Help Desk Renaissance: A New
Understanding of the Importance of Technical Support Services.
A Case Analysis of the Help Desk at
Mt Hood Community College
Wayne Machuca
December 2006
Technology Is Of Increasing Complexity
By
the mid-2000’s technology and systems have become more complex than ever. New
devices and the systems to control those devices, though designed to allow
people to be functional without computer literacy, have in effect required even
the average worker to have increased technical savvy. Quoting Sue Amodeo, director of open
systems with the city of New York's IT department, Pallato (2006) notes, “There
seems to be no end in sight to the increasing complexity of IT technology and
operations….The complexity is increasing even as organizations look for ways to
downsize and outsource their IT departments.”
Yet while
technology can grow and evolve at remarkable rates, the human users cannot. Red
Orbit (2006), “Half of all malfunctioning products returned to stores by
consumers are in full working order, but customers can't figure out how to
operate the devices”. Quoting Elke den Ouden in her thesis at the Technical
University of Eindhoven, Red Orbit (2006) continues, “A wave of versatile
electronics gadgets has flooded the market in recent years, ranging from MP3
players and home cinema sets to media centers and wireless audio systems, but
consumers still find it hard to install and use them, she found….The average
consumer in the United States will struggle for 20 minutes to get a device
working, before giving up, the study found.”
Hence, a consumer will purchase a technical product such as a consumer computer, MP3 player, digital camera, or packaged software, will likely struggle with the device for a period of time, and then attempt to be in contact with their only human interaction with the organization that produces the product: the help desk.
Minimal Enrollments in CS/IS College Programs
On
interesting phenomena of the past half decade has been the significant drop off
in enrollments in college and university Computer Science (CS) and Information
Systems (IS) programs (Montalbano, 2005; Tucci, 2005;
see also C.A. Anderson, 2003). Schools across the nation are reporting
huge reductions in enrollments. UCLA notes that IT enrollments are off an
incredible 93% (Lennox, Woratschek, &
Whatever
the reason, there is clearly a shortage of entry-level technical workers in the
What makes this matter particularly troubling is that all indications are that there will be a significant increase in the need for technical workers well into the 2010’s and very likely into the 2020’s. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (“Tomorrow’s Jobs”, 2004) reports that of the top 20 careers for the next ten years, five are computer technical related, many of which will have significant spin-off careers (Stooker, 2005). Of the remainder, the majority are medical careers which have an incredible technological infusion. Venator (2006) reports that based on current trends in the next ten years, there will be twice as many technical entry level career position as their will be technical graduates to fill those positions.
As the demand for skilled technical workers increases and the supply of the same continues to diminish, the value, and by extension, the price, of technical workers will increase dramatically.
Aging Workforce Enhances the Shortage
January
1, 2006 is observed as the “60th Birthday” for a demographic known
as the “baby boomers”. This group of people generally acknowledged as being
born between the end of World War II and the 1950’s constitute a significant
portion of the
Nevertheless, cost savings are an important issue to corporations. One money-saving technique is to capture knowledge through the use of knowledge management software. Though powerful and helpful, even the best knowledge management tools can only predict trends. They do not learn. If the problem was solved before, that solution will be applied to future occurrences of similar problems.
The Customer’s First Point of Contact
When a problem arises with a piece of technology, the customer’s first point of contact with the company is often (and usually only) the help desk. Whether frivolous or complicated, the customer will bring their problem to technical support and expect a solution. It is the responsibility of the help desk worker to well represent the organization. The help desk worker must then possess not only technical skills, but also be dynamic, creative, pleasant, and caring. They must be able to listen like an emergency room doctor: asking questions and taking it from there (Melymuka, 2005). They must be a sort of “technical geek” and “people person” rolled into one. The web site HelpDeskSoftware.cc (2004) notes,
“In today's business world, help desks have become a crucial part of a
businesses service function. In many cases, the help desk creates an image and
represents a company in the eyes of its customers. The importance of the help
desk function in any organization should not be under estimated.”
As a matter of efficiency, many organizations will strive to be able to solve a customer’s problem on first contact (see “ISS Help Desk Mission”, 2006; Blake, 2002; see also “Help Desk Introduction Guide”, 2002).
