Like present-day meat cutters, IT employees are not thought of as a friendly bunch.

What IT Can Learn From Supermarket Butchers (August 2009)

If you’ve noticed a change in attitude at the supermarket meat department lately, you’re not imagining it. Some big-name grocery store chains have begun a meat education renaissance, training their employees on everything from the difference between cuts and grades to the many ways to prepare and cook meat.

It’s an effort to make supermarket butchers more personable, more knowledgeable, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. Read more.

The Importance of Follow Up (September 2009)

Recently, while reviewing the quality assurance surveys we conduct with our customers, I noticed a common thread in the comments: the importance of following up.

Here’s a sample:

“You were awesome and this follow-up e-mail speaks volumes of how wonderful your service was.”

And another:

“I was absolutely thrilled when I got an e-mail from [the consultant] the next day with tutorials. I thought that was amazing customer service. Customer service is dead these days. Your company renewed my faith in it.”

It’s standard practice here to send customers reinforcement learning tips and e-mails with topics that are related to the software issue that prompted them to call in the first place. Glass-half-empties may say it’s overkill, or that it’s akin to spamming.

Quality customer service isn’t just a nicety or something you’d find in Charleston; it’s critical to the health of a business.

With an attitude like that, no wonder customer service is dead. Read more.

The Good Customer Service Game (September 2009)

Some of our customers are so surprised that our consultants are friendly, they send us letters like this:

“Now I must tell you that I’m not the brightest when it comes to technical-type stuff. I’m sure I asked a lot of ‘silly’ questions, and probably had to ask them more than once. [Your consultant] never made me feel stupid and demonstrated the utmost patience and kindness when dealing with me. I have had to call back on a number of occasions and requested to work directly with him because he was so knowledgeable, helpful, personable, and, oh, did I mention patient?”

While we welcome praise like that, it does make us wonder why dreadful customer service is the accepted standard — at help desks for sure, and in business in general.

It’s a fact that if customers are treated poorly, they will hesitate to call back the next time they have an issue.

In a recent piece in Information Week magazine, staffer Art Wittmann argues for a more customer-friendly future. In IT, Wittman says that interest in end-user satisfaction needs to increase. Help desk techs need to learn soft skills, and how to use them. Read more.

Reinventing Customer Service (December 2009)

We may very well be embarking on the decade of the customer. Social media, especially Twitter, has empowered customers, and the recession has reminded businesses that keeping clients is easier than bringing in new ones.

With the current state of customer service, a renewed focus would be a welcome change.

Look at current tech publications and you will surely find a rant or three about horrific customer experiences (for a recent one, see CIO.com’s “Tech Vendors Behaving Badly”). Search Twitter for “customer service” and you will find scores of tweets cursing the ineptitude of Company X and Company Y.

It’s like watching your siblings bicker at Sunday dinner. Ugh. Enough already. Bring on a solution.

It’s like watching your siblings bicker at Sunday dinner. Ugh. Enough already. Bring on a solution. Read more.

A Juggler and an iPhone=Stellar Customer Service (May 2010)

Our help desk handles many “how-to” calls, which often have straightforward solutions. Sometimes, however, the requests that come in require a little more creativity from our consultants.

On a recent call, consultant Bradley Lyman found an ingenious way around a potential hurdle. Read more.

As 2011 proves to be another busy year of Microsoft version upgrades – for both Windows and Office – enterprise IT shops are trying bring the updates along as painlessly as possible. These may seem like simple upgrade projects to stay current with improved Microsoft features and capabilities, but end-users face particular difficulties adjusting to the latest releases. Specifically, three major end-user challenges associated with these upgrades threaten to place pressure on unprepared help desks.

For organizations moving from Office 2003 or prior versions, one of the biggest challenges for end-users is adjusting to the new Office fluent user interface, commonly known as “the ribbon.” The ribbon replaces the previous menu and toolbars in each Office application. With Office 2007, the ribbon was applied to most Office applications, with the notable exception of Outlook. In Office 2010, these differences carry forward and are coupled with the incorporation of the Ribbon into Outlook, impacting usability of this critical communications application used daily by virtually every corporate end-user. The Ribbon and other new aspects of the Office interface provide an opportunity for increased end-user productivity, but also represent significant changes in the look and feel of the core Office applications.

Gartner predicts that by 2013, more people in the world will access the Internet on a mobile device than on a PC.

“Smartphones have conquered PCs” — CNN

According to research firm IDC, over the past two years, smartphone shipments have tripled, while PC shipments grew by only 45 percent. The trend, reports CNN, is indicative of a marked change in the kinds of devices people are using for everyday computing needs. The article also points to research from Gartner that predicts that by 2013, more people in the world will access the Internet on a mobile device than on a PC.

