Although the new devices debuting at the Consumer Electronics Show are dominating tech news this week, we came across two articles about the state of the help desk that warrant mention. The first, from Computerworld, reports that help desk calls in business are increasing; the second, that university students and faculty are sorely lacking in skills to get their tech problems solved quickly and efficiently. Read on:

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. [Read more...]