Searching for a Cost-Saving Solution
In
many technology development companies, there exists the opinion that the
greater share of the investment must be with the developers. It is the
developers who create the products and these developers must be cared for. On
the other hand, in order to maximize the amount of investment available for the
developers, other departments must be scaled back. As entry-level technical
workers get fewer and fewer, many organizations have chosen to move their help
desks and call centers overseas where the labor is cheaper. Typically, call
centers are being moved to
Though once an interesting idea, the use of foreign-based call centers has become a standing joke in information technology circles. US consumer attitudes are beginning to back-lash against the call centers specifically and the companies in general. It is now common for foreign call center workers to suffer verbal abuse, racial slurs, and searing anger (McPhate, 2005; see also Engardio, 2006). And yet, many leading managers still view the enhancement of the help desk as laughable (Lovelace, 2004) (for an outrageous example of comedic material on the use of foreign call centers go to http://www.illwillpress.com).
Deflecting the “Perfect Storm”
As computer technology moves into the last half of this decade, several significant events are converging to produce what Venator (2006) calls a “perfect storm”. Because of the perception of job opportunities overseas, many believe that there is no future in a technical degree. As a result, very few people are attracted to technical training programs. With fewer new technical students, there are even fewer new graduates. In reality, over the next 10 years there will be a significant increase in entry-level technical positions but very few people who will be available to fill those positions. The pressure to attract new workers will be increased as baby boomers retire or leave the organization taking their combined knowledge and wisdom with them.
Meanwhile, technology in all of its phases is becoming more complex which is requiring users to have an even greater level of computer literacy in order to function. However, users are proving themselves resistant to learning the new technology which has led to increased frustration which results in functioning products returned and increased calls to the help desk.
However, in an effort to save money, companies have shipped many support positions overseas where the wages are lower. Consumers, already frustrated with a “non-functioning” piece of technology, often see the foreign call center worker as an opportunity to vent their frustration at a helpless target. In the end, the call center workers are unhappy, the company is unhappy and the customer is unhappy. Customers are beginning to lash back at companies who use cut rate foreign workers in their call centers. In some cases, the back lash is so severe that companies are abandoning their overseas centers and returning them state side (Kurtz, 2004).
To find the solution, IT must first reexamine the help desk: the company’s point of contact with its customer-base.
Lovelace (2004) notes that one of the primary problems in working with changing the help desk is that the majority of the IT investment, as well as the superstars, go to development. He continues that “no self-respecting Human Resources person would approve salaries aimed at attracting and keeping competent help-desk employees”. Entry-level workers still have a home at the help desk. While a good place to allow workers to get initiated in learning the product, these workers also need superstars to back them up in the event of an escalation.
Nevertheless, dynamic, interactive superstars are exactly what are needed at that point of contact. Customers calling in need to know (or be able to sense) up front that the person with which they are dealing is knowledgeable, understanding, and approachable. Yudkowsky (2006) notes many people are reluctant to share all of the facts out of embarrassment. The help desk superstar must be able to weed out the relevant information, or be able to create the affinity that would permit the user to volunteer that information.
M. Graves (personal email communication, November 2, 2006) from the Mt Hood Community College help desk notes,
“I would like the users to provide the Help Desk staff with a
short, detailed description of the problem when calling and/or
emailing the help desk. For
example:[sic] "My printer is not
printing".
Staff has to prompt the user for information such as: 1. what is the
make and model of the printer? 2. What is the error message
received? 3. What application were you using? Correct
call: 'My HPLJ4050 printer is not printing from CARs [a local
reporting system]. The error
message reads: Service 50'.”
Even at the college, the help desk will receive a number of “it-broke-you-fix” type calls and needs to be patient enough to draw out real answers and provide real solutions.
Academic Help Desk at Mt Hood Community College
This
paper is a case analysis of the academic help desk a
As a typical community college, MHCC not only provides vocational training, certificates, and 2-year degrees, but also acts as a “feeder school” for the surrounding universities such as Oregon State University (OSU), Portland State University (PSU), Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT), and others.
The technical layout of the college includes 22 computer lab classes containing an average of 21 computers, multiple class rooms containing a single “instructor unit”, for a total of over 2500 computers with the remainder distributed to administration, staff, services, and faculty offices. The typical platform is a Dell desktop PC; however, there are also a number of Macintosh computers, DFI computers, various lap top and notebook computers, and others. New computer purchases will all be Dell or Macintosh. All school units are networked using and Ethernet Hub LAN architecture connected with Cat 5e lines which will soon be upgraded to Cat 6. The college also maintains an unsecured wireless LAN which provides Internet-only access. Six wLAN access points (WAP) are distributed throughout the campus and use IEEE 802.11b standard. MHCC also maintains several servers providing Internet service, email, Intranet and mass storage services for employees with accounts (E. Leighton, personal communication, November 15, 2006).