What does this mean for business? Read the full article here.

“Who Needs PCs? Growth Slips as Tablet Demand Explodes” — Forbes

In this article, Forbes writer Eric Savitz looks at the exploding tablet market and its effect on PC demand. Savitz notes that two Wall Street analysts cut back their projections for 2011 PC unit sales, blaming the reduced outlook partly on “cannibalization of demand” by tablets.

Writes Savitz: “This could be trouble for a whole assortment of companies in the PC food chain…there’s trouble here for the disk-drive companies, for instance, and a potential reshuffling of the players in the microprocessor business. It certainly seems like it’s the end of the PC world as we know it.”

Read the full article here.

Unrelated, But Interesting: “Password Reuse is All Too Common, Research Shows” – CIO.com

In an unrelated but fascinating piece, CIO.com reports on the rising reuse of passwords across web sites, and the implications of such “laziness” on the part of users. The research was conducted by Brit Joseph Bonneau and the article makes special note of the password hack of media gossip site Gawker in December 2010.

The article offers tips on creating secure passwords, and safer methods of keeping track.

Read the full article here. And for a super-geeky take on the issue, read Bonneau’s blog.

In Computerworld, writer Patrick Thibodeau reports on a recent study conducted by the Help Desk Institute (HDI), in which researchers found that calls to the help desk increased for the second year in a row.

Some university help desk services need a technological makeover.

Thibodeau says researchers point to a number of factors that could be contributing to the increase: a multiplatform workplace, a more centralized help desk and thus better recordkeeping, complicated software upgrades, increasing awareness of help desk services, etc.

He quotes HDI analyst Roy Atkinson, who points to the fact that IT complexity is increasing, especially as users seek to connect multiple devices, including mobile phones, tablets and laptops to corporate networks.

“There is the trend to being able to work anywhere and anytime,” Atkinson told Computerworld. And that “requires more support, so the environment as a whole is probably more complex.”

Read Thibodeau’s article here.

On side note, Dennis Carter of eCampusNews writes that university help desk services “need a technological makeover.” In an article published January 5, Carter reports on a recent study released by the Bomgar Corporation, which stated that students and faculty at seven out of 10 schools can’t hold online chats with their campus technology support staff. This results in a lower-than-average first call resolution rate.

Read the full article here.

For more on a multi-platform workplace, read previous blog posts: “Preparing for the Multiplatform Workplace” and “More on the Multiplatform Workplace.”

There’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.

The workplace is no different. Chances are your office cafeteria has swipe cards, self-service, and grab-and-go options. If you’re in sales or marketing, your company may have invested in a pricey CRM solution to boost your productivity. If you’re in accounting, or any department really, it’s the same: get more done in less time.

“Whichever solution he chooses, he’s right where he started – lost in a sea of #REF!s.”

Time is money, indeed. It’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?

Consider the following example: Employee X just switched positions within a company, and he is now responsible for his division’s quarterly sales reports. When he tries to update the existing spreadsheet with current figures, his formulas return errors. He’s stuck, and he has no idea how to begin to troubleshoot.

He can ask a colleague to help, which will waste the time of two employees. He can scan Excel’s often-useless help menu. Or he can call a help desk tech who spends all day resetting passwords and rebooting servers.

Whichever solution he chooses, he’s right where he started – lost in a sea of #REF!s, and far from a solution that is efficient and convenient. And not only is he stymied, his company is losing money on his diminished productivity.

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. (Stephanie Maurer)

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Lesson 1: Icebergs and Undergrounds

In the common view of desktop application support, calls typically account for less than 5 percent of help desk volume. Very often, the percentage is even less than 1 percent. The visible portion of the “iceberg” is quite small.

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’s just being absorbed by the organization in other forms:

• Peer support (Joe asks Mary for help)
• Abandoned support (Joe gets stuck and walks away from the task altogether)
• Rework (Joe can’t figure out how to make the software do what he needs so he re-tools his work to get around the problem)
• Self-help (Joe wastes time consulting the software help feature, scouring the Internet for help, reviewing manuals, etc.)

The productivity impact of these “underground” support channels averages three hours per solution at a cost of $48 to $196 per solution (depending on salary). And this doesn’t even account for the additional cost of the peer’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.
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.

Lesson 2: Contrasting Models

There is a significant contrast between supporting desktop applications under the standard help desk model versus employing a best-of-breeds approach for “how-to” support.
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.
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 (“jack of all trades, master of none,” to borrow a phrase). Additionally, the typical help desk is built on the premise of “lean staffing,” meaning nominal off-hours coverage, fewer bodies than required to meet peak calling periods, and frequent “leave a message” instances for troubled end-users.

