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	<title>PC Helps Blog &#187; ROI</title>
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	<link>http://www.pchelpsblog.com</link>
	<description>A blog about proving ROI, smart outsourcing, and other IT-related musings.</description>
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		<title>A Few Myths and Realities of an Office 2007 &amp; Windows 7 Migration</title>
		<link>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/08/a-few-myths-and-realities-of-an-office-2007-windows-7-migration/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=a-few-myths-and-realities-of-an-office-2007-windows-7-migration</link>
		<comments>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/08/a-few-myths-and-realities-of-an-office-2007-windows-7-migration/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:58:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jenny Sweeney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[How To]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Office 2007]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ROI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Windows 7]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Windows 7 & Office 2007 Migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[migrations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pchelpsonline.com/?p=2702</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Myth: Office 2007 support needs fade within just a couple weeks of deployment. Reality: Providing support and training to information workers before, during and after deployment is crucial to early and sustained adoption. The new interface is designed to make people aware of features they never found in the old versions. Information workers will continue [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Myth: Office 2007 support needs fade within just a couple weeks of deployment.<br />
</strong>Reality: Providing support and training to information workers before, during and after deployment is crucial to early and sustained adoption. The new interface is designed to make people aware of features they never found in the old versions. Information workers will continue to discover these new features for months after deployment and they will need ongoing help using them. It is unreasonable to expect the help desk to have found and mastered the features that were so well hidden in previous versions of Office. Above average migration call volume can be expected to last as long as six months, as call volume is linear throughout the migration. The peaks in volume will crest most noticeably during the initial installations. During months 1-3, call volume for how to questions on Office 2007 can spike to a 50 percent increase, drop to an average of 30 percent during months 4-6 and then continue to decline. </p>
<p> <strong>Myth:  Migrating to Office 2007 is like every other software upgrade or switchover.<br />
</strong>Reality: The application looks radically different and is a complete overhaul of the user interface. There are no menus and no toolbars. Many information workers won’t even be able to open files without training and assistance. In past upgrades, an information worker’s knowledge of how to get to the features in the previous version was 95 percent effective in the new version. For Office 2007, it is zero percent effective.    </p>
<p> <strong>Myth: Information workers will benefit from Windows 7 without training and support<br />
</strong>Reality: A learning curve is guaranteed when information workers, or even an internal help desk staff, are faced with tools, applications or operating systems that look differently. A lack of proper training and support will prolong the adoption period. Maximizing the productivity increase — and resultant ROI — from the new tools in Windows 7 requires training in the theory and support in the practice of using the new tool. Read more myths and realities of an Office 2007 and Windows 7 migration and eight service levels needed to prove migration ROI <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/o2007mythsrealitiesroi.asp">http://www.pchelps.com/html/o2007mythsrealitiesroi.asp</a></p>
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		<title>The Need for Now</title>
		<link>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/08/the-need-for-now/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-need-for-now</link>
		<comments>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/08/the-need-for-now/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jenny Sweeney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Excel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ROI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Worker Productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Help Desk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software support]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.pchelps.com/?p=354</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Forget a leisurely Sunday drive or going to a restaurant without a reservation. Today, everyone wants everything to be convenient and fast. We have drive-through everything &#8211; photos, pharmacies, weddings, and anything else you can dream of. There&#8217;s no need to wait in line at the local Blockbuster; you can watch Netflix on demand. You [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Forget a leisurely Sunday drive or going to a restaurant without a reservation. Today, everyone wants everything to be convenient and fast. We have drive-through everything &#8211; photos, pharmacies, weddings, and anything else you can dream of.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s no need to wait in line at the local Blockbuster; you can watch Netflix on demand. You can order your groceries online and have them delivered, print a boarding pass at the airport kiosk (no humans necessary!), and have your dry-cleaning delivered with just a click. Even GPS systems, which were once a luxury in cars, are becoming a standard. Have we lost our sense of direction? No, we like having a faster, more convenient way of getting there.<span id="more-354"></span></p>
<p>The workplace is no different. Chances are your office cafeteria has swipe cards, self-service, and grab-and-go options. If you&#8217;re in sales or marketing, your company may have invested in a pricey CRM solution to boost your productivity. If you&#8217;re in accounting, or any department really, it&#8217;s the same: get more done in less time.</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color: #ff9900;">&#8220;Whichever solution he chooses, he&#8217;s right where he started &#8211; lost in a sea of #REF!s.&#8221;</span></p></blockquote>
<p>Time is money, indeed. It&#8217;s an old saying, but in the current financial climate, stakeholders, company owners and managers really mean it. So, why then, when it comes to delivering convenient, efficient support for desktop and mobile device applications is it not a priority for IT leaders?</p>
<p>Consider the following example: Employee X just switched positions within a company, and he is now responsible for his division&#8217;s quarterly sales reports. When he tries to update the existing spreadsheet with current figures, his formulas return errors. He&#8217;s stuck, and he has no idea how to begin to troubleshoot.</p>
<p>He can ask a colleague to help, which will waste the time of two employees. He can scan Excel&#8217;s often-useless help menu. Or he can call a help desk tech who spends all day resetting passwords and rebooting servers.</p>