The Computer Services layout at MHCC is typical for a college. Computer Services maintains a staff of over 40 of which only 13 work in technical support. The force is divided into 5 full time software support, 2 full time hardware support, and 6 part time help desk personnel (E. Leighton, personal communication, November 15, 2006).. The part time workers tend to be student workers. The Internet home page for the call center is atypical for a college in that it is unavailable to users without an ID and password (see also “Academic Technology Services”, 2006; “Academic Computing Help Desk”, 2005). The help desk call center is available during business hours. The MHCC help desk only provides service for its own employees and students enrolled at the college. It is by definition an Internal Help Desk (“How to Implement Successful Help Desk”, 2004).
Yet, even with limited staff, the Computer Services call center handles a remarkable average of about 600 calls per month (“Call Volume by Month”, 2006). Call volume records demonstrate a cyclical pattern to trouble calls with the 2006 low at around 500 for the month of July to highs of over 700 for January (the beginning of the winter term) and October (typically mid-terms for the fall term). Further, the Computer Services call center reports an average days to close trouble calls from October, 2005 to October, 2006 at 2.61. Recent trends indicate a significant increase from 1.54 for May, 2006 to 2.92 in July (during summer break upgrades). However, this increase masks the actual average effectiveness of the Computer Services technicians. As noted in Appendix A, the rolling average for the “Average Days to Close”, that is, an average per month of the available data, clearly reveals that the technicians are consistently closing on average in 2.61 days and the trend is towards faster completion.
Issues and Analysis
Help desks and call centers tend to have similar needs and issues. The help desk at MHCC is no exception. Edge (2004) notes “Higher education leaders are increasingly looking to IT departments to solve problems and be the strong force behind changes. In the EDUCAUSE annual research on current IT issues within higher education, strategic planning for IT ranked fourth.” Yet, given constraints typical to colleges and businesses alike, MHCC uses some unique and interesting techniques to keep its help desk personnel available and relevant. Edge (2004) concludes, “In the end, it is the constituents that will ultimately benefit from effective strategic planning, reaching the ultimate goal of a higher education; then, in turn, educating their posterity.” When inappropriate attention and insufficient funding is applied to technical support, the negativism of the impact can be affected for generations in education.
The stigma of tech support
Unlike many corporate call centers, the MHCC call center is “home grown” and many of the employees are students and known to the college staff and faculty. Thus, one of the issues concerning the stigma of being on tech support is solved at MHCC by default. This is accomplished by utilizing students to be points of contact with the user community. Hence, rather than being a “faceless voice on the phone”, MHCC call center people are known, they are known to be good students, and they are very visible around campus. The campus itself is not very large, only a few dozen acres. This force creates a sort of “familiar” atmosphere between faculty and staff and Computer Services.
This familiar atmosphere goes a long way toward the establishment of a rapport between the help desk and the user community. Unlike the typical call center which can be quite trying, the call center at MHCC is more relaxed and hence friendlier. M. Graves (personal email, November 2, 206) from the help desk discussed “Most of the time the users are polite and courteous; but we get a few who are impatient and frustrated when things are working to their expectations”.
Staff training
Training for the technical staff is typically weak even for academia. Full time workers can participate in some seminars and receive periodicals. Part time worker receive only “on the job” training. Some types of training materials are available for free over the internet including web blogs, emails, web casts and others. There is a certain cost saving advantage to utilizing the free training tools. Often due to size limitations, these can provide quick solutions to common problems (see also Bass, 2003). Training is often available for new hardware and networking changes, but rarely for new software, changes or upgrades. Maintaining parity with new applications software is typically the responsibility of the student lab administrators or faculty.
One area where mass problems are avoided or even cured is with the use of a daily imaging software called “Deep Freeze” (“Deep Freeze”, 2006). Deep Freeze is a program where a working “image” or copy of a PC is maintained. At every boot, and especially over night, that new image is loaded into the unit resetting it to the image default. This is accomplished with minimal impact to latency. The advantage of this software is that if any unit malfunctions due to virus, or error on the part of the student, the first solution is to reboot the unit which will eliminate any changes (including saves to My Documents) are restore the unit. The disadvantage of using Deep Freeze is that no information saved by the user survives a reboot which can be problematic should a unit reboot unrepentantly. The risk here is well worth the savings of immediate problem resolution by reboot.
