keeping all conversation in the original email ticket. If you do reach out through another channel, please have the original ticket number handy. It's our goal to take care of you as quickly as possible!

Where can I find training or help learning Command?

While our Tech Support team is focused on bug reporting and resolution, KWRI does offer a variety of excellent training resources for new and experienced associates. Here are some of our favorite resources:

• The best place to start learning Command is the Command Your Business training hub in Connect.
• For free and paid training courses taught by live instructors, browse the latest offerings from KWRI Enablement.
• You can also check with your MCA, Market Center Tech Trainer (MCTT) or Regional Tech Trainer (RTT) for locally-offered classes and training. [Note: these programs are managed by each Market Center or region. Please reach out to your leadership for details.]
• If you get stuck, our Knowledge Base at answers.kw.com is an excellent source of FAQs & how-to articles.
• For even more tech-related training, the Tech-Enabled Agent guide walks you through the value proposition of Command, KW's Consumer app, and other powerful tools.

Can Tech Support call me?

We understand that as an agent, you're used to talking and connecting with others personally. In the world of Tech Support, a phone conversation can actually hamper the troubleshooting process. In most scenarios, the team requires visuals like screenshots or recordings that unfortunately can’t be received over the phone. In those cases, it may be best to reach out to your local Market Center Tech Trainer (MCTT) first. Your MCTT can escalate any bugs or complex issues to Tech Support as needed, making them an excellent first contact for training and technical problems alike.

How is KWRI Tech Support different from third-party services?

Because we're the only official technical support team at KW, we have access to the necessary tools, systems and teams to solve your issues. Outsourced support services actually rely on our team to complete their requests, and often lack the procedural knowledge to complete most tasks correctly.

To ensure you're working with the right team, look for emails that come directly from KWRI Support. We will never ask for your password via email in plain, unencrypted text -- a red flag that your third-party service is not committed to securing your data. With wire transfer fraud and other catastrophic security risks in our industry, we strongly encourage your team to keep all client and associate transaction data safe and secure. 

Is Tech Support invested in my success?

Absolutely! We are KW. As a profit share company, your success as an agent is our success as a company. Helping you helps our entire organization. Our Tech Support team has skin in the game, and we know that when you win, we win. That is a big driver for continuously improving the quality of our service and empowering associates to take their business to the next level with KW technology. We are all in this together, and view you as as partners in our shared success.