<p>Whichever solution he chooses, he&#8217;s right where he started &#8211; lost in a sea of #REF!s, and far from a solution that is efficient and convenient. And not only is <em>he </em>stymied, <em>his company </em>is losing money on his diminished productivity.</p>
<p>If he had access to on-demand, expert support for his desktop applications, the same applications he and the rest of his colleagues rely on every day to stay productive, this dilemma would be a minor interruption, with minimal impact on his productivity. <em>(Stephanie Maurer)</em></p>
<p><span class="taglistlabel"><span><strong>FIND MORE INFO IN:</strong> <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/smb/smb.asp" target="_blank">Small Business</a> |</span></span><span class="taglistlabel"><span> <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/mobiledevice.htm" target="_blank">BlackBerry + Mobile Devices</a> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/map.asp" target="_blank">Office 2007 Migration</a> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/eTraining.htm" target="_blank">PC Helps eTraining</a></span></span><span class="taglistlabel"><span><span> </span>| <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/desktop_app_software_support.htm" target="_blank">Desktop Application Support</a> </span></span>| <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/contact.htm" target="_blank">Contact PC Helps</a><span class="taglistlabel"><strong></strong></span></p>
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		<title>Office &#8217;07 Migration Road Map</title>
		<link>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/05/office-07-migration-road-map/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=office-07-migration-road-map</link>
		<comments>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/05/office-07-migration-road-map/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 May 2010 15:00:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jenny Sweeney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Office 2007]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ROI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Worker Productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software support]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.pchelps.com/?p=340</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What to expect at every stage.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A random sampling of tweets about Office 2007 offers no surprises. Users are frustrated, desperate, confused, angry even. No matter where you are in your 2007 migration &#8211; research and planning stage; implementation; post-migration &#8211; you will hit some snags, to be sure. How you handle them may dictate future budget allocations, even the health of your IT department.  Here&#8217;s what you should know before you choose a migration plan and partner:<span id="more-340"></span><br />
<em> </em></p>
<p><strong>Myth No. 1: You can make Office 2007 look and act like Office 2003.</strong></p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color: #ff9900;"><strong>&#8220;Two words: no menus. Two more: no toolbars.&#8221;</strong></span></p></blockquote>
<p>Scads of third-party applications have cropped up that promise to make Office 2007 look and act like 2003. Some are effective; most miss the point. Holding on to the old interface will only serve to diminish your Office 2007 migration return on investment.<br />
<em> </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Myth No. 2: Migration support needs disappear completely after a few weeks.</strong></p>
<p><em><span style="font-style: normal;">No, no, no. Microsoft designed the new interface to make it easier for users to find features that were available in older versions, but were buried in an elaborate menu structure. It&#8217;s working, too. Months into a rollout, your employees will be finding tools they never knew existed &#8211; and they will need help learning how to use them. To expect IT generalists to know how to use long-hidden features is downright unreasonable.</span></em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Myth No. 3: Migrating to Office 2007 is like every other migration.</strong></p>
<p>Two words: no menus. Two more: no toolbars.</p>
<p>Many users will not even be able to open files without training and help. Office 2007 is a complete overhaul of the user interface. In previous upgrades, knowledge of how to get to features in the previous version got users where they wanted to go 95 percent of the time. With 2007, it&#8217;s zero percent.<br />
<em> </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Myth No. 4: Handling a migration without outside help will give my staff a chance to shine.</strong></p>
<p>Don&#8217;t turn your IT staff into scapegoats. The scale of end-user need when Office 2007 hits a desktop guarantees your IT department will be overwhelmed.<br />
<em> </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Myth No. 5: I have smart employees. They&#8217;ll have no problem figuring out how to use Office 2007 on their own.</strong></p>
<p><em></em>An employee does not call the general help desk when he can get the answer from a colleague who sits near him. If none of his colleagues know how to use Office 2007, and he calls a generalist at the help desk, how much expertise will he find there?</p>
<p><em><span class="taglistlabel"><span><span style="font-style: normal;"><strong>FIND MORE INFO IN:</strong> </span><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/map.asp" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;">Office 2007 Migration Checklist + Tools</span></a><span class="taglistlabel"><span><span style="font-style: normal;"> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/o2007migrationcasestudy.asp" target="_blank">Migration Case Study</a> | </span><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/eTraining.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;">PC Helps eTraining</span></a></span></span><span class="taglistlabel"><span><span><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">|</span><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/desktop_app_software_support.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;">Desktop Application Support</span></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">| </span><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/contact.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;">Contact PC Helps</span></a><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/smb/smb.asp" target="_blank"></a></span></span></em></p>
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		<title>5 Lessons to Learn Before Outsourcing</title>
		<link>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/04/software-support-101-5-lessons-to-learn-before-choosing-a-provider/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=software-support-101-5-lessons-to-learn-before-choosing-a-provider</link>
		<comments>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/04/software-support-101-5-lessons-to-learn-before-choosing-a-provider/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:35:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jenny Sweeney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer Literacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PowerPoint]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ROI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Worker Productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best-of-breed]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Help Desk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Outsourcing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software support]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://10.201.103.7/?p=51</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Outsourcing: 5 lessons to learn before choosing a provider.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>On the surface, it seems a no-brainer: Why pay extra to hire an outside company for desktop application support when the demand does not exist? This perception is confirmed by the small percentage of all help desk calls that relate to desktop applications. However, those numbers represent only a fraction of what truly exists.</p>