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.

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’s issue and reduce tomorrow’s need for similar support. That translates into dramatically enhanced ROI for an organization’s investment in software and mobile devices.

Lesson 3: Apples & Oranges, and How Much They Really Cost

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: Our average call lasts X minutes and costs Y dollars. The average call to a niche, “how-to” support provider is expensive when compared to our internal cost per call for help desk assistance.
But that’s comparing apples to oranges.

For starters, comparing “costs per call” completely misses the key distinction between a “call” and a “solution.” While a typical help desk call may focus on an isolated, solitary issue and the associated solution such as “connecting to the web,” desktop application support generally requires the delivery of multiple solutions on a single call.

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 – and one that no doubt required a much higher level of experience and expertise to address.

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.

Aside from getting the terms right, it is also inaccurate to compare the average help desk call with the average “how-to” 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).

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 – namely, desktop application and mobile device issues – the numbers tell a very different story.

Lesson 4: A Breakfast Analogy

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.

First, while training is effective at addressing common and repeated needs, it is highly ineffective – and inefficient – 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. – 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.

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.

Lesson 5: Full-Circle

The presence or absence of quality desktop application and mobile device support feeds a recurring cycle of events.

When support is poor, end-user satisfaction is low. This leads to a low number of calls to the help desk on “how-to” 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 “how-to” 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.

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 availability of quality, prompt support becomes known and is then reinforced by experience, the demand shifts from peer support to the newly enhanced help desk. Bridging this gap brings an immediate productivity gain (i.e., winning back the three hours per solution) and a future productivity gain.

An IT manager may ask: Why would I go looking for additional calls? After all, I’m trying to decrease help desk call volume. The real question should be: Why would I allow my company to continue wasting $48 to $196 per “how-to” solution when an alternative model could yield the same solutions for $25?

Have you asked yourself that question? (Jen Darr, Stephanie Maurer)

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In an e-mail response, a reader pointed out an even greater obstacle, something he called the infuriation factor.

“The reason I don’t call our help desk is because it is outsourced to desks outside the U.S.,” he wrote. “The ‘Help’ can’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.”

He has a point, and it’s a biggie, for sure.

“Desktop application support is often treated as an afterthought, or a small piece of a gargantuan, all-in-one outsourcing deal.”

Most of us have had a frustrating help desk experience or two, where we were placed on hold, forced to listen to tinny ’80s Lite rock, only to be “helped” – eventually – by someone whose English was so-so, and who was proficient only in gatekeeping.

I’m not by any means xenophobic, and I’m not offended if an ATM asks if I’d like to bank in Spanish, Hindi or English, but 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. It’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.

The language issue is a symptom of a larger outsourcing problem. That is, that because the need for desktop application support isn’t easily quantifiable, and because it’s difficult to prove return on investment with such services, it’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’s image, it also tarnishes the IT department’s reputation overall.

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’s reputation, how to prove its value, and how to keep an eye on the budget. (Jen Darr)

Is your IT department all-in-one or best-of-breed? Tell us in comments or send us an e-mail.

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Fear of asking “stupid” 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’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.

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’s a stretch.)

Anyone who didn’t come of age with a computer has catching up to do, plus a whole lot of maintenance as their existing skills become antiquated.

So, for many, “How do you make the same footer appear on all but the first two pages?” 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’s a necessity.

There’s no argument that all corporate workers need technological skills to do their jobs — not developer-level or expert knowledge, mind you, but practical training and ongoing support. 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?

Will you force them “underground” 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? (Jen Darr)

*Source: Ezziane, Zoheir: Information Technology Literacy: Learning and Teaching.

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After more than an hour of trial and error, she couldn’t find the feature she used in previous versions, so she devised a workaround with the space bar to nudge and align.

She asked two of her fellow teachers for help. They couldn’t figure it out either, and they too were using the spacebar fix.

Her opinion of Office 2007 after this experience?

“It sucks. I hate it.”

Teacher A spent more than an hour coming up with her Band-aid workaround. But her solution isn’t a solution at all: She now spends more time on each presentation nudging and aligning.

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.

When asked why she didn’t call the help desk, she said she didn’t think the question was important enough. Besides, she added, she didn’t have time to waste on the phone.

Her opinion of Office 2007 after this experience? “It sucks. I hate it.”

This is typical in workplaces. Even at companies where quality desktop application support is offered, employees hesitate to utilize the service.

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 “stupid” question.

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 “helped” — eventually — by someone who is familiar with everything but proficient in nothing.

So instead, they tap the office software “expert” 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.

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. (Jen Darr)

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