Another disadvantage of Deep Freeze is that it in combination with restricted user access makes it impossible for the student users to download software onto the units. Typically, this feature is a large positive; however, from time to time, the sophisticated user does need some additional (albeit infrequent) accessibility. One example involved new software added to some of the flash (jump) drives sold by a local vendor. These drives were preinstalled with an auto synchronous software called U3 which when installed on one’s home computer would assist the user to maintain equity between the files on the unit and the files on the device. Access restrictions rightly prevented the software from loading but installation failure made the devices dysfunctional. U3 removal software was available on a local server, but it also required administrator access to run. Some instructors were able to log into a lab computer and run the removal software, but upon reboot, all clean up software was lost.
Only technical support and some CIS faculty have “administrator rights” to their units. This prevents users from downloading or installing any software not approved by Computer Services. Even on many units in which the user does have administrative rights, certain software such as device drivers and network connections are not permitted without the Computer Services administrator password to override. These policies handle an enormous amount of problems associated with an open computer environment. It should be noted that the matter of the U3 software was a minor annoyance and protection offered by the combination of user rights restrictions and the Deep Freeze software far outweighs the inconvenience of the security.
Technical support also has policies preventing the download or installation of licensed software and software for which MHCC has purchased licensed are strictly monitored. Policies for email include the prohibition of personal use, and state-of-the-art virus protection and spam protection software covers most email messages and Internet access. Users are expected to be vigilant about their Internet activities.
In summary, while technical support does not employ a large number of high paid and highly trained staffers, through the use of certain technological filters and solid policies, MHCC can maintain a relatively secure computing environment which in itself leads to minimal failures and quick trouble completion.
Staff consulting
MHCC has recognized the technological infusion of nearly all of its programs and departments and has made it part of its mission the technical literacy will be an outcome for the graduate. As such, students in many programs, as well as various faculty and staff, have their own computers. Often those computer break down. Any unit that is not expressly the property of the college is also not the responsibility of tech support to repair. However, MHCC allows some technical staffers to do repairs off hours as consultants. During these times, the consultant is not a representative of MHCC or Computer Services. This also allows the staffer/consultant to earn extra money. The opportunity to consult is a minor benefit of which several staffers take advantage.
Sanctuary
Often, quality workers need a place to hide. They need a place where they can work on a problem in peace with minimal distractions. One of the services that Computer Services provides for some of its workers is a large, unmarked office the door to which is always locked. Though most likely a result of lack of office space in the main facility, while the administrators and the call center are all located in an open office area in the center of the main campus, many of the full time technical support as well as programmers and others maintain their office in an undisclosed location, or sanctuary, located elsewhere in the building.
There are multiple advantages to allowing a safe haven for the technical workers. First, users dealing with a trouble situation may be impatient or not understanding of the efforts of the tech worker insisting on having their problems handled immediately. Second, it requires users with problems to go through the call center for updates. The advantage here is that it allows tech support to set, maintain, and enforce (if necessary) its own priorities. This puts the onus on the administrators and prevents ranking users from bulling tech support to modify their priorities.
The worker being able to concentrate on problems are the third advantage to sanctuary. Minus constant user “visits” or harassing telephone calls, the tech support person is free to focus their minds on solutions instead of politics.
Technical support software
The tracking software used at MHCC is a home grown application built in an MS Access data base. The program tracks events by assigning an event number and relating the event to a particular worker. Day and time of the event are recorded as well as certain problem categories, memos for solutions, and closure day. Analysis of the data base reveals workers work load, solution averages, overall load, and overall averages. Trend analysis is available by watching events by category. Administrative summaries and analysis are available as needed.
While the tracking software is not bad, it is unidirectional. That is, it can only really provide a reporting of events. It is up to the administrators provide the analysis to spot trends, problem areas, and potential failures.
Recommendations
For a moderately sized metropolitan community college, the MHCC Computer Services Technical Support department does a fair job of keeping the technology at the school functioning. Nevertheless, there are certain areas where improvement can be made.