<p><strong>Lesson 1: Icebergs and Undergrounds</strong></p>
<p>In the common view of desktop application support, calls typically account for less than <span id="more-51"></span>5 percent of help desk volume. Very often, the percentage is even less than 1 percent. The visible portion of the &#8220;iceberg&#8221; is quite small.</p>
<p>But, like an iceberg, what you see on the surface (that is, what most CIOs see when reviewing help desk metrics) is merely a fraction of what truly exists. The reality is that the demand is there; it&#8217;s just being absorbed by the organization in other forms:</p>
<ul>
<li> Peer support (Joe asks Mary for help)</li>
<li> Abandoned support (Joe gets stuck and walks away from the task altogether)</li>
<li> Rework (Joe can&#8217;t figure out how to make the software do what he needs so he re-tools his work to get around the problem)</li>
<li> Self-help (Joe wastes time consulting the software help feature, scouring the Internet for help, reviewing manuals, etc.)</li>
</ul>
<p>The productivity impact of these &#8220;underground&#8221; support channels averages three hours per solution at a cost of $48 to $196 per solution (depending on salary). And this doesn&#8217;t even account for the additional cost of the peer&#8217;s time (e.g., Mary in the example above). In comparison, the average solution with a best-of-breeds software application support provider is less than $25.<br />
The true level of demand typically ranges from 5 percent to 15 percent of all help desk call volume, assuming all troubled end-users are reaching out to the help desk instead of consulting their underground channels. When a company is migrating to a new software suite or version, or rolling out additional mobile devices, the surge in demand for support can reach 40 percent or more of help desk volume.</p>
<p><strong>Lesson 2: Contrasting Models</strong></p>
<p>There is a significant contrast between supporting desktop applications under the standard help desk model versus employing a best-of-breeds approach for &#8220;how-to&#8221; support.<br />
The standard help desk model employs a tiered support structure  where only a relatively small percentage of issues (around 20 percent) are resolved on the first call, another roughly 35 percent require a few days to turn around, and the remaining 45 percent either take longer than a few days, or sometimes never find resolution.<br />
This model staffs agents for things like break/fix, network connectivity issues, and hardware and software installs. They are, by design, generalists that have little knowledge on desktop applications and mobile devices (&#8220;jack of all trades, master of none,&#8221; to borrow a phrase). Additionally, the typical help desk is built on the premise of &#8220;lean staffing,&#8221; meaning nominal off-hours coverage, fewer bodies than required to meet peak calling periods, and frequent &#8220;leave a message&#8221; instances for troubled end-users.</p>
<p>In sharp contrast, a best-of-breeds sourcing partner does not employ a tiered support structure, leading to 90 percent or more of issues being resolved on the first call, and virtually no issue outstanding beyond 24 hours (excluding certain time-intensive development projects). Unlike the typical help desk model, a best-of-breeds sourcing partner employs certified software specialists on the front lines that focus exclusive attention, day in and day out, on desktop application and mobile device support. In this model, response time is critical, listening to music in queue is offensive, and leaving a voicemail is completely unacceptable.</p>
<p>Additional contrast stems from that exclusive focus. A best-of-breeds sourcing partner solves the real problem, not merely the symptoms described by the end-user, in addition to identifying related topics, delivering multiple solutions on the same call, and recommending future courses of action for training. The specialist, by virtue of experience and expertise, can solve today&#8217;s issue and reduce tomorrow&#8217;s need for similar support. That translates into dramatically enhanced ROI for an organization&#8217;s investment in software and mobile devices.</p>
<p><strong>Lesson 3: Apples &amp; Oranges, and How Much They Really Cost</strong></p>
<p>The typical perception of specialized desktop application support is that it is expensive compared to average help desk metrics.  The reasoning follows a general pattern: <em>Our average call lasts X minutes and costs Y dollars.  The average call to a niche, &#8220;how-to&#8221; support provider is expensive when compared to our internal cost per call for help desk assistance.</em><br />
But that&#8217;s comparing apples to oranges.</p>
<p>For starters, comparing &#8220;costs per call&#8221; completely misses the key distinction between a &#8220;call&#8221; and a &#8220;solution.&#8221;  While a typical help desk call may focus on an isolated, solitary issue and the associated solution such as &#8220;connecting to the web,&#8221; desktop application support generally requires the delivery of <em>multiple </em>solutions on a single call.</p>
<p>A customer calling in about Excel, for example, may need help fixing a formula, formatting cells, and modifying a pivot table before the support session can be successfully ended.  The end result is a much lower cost-per-solution delivered &#8211; and one that no doubt required a much higher level of experience and expertise to address.</p>
<p>So, while typical calls to a help desk may cost an average $80 per solution, a specialized partner can deliver solutions for a fraction of this cost.</p>
<p>Aside from getting the terms right, it is also inaccurate to compare the average help desk call with the average &#8220;how-to&#8221; solution.  A help desk handles a disproportionately high number of quick-fix issues (such as password resets, which can average 30 percent or more of all help desk service requests).</p>
<p>Such quick-fix calls skew the average length and cost of a help desk call. If that same help desk examined average minutes spent on just one subset of its data &#8211; namely, desktop application and mobile device issues &#8211; the numbers tell a very different story.</p>
<p><strong>Lesson 4: A Breakfast Analogy</strong></p>
<p>Training and support are not the same.  Training complements support, like milk complements Cheerios, but training is not a viable substitute for support.  Still, many IT managers will reason that, since all employees go through training when they are hired and perhaps even periodically thereafter, there is no need for desktop application support.  This is flawed for two primary reasons.</p>
<p>First, while training is effective at addressing common and repeated needs, it is highly ineffective &#8211; and inefficient &#8211; at meeting specialized needs at unpredictable times, which is the very nature of a desktop application support issue. For example, if my company is switching from Lotus Notes to Outlook, it is smart to offer upfront training to teach employees how to attach files, use distribution lists, make calendar entries, etc. &#8211; tasks everyone needs to know how to do from the start.  But if I cannot figure out why my net present value calculation in Excel is yielding a negative number for the interest rate, training is of no help to me, even if I was the star pupil at every class the company offered.</p>
<p>Beyond that, even a well-trained knowledge worker is highly likely to forget what he/she learned when the time comes to use a key feature or apply a technique within the application or device.  Think about the student who studies, aces the exam, and, two months later, cannot remember a lick of what he learned.</p>
<p><strong>Lesson 5: Full-Circle</strong></p>
<p>The presence or absence of quality desktop application and mobile device support feeds a recurring cycle of events.</p>
<p>When support is poor, end-user satisfaction is low. This leads to a low number of calls to the help desk on &#8220;how-to&#8221; questions and an increase in the need for support, as evidenced by end-users seeking help from peers or other time-consuming sources.  This gap in support costs companies an average of three hours of lost productivity per &#8220;how-to&#8221; issue (see Lesson 1: The Iceberg).  But an organization will never see this gap by merely looking at its help desk stats.  It is hidden from plain view.</p>
<p>On the contrary, when the gap is bridged with top-notch support, end-user satisfaction increases, as does the number of calls for desktop application and mobile device support.  It seems paradoxical, but consider this: When the <em>availability </em>of quality, prompt support becomes known and is then reinforced by experience, the demand <em>shifts </em>from peer support to the newly enhanced help desk. Bridging this gap brings an <em>immediate </em>productivity gain (i.e., winning back the three hours per solution) and a <em>future </em>productivity gain.</p>
<p>An IT manager may ask: <em>Why would I go looking for additional calls? After all, I&#8217;m trying to decrease help desk call volume.</em> The real question should be: <em>Why would I allow my company to continue wasting $48 to $196 per &#8220;how-to&#8221; solution when an alternative model could yield the same solutions for $25?</em></p>
<p>Have you asked yourself that question? <em>(Jen Darr, Stephanie Maurer)</em></p>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;"><strong>FIND MORE INFO IN:</strong> <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/productivity_whitepaper_web.asp" target="_blank">Download the Full White Paper</a></span><span class="taglistlabel"><span><span style="font-style: normal;"> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/SierraSW_casestudy_final.asp" target="_blank">Related Case Study</a> | </span><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/eTraining.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;">PC Helps eTraining</span></a></span></span><span class="taglistlabel"><span><span><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">|</span><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/desktop_app_software_support.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;">Desktop Application Support</span></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">| </span><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/contact.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;">Contact PC Helps</span></a></p>
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		<title>Real-Life Help Desk Tales, Part 3: The No-Help Desk</title>
		<link>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/04/real-life-help-desk-tales-part-3-the-no-help-desk/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=real-life-help-desk-tales-part-3-the-no-help-desk</link>
		<comments>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/04/real-life-help-desk-tales-part-3-the-no-help-desk/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:16:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jenny Sweeney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer Literacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How To]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ROI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Worker Productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best-of-breed]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CIO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Help Desk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IT leaders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Outsourcing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software support]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.pchelps.com/?p=487</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The point of desktop application support - or any support - is to clear up conundrums. That's hard to accomplish if the people involved cannot communicate with each other.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In previous posts, I examined why corporate workers hesitate to call their help desks when stuck with a software quandary. I referred to the so-called <a href="http://blog.pchelps.com/2009/04/real-life-help-desk-tales-part-2-the-stupidity-factor/" target="_blank">stupidity factor</a>, or fear of looking stupid, as one of the top reasons.</p>
<p>In an e-mail response, a reader pointed out an even greater obstacle, something he called the infuriation factor.<span id="more-487"></span></p>
<p>&#8220;The reason I don&#8217;t call our help desk is because it is outsourced to desks outside the U.S.,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;The &#8216;Help&#8217; can&#8217;t speak English adequately enough to understand or communicate effectively. A problem which should only take five or 10 minutes to resolve sometimes takes as long as an hour and a half.&#8221;</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal; ">H</span>e has a point, and it&#8217;s a biggie, for sure.</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color: #ff9900;">&#8220;Desktop application support is often treated as an afterthought, or a small piece of a gargantuan, all-in-one outsourcing deal.&#8221;</span></p></blockquote>
<p>Most of us have had a frustrating help desk experience or two, where we were placed on hold, forced to listen to tinny &#8217;80s Lite rock, only to be &#8220;helped&#8221; &#8211; eventually &#8211; by someone whose English was so-so, and who was proficient only in gatekeeping.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m not by any means xenophobic, and I&#8217;m not offended if an ATM asks if I&#8217;d like to bank in Spanish, Hindi or English, but the point of desktop application support &#8211; or any support &#8211; is to clear up conundrums. That&#8217;s hard to accomplish if the people involved cannot communicate with each other. It&#8217;s even more difficult if the help desk employs a tiered structure and bounces callers around until they get a technician who can actually help.</p>
<p>The language issue is a symptom of a larger outsourcing problem. That is, that because the need for desktop application support isn&#8217;t easily quantifiable, and because it&#8217;s difficult to prove return on investment with such services, it&#8217;s is often treated as an afterthought, or a small piece of a gargantuan, all-in-one outsourcing deal. This not only sullies the help desk&#8217;s image, it also tarnishes the IT department&#8217;s reputation overall.</p>