Successes
Yudkowsky (2006) outlines the five most important applications in the overall strategy as 1) virus protection, 2) remote assist, 3) patch management, 4) user self service, and 5) auto generation of tickets. In the first three of these strategies, MHCC performs well. Regarding virus protection, MHCC has in place an appropriate anti-virus solution and it works. Regarding remote assist, the campus is small enough that troubleshooters can easily walk to any office in under 5 minutes. However, a single personal call can easily consume 30 minutes or more to provide a simple diagnostic or fix which may take only a few minutes.
Regarding patch management, unless a significant problem arises, most units are re-imaged between terms. Localized problems, such as in a single lab, can usually be quarantined or the room LAN can be rebuilt relatively quickly. Placing and testing patches takes time. Working in combination with Deep Freeze, however, placing patches on individual units becomes problematic; and updating the Deep Freeze image for distribution around the entire college must be (and usually is) correct the first time.
User training before the call
Yudkowsky’s (2006) fourth strategy is self service. The user community needs to be trained that they actually can be their own first contact for their own problems. Yudkowsky advocates availability of a knowledgebase resource. The solution is to provide the tools so that the user has an opportunity to help them selves before making the call to the help desk. A simple list of trouble shooting questions can often prevent an “unnecessary” call. For example, if a printer is not functioning, rather than calling in, even the moderately sophisticated user can do some diagnostics. A simple list with questions such as 1) is the printer plugged in? 2) do you see lights on the printer? would assist the user in making a more informed call if necessary. The St. Norbet College web site (“Help Desk”, 2006) contains an excellent example of diagnostic questions the user can ask before calling the help desk. MHCC does not have customer self-support or FAQ web pages.
Upgrade support software
MHCC uses a home grown tracking program developed in an MS Access database. The system is functional but limited. MHCC should upgrade to more sophisticated software with greater functionality. One of the most important functions that any help desk needs is the ability to predict and prevent failures. This can be done with software that monitors itself for trends and auto-generates tickets. Yudkowsky’s (2006) fifth essential tool strategy is the auto-generation of tickets. He states,
“Much of our technology has become smart enough to know when it is
sick. The key is to give a voice to that knowledge by allowing the IT infrastructure
to announce its illness. Proactively monitoring, analyzing, and managing a
response before the illness is thoroughly disruptive by creating service
tickets automatically based on thresholds reached will improve help desk
impact, especially for events that effect many.”
An example of software with this functionality is Novo Solutions’ Help Desk software (“Help Desk Software”, 2006).
A critical aspect of technical support, and one that can be fully realized with existing technology, is to utilize a technical support software structure that can be proactive by monitoring itself and generating its own trouble tickets. In this fashion, Computer Services could preempt problems and affix repairs over evenings or weekends and thus minimize or eliminate impacts to workers and students.
Reexamine pay structure
Based on personal
interviews, the workforce of technical support seems to be generally satisfied
and loyal. Still, MHCC administration should reexamine the pay structure and
rates for technical employees. As the demand for entry level technical workers
increases and the supply of the same decreases, their value, especially in the
local metropolitan market will be greatly enhanced. With enticements and higher
wage availability in the
Conclusions
Companies are starting to learn that the lowly help desk, once the scourge of IT departments, is quickly becoming an important aspect as it is typically the only point of contact between the company and its customers. This is becoming especially important as technology increases in complexity and users are becoming increasingly frustrated with that complexity. To take this critical point of contact and farm it overseas to call centers staffed with poorly paid, disrespected, workers with little investment in the success of the organization may have once been considered a shrewd competitive decision, it is now apparent that savings were never worth the injury suffered from customer backlash.
Now it is clear that the help desk is becoming a critical function in the overall computer services infrastructure. The Computer Services Help Desk at Mt Hood Community College is working to reflect that function. Using minimal staff, student workers, and inadequate funds, Computer Services provides timely response, quick resolution, and personable service. Still, improvements can be made. Given additional funding, Computer Services should acquire more sophisticated tracking software which would allow them to preempt problems before they occur. Increased training and increased salaries would attract quality technicians and keep good workers from leaving. Self support and FAQ web sites providing simple instructions and training for the user community should be developed to help users to help themselves first before contacting the call center. Policies and procedures strengthening the functionality of the help desk as an important department must be developed which would give the help desk responsibility for its production as well as authority to direct its own actions.
As the complexity of technology increases, especially considering recent and upcoming releases of even more sophisticated platforms, networks, and software, Computer Services at MHCC will have to work hard to keep current.
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Appendix A
Chart A1: Rolling Average of Average Days to Close