<p>Recent industry publications have suggested that multimillion dollar outsourcing deals are the stuff of history, and that companies have begun opting for nimbler, best-of-breed help desk outsourcers. Still, the challenges remain: how to change the help desk&#8217;s reputation, how to prove its value, and how to keep an eye on the budget. <em>(Jen Darr)</em></p>
<p><em>Is your IT department all-in-one or best-of-breed? Tell us in comments or send us an </em><a href="mailto:jen.darr@pchelps.com" target="_blank"><em>e-mail</em></a><em>.</em></p>
<p><strong>MORE INFO IN: </strong><a href="http://blog.pchelps.com/2009/03/software-support-101-5-lessons-to-learn-before-choosing-a-provider/" target="_blank">5 Lessons to Learn Before Outsourcing</a> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/hidden_demand.htm" target="_blank">Hidden Demand</a> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/desktop_app_software_support.htm" target="_blank">Desktop Application Support</a> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/contact.htm" target="_blank">Contact PC Helps</a></p>
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		<title>Real-Life Help Desk Tales, Part 2: The Stupidity Factor</title>
		<link>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/04/real-life-help-desk-tales-part-2-the-stupidity-factor/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=real-life-help-desk-tales-part-2-the-stupidity-factor</link>
		<comments>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/04/real-life-help-desk-tales-part-2-the-stupidity-factor/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:00:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jenny Sweeney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer Literacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How To]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ROI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Worker Productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CIO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Help Desk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IT leaders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mariachi band]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software support]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.pchelps.com/?p=472</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There's no argument that all corporate workers need technological skills to do their jobs. Anyone who didn't come of age with a computer clearly has catching up to do, not to mention a whole lot of maintenance as their existing skills become antiquated. The question for CIOs and other IT leaders is: How will you give your employees those skills?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In a previous post (see 	<a href="http://blog.pchelps.com/2009/04/real-life-help-desk-tales-part-1-office-2007-doesn’t-suck/" target="_blank">Real-Life Help Desk Tales, Part 1</a>), I touched upon why people don&#8217;t call the help desk when they need software assistance (fear of looking stupid, unpleasant past experience, assumed time investment). In this post, I will take a closer look at the stupidity factor.<span id="more-472"></span></p>
<p>Fear of asking &#8220;stupid&#8221; questions is the culprit for many misunderstandings in life, and it clearly plays a standout role in this case. Inserting footers and page breaks shouldn&#8217;t be so hard to figure out, right? For a fresh-faced techie, who has immersed himself in software all of his adult life, yes, asking how to fix footers qualifies as stupid.</p>
<p>But for those who started out in business using a typewriter, electric or manual, inserting a footer meant simply typing it at the bottom. Adding a page break was as easy as pulling the paper out of the machine. They did not concern themselves with section breaks, be they even, odd or next page; nor did they care about field codes to insert current date and time, file name or page numbering style. Heck, they may even have brought in a mariachi band for presentation sound effects. (OK, that&#8217;s a stretch.)</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color: #ff9900;">Anyone who didn&#8217;t come of age with a computer has catching up to do, plus a whole lot of maintenance as their existing skills become antiquated.</span></p></blockquote>
<p>So, for many, &#8220;How do you make the same footer appear on all but the first two pages?&#8221; is not an inane question, especially when considering how much has changed in the past 20-odd years. The Internet and computers have had a profound impact on the 21st century, more so than any other technological advance. Each new development requires new skills and understanding. Computer literacy is no longer a special talent; it&#8217;s a necessity.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s no argument that all corporate workers need technological skills to do their jobs &#8212; not developer-level or expert knowledge, mind you, but practical training and ongoing support. Anyone who didn&#8217;t come of age with a computer clearly has catching up to do, not to mention a whole lot of maintenance as their existing skills become antiquated.*</p>
<p>The question for CIOs and other IT leaders is: How will you give your employees those skills?</p>
<p>Will you force them &#8220;underground&#8221; for software support, to huddle and hatch costly, time-consuming workarounds, or will you encourage them to solve their problems productively with the proper training and support? <em>(Jen Darr)</em></p>
<p><em>*Source: Ezziane, Zoheir: </em><a href="http://ssrn.com/abstract=893541" target="_blank"><em>Information Technology Literacy: Learning and Teaching</em></a><em>.</em><br />
<strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>MORE INFO IN: </strong><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/desktop_app_software_support.htm" target="_blank">desktop application support </a>| <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/eTraining.htm" target="_blank">eTraining </a>| <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/contact.htm" target="_blank">contact PC Helps</a></p>
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		<title>Real-Life Help Desk Tales, Part 1: Love, Hate &amp; Office 2007</title>
		<link>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/04/real-life-help-desk-tales-part-1-office-2007-doesn%e2%80%99t-suck/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=real-life-help-desk-tales-part-1-office-2007-doesn%25e2%2580%2599t-suck</link>
		<comments>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/04/real-life-help-desk-tales-part-1-office-2007-doesn%e2%80%99t-suck/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:53:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jenny Sweeney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer Literacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Office 2007]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ROI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Worker Productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cat Stevens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Help Desk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PowerPoint]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software support]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.pchelps.com/?p=418</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The point of an upgrade is to give users new, usually improved and expanded capabilities. If employees do not have access to training and support, they will naturally come to the conclusion that Office 2007 sucks.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Consider the following scenario: The entire staff of an elementary school was recently upgraded to Office 2007. When Teacher A began creating a new lesson in PowerPoint, which is something she does on a regular basis, she couldn&#8217;t figure out how to align her text.</p>
<p>After more than an hour of trial and error<span id="more-418"></span>, she couldn&#8217;t find the feature she used in previous versions, so she devised a workaround with the space bar to nudge and align.</p>
<p>She asked two of her fellow teachers for help. They couldn&#8217;t figure it out either, and they too were using the spacebar fix.</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color: #ff9900;">Her opinion of Office 2007 after this experience? </span></p>
<p><span style="color: #ff9900;">&#8220;It sucks. I hate it.&#8221;</span></p></blockquote>
<p>Teacher A spent more than an hour coming up with her Band-aid workaround. But her solution isn&#8217;t a solution at all: She now spends more time on each presentation nudging and aligning.</p>
<p>If she would have called her school district help desk, a consultant would have solved her problem in less than half the time. She could have passed along the information to her colleagues, saving them each an hour. She may have even learned how to use tools that are new to the version.</p>
<p>When asked why she didn&#8217;t call the help desk, she said she didn&#8217;t think the question was important enough. Besides, she added, she didn&#8217;t have time to waste on the phone.</p>
<p>Her opinion of Office 2007 after this experience? &#8220;It sucks. I hate it.&#8221;</p>
<p>This is typical in workplaces. Even at companies where quality desktop application support is offered, employees hesitate to utilize the service.</p>
<p>One reason is to avoid embarrassment. Many workers have learned their computer skills informally on the job, so they are reluctant to call the help desk for what they perceive is a &#8220;stupid&#8221; question.</p>
<p>Another reason, and chief among them, is an assumed time investment. Most people have had a frustrating help desk experience or two, where they were placed on hold, forced to listen to tinny, instrumental versions of Cat Stevens hits, only to be &#8220;helped&#8221; &#8212; eventually &#8212; by someone who is familiar with everything but proficient in nothing.</p>
<p>So instead, they tap the office software &#8220;expert&#8221; for help, pulling her away from her job and wasting twice the company effort. Or they fruitlessly scan Microsoft Help files and search the web.</p>
<p>The result is a whopping waste of investment in software. The point of an upgrade is to give users new, usually improved and expanded capabilities. If employees do not have access to training and support, they will naturally come to the conclusion that Office 2007 sucks. That sucks for your bottom line. <em>(Jen Darr)</em></p>
<p>MORE INFO IN: <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/map.asp" target="_blank">Office 2007 migration checklist</a> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/contact.htm" target="_blank">contact PC Helps</a></p>
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		<title>Learn to Love the Ribbon</title>
		<link>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/04/learn-to-love-the-ribbon/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=learn-to-love-the-ribbon</link>
		<comments>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/04/learn-to-love-the-ribbon/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:03:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jenny Sweeney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer Literacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Office 2007]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ROI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Worker Productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://10.201.103.7/?p=85</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tips to avoid an Office 2007 migration nightmare.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You’ve already committed the company to an Office 2007 migration, and the learning curve alone promises grief. Factor in the current financial climate and the overwhelming pressure to pull off a successful migration, and you have full-on agita.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Software migrations will no doubt cause disruptions in at least three areas over several months. But if you approach it with a thought-out plan, you can lessen the sting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Where’s the File Menu?</strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The first and most obvious impact will be on your employees. <span id="more-85"></span>Features they have used for years are suddenly, um, <em>somewhere else</em>. The interface changes in Office 2007 are substantial enough that without training and support before and throughout a migration, even the savviest users will be lost.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #ff9900;">&#8220;How will an overall decrease in productivity affect your company’s numbers? In a word, nightmarishly.&#8221;</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Callers are in Queue</strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Immediately after deployment, employees will bombard the internal help desk with support questions, on top of their regular requests for forgotten passwords and more mailbox size. It’s hard to keep up a balancing act like that, even more so when employees make it over the initial learning hump and begin finding features that are new to the version. That’s 2.0.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong>The Bottom Line</strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How will an overall decrease in productivity affect your company’s numbers? In a word, nightmarishly. If John Q. Embeeay is churning out a dozen reports a day using Access and Excel 2003, how long will it take him to get back up to that level using 2007?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Whether it is learning how to use the new ribbon interface or adjusting to file formats, employees and help desks will face a learning curve of some capacity. Productivity, the backbone of a company, will suffer without a migration partner and plan in place. <em>(Jen Darr)</em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><strong>FIND MORE INFO IN: </strong></span></span><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/map.asp" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Office 2007 Migration Checklist + Tools</span></span></a><span class="taglistlabel"><span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> | </span><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/o2007migrationcasestudy.asp" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;">Migration Case Study</span></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> | </span></span><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/eTraining.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;">PC Helps eTraining</span></span></a></span></span><span class="taglistlabel"><span><span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;">|</span></span><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/desktop_app_software_support.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Desktop Application Support</span></span></a><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;">| </span></span><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/contact.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Contact PC Helps</span></span></a><br />
</em></p>
<address class="MsoNormal"></address>
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		<title>8 Elite Service Levels Needed to Prove Office 2007 ROI</title>
		<link>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/03/8-service-levels-needed-to-prove-office-2007-windows-7-migration-roi/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=8-service-levels-needed-to-prove-office-2007-windows-7-migration-roi</link>
		<comments>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/03/8-service-levels-needed-to-prove-office-2007-windows-7-migration-roi/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:35:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jenny Sweeney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[econolypse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ROI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Windows 7 & Office 2007 Migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BlackBerry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Outsourcing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Windows Mobile]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pchelpsonline.com/?p=2582</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Despite the reports that IT spending is down, CIOs are still expected to keep their IT infrastructures current, which may mean committing to a Windows 7 and Office 2007 migration. Choosing the right migration partner could mean the difference between the championship or an epic loss. As with any major investment, IT leaders are responsible [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Despite the reports that IT spending is down, CIOs are still expected to keep their IT infrastructures current, which may mean committing to a Windows 7 and Office 2007 migration.</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/emailweb/sd/migr_md/bball_lp.html?v=0035000000dgFx7AAE&amp;s=52551AC56F&amp;rg=1" target="_self"><span style="color: #ff9900;">Choosing the right migration partner could mean the difference between the championship or an epic loss.</span></a><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/emailweb/sd/migr_md/bball_lp.html?v=0035000000dgFx7AAE&amp;s=52551AC56F&amp;rg=1"><img class="size-full wp-image-2616 alignright" title="March Migration Madness" src="http://www.pchelpsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/bball-copy.jpg" alt="" width="144" height="144" /></a></p></blockquote>
<p>As with any major investment, IT leaders are responsible for proving the value behind the purchase &#8212; no matter the economic climate. In an economic dip like the one we are riding out now, the focus on ROI is doubled.</p>
<p>Most IT leaders realize that a Windows 7 &amp; Office 2007 deployment requires coordination, planning and oversight, and they know which areas need to be assessed and addressed. As a result, most bring in a third party for migration assistance.</p>
<p>Champion your migration and prove ROI with these eight service practices:</p>
<ol>
<li> <strong>First-Level Analyst Certification:</strong> Providing certified computer consultants (Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows 7 launch partners) results in higher first-call resolution rates based on their core competencies. Information workers are less likely to be placed on hold or passed through a tiered-level support structure. Applying a simple analogy, it is probable that the golfer playing five to six times a week will outperform someone who hits the links a few Sundays a month.</li>
<li> <strong>Domestic vs. Offshore Staff: </strong>The ribbon and overall look of the Office 2007 interface compared to previous versions will test IT staff and information workers. Adding potential language barriers will no doubt raise the challenges.</li>
<li> <strong>Maintain 24-7 and After-Hours Coverage:</strong> Forgo skeleton crews or lower-level support during off-hours and deliver constant, world-class Office 2007 and Windows 7 support and training outlets throughout the entirety of deployment. Many organizations employ staff globally or remotely, in addition to a nine-to-five crew. Don&#8217;t penalize employees for working in a different time zone or after hours by providing less-than-stellar service.</li>
<li> <strong>Deliver Advanced Level Office 2007 &amp; Windows 7 Support: </strong>As IT leaders begin to see ROI during the early phases of the migration, information workers will have begun navigating their way around the ribbon and will begin finding additional and more advanced time-saving features. Support avenues should mirror these advanced-level requests and should not be treated with any less urgency than basic-level requests made during the initial migration phase. Avoid tier-structured support models to keep service levels high and reduce worker frustration and downtime.</li>
<li> <strong>Number of Software and Mobile Device Applications Supported:</strong> Requiring a migration partner that is familiar with applications and mobile devices outside the Office suite can be critical to the complexity of Office 2007 calls. Based on statistics collected over the past 18 months, many information workers begin their support requests by referring to what they could do in previous versions and want to see those same steps applied to this new version.* Additionally, Office 2007 and Windows 7 is just as often expected to work in correlation with other applications including BlackBerry and Windows Mobile.</li>
<li> <strong>Training: </strong>Instruction before, during and after a migration is a key element in measuring ROI. Everyone learns at a different pace, so having a multitude of training options is best, i.e., self-service, on-demand, web-based, individual and customized. Being able to identify and deliver targeted training needs, solution-based metrics and measurable productivity gains can justify several portions of an Office 2007 and Windows 7 investment.<span id="more-2582"></span></li>
<li> <strong>Planning and Education:</strong> Many IT leaders admittedly lack the knowledge that encompasses an Office 2007 and Windows 7 migration assurance plan, hence the reach and popularity of migration partners. With this support and training investment and other day-to-day infrastructure responsibilities IT leaders are tasked with, a migration partner should be expected to deliver a simple, successful solution. Anticipated migration assurance plans should include a readiness checklist, a project and deployment timeline, an information worker education awareness campaign, and excellent support and training &#8212; all of which can be easily integrated into the existing IT infrastructure.</li>
<li> <strong>Call Metrics: </strong>Downtime and productivity are key factors in proving ROI for any software or IT-related investment. The question to ask is: If IT leaders commit to purchasing new or updated hardware, servers, software, etc., how will the investment affect business units and add value to the organization&#8217;s bottom line? Downtime and productivity levels are two areas that easily can be quantified. With little effort, simple call statistics like response time, abandonment rate, hold times, and average first-call overall resolution percentages can be measured and delivered.</li>
</ol>
<p><em>*Knowledge workers at 10 Fortune 1000 organizations (clients of PC Helps) were surveyed November 2008 through April 2009, and were asked to quantify the amount of time they would have spent resolving issues such as importing data into a file from another source in Access 2007, tracking changes in a Word 2007 document, repairing a damaged Excel 2007 file, and hundreds of other Office 2007-related software questions without the services of PC Helps Support, LLC.</em></p>
<p>MORE INFO: <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/emailweb/sd/migr_md/bball_lp.html?v=0035000000dgFx7AAE&amp;s=52551AC56F&amp;rg=1">March Migration Madness &#8212; click here for a top-seeded team and strategic game plan</a> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/infocenter.asp" target="_self">PC Helps Info Center</a> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/emailweb/sd/migr_md/bball_lp.html?v=0035000000dgFx7AAE&amp;s=52551AC56F&amp;rg=1"></a><a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/contact.htm" target="_self">Contact PC Helps</a></p>
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		<title>Learning Japanese, or Stopping Mistakes Before they are Made</title>
		<link>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/02/learning-japanese-or-stopping-mistakes-before-they-are-made/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=learning-japanese-or-stopping-mistakes-before-they-are-made</link>
		<comments>http://www.pchelpsblog.com/2010/02/learning-japanese-or-stopping-mistakes-before-they-are-made/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:44:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jenny Sweeney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ROI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CIO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Harvard Business Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Help Desk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Schrage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Outsourcing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[poka-yoke]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software support]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Poka-yoke – I never had heard the word before, but I was delighted to discover it two weeks ago in a Harvard Business Review article written by Michael Schrage. Poka-yoke is Japanese for “mistake-proofing.” Think of the “In Case of Fire Break Glass” boxes found in office buildings. Because they include a wee stick with [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Poka-yoke </em>– I never had heard the word before, but I was delighted to discover it two weeks ago in a Harvard Business Review article written by Michael Schrage.</p>
<p>Poka-yoke is Japanese for “mistake-proofing.”  Think of the “In Case of Fire Break Glass” boxes found in office buildings. Because they include a wee stick with which to break said glass, they would qualify as poka-yoke.</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color: #ff9900;">Best of all, your employees will experience minimal downtime and very little lost productivity.</span></p></blockquote>
<p>In business, Schrage explains, poka-yoke is the “simplest, cheapest, and surest way to eliminate foreseeable process errors.” He urges managers to perform a poka-yoke audit of their own department.</p>
<p>“What are the persistently simple — and simply persistent — dumb mistakes we make that our technologies can help us catch and destroy?” he asks.</p>
<p>Here’s where I believe IT managers should start: the help desk.</p>
<p>Say your company is planning an Office 2007 migration, and you, as CIO, have decided that because of the current economic climate, assistance isn’t needed. After all, your reliance on internal help desk staff during previous Office upgrades didn’t turn out disastrously.<span id="more-2387"></span></p>
<p>You can take a number of approaches:</p>
<p>•	Train your existing IT staffers on Office 2007, and hire extra workers to handle the migration, which would include extensive training and standard benefits;</p>
<p>•	hire temps or rely on your current all-in-one outsourcer to get you through it;</p>
<p>•	or, bring in a specialized migration partner.</p>
<p>As you may have heard, Office 2007 is radically different from earlier versions. Even the most experienced users will have trouble performing basic tasks like saving documents.</p>
<p>Which one do you think qualifies as the simplest, the cheapest and surest?</p>
<p>In principle, working with the staff you have and hiring a few more keeps the control in your hands, but doesn&#8217;t make sense financially or logistically. You will need to train new employees on the entire Office 2007 suite, pay benefits, and dole out extra expenses for an after-hours support skeleton crew.</p>
<p>Such a significant time and money investment (at about $85 per call) does not make sense when you consider that you have no guarantee the new FTEs and your existing IT staff will be able to cover a full-swing migration while maintaining their regular duties. Plus, your new employees will be generalists, supporting only a dozen or so applications. The average peak hold time for this solution is nine minutes, and the call abandonment rate is 10 percent.</p>
<p>At an average of $96 a call, temps are pricier than full-timers, and don&#8217;t even deliver better service (15 percent abandonment rate). A temp solution offers generalist support and an average 15-minute hold time during peak hours. It does not provide training, advanced Office 2007 support, or awareness campaigns.</p>
<p>Choosing a big-box outsourcer seems like a smart option if you already contract with one for other services. At $59 on average per call, this option is cheaper than hiring temps and full-timers. Also, some all-in-ones offer training in conjunction with a migration. The downside: The staff is mostly generalists whose first language is not English. Some big outsourcers employ tiered-model desks as well. When you factor in the 10-minute peak hold time and 15 percent call abandonment rate, this option loses its shine.</p>
<p>The last option, a migration partner, is often dismissed as an unnecessary expense, especially when budgets are sparse. However, if you choose the right outsourcer, you will get domestic Microsoft-certified consultants; support for more than 160 applications, including advanced-level Office 2007; training courses and awareness campaigns; after-hours support; no hold time; a call abandonment rate of .01 percent; and a 91 percent first-call resolution rate. Average cost per solution with this option is $25.</p>
<p>Here’s the poka-yoke: By hiring a migration partner, you will not have to hire extra staff (or fire them once it’s complete); you will not need to train your staff to an expert Office 2007 level; you will not have to pay overtime when call volume balloons during the initial migration phase; and, best of all, your employees will experience minimal downtime and very little lost productivity.♦</p>
<p>Read Schrage’s <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/schrage/2010/02/my-favorite-anecdote-about-des.html" target="_self">full article</a>.</p>
<p>Download your <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/emailweb/O2K7-Win7-MRK/MRK_download.html" target="_self">free migration readiness kit</a>.</p>
<p>MORE INFO IN: <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/o2007migrationcasestudy.asp" target="_self">Office 2007 Migration Case Study</a> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/o2007migrationoverview.asp" target="_self">Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program</a> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/o2007readinesschecklist.asp" target="_self">Migration Readiness Checklist</a> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/o2007competitiveanalysis.asp" target="_self">Migration Competitive Analysis</a> | <a href="http://www.pchelps.com/html/contact.htm" target="_self">Contact PC Helps</a></p>
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