Are You Expecting Enough From Your IT Help Desk?

Everyone can relate to that moment of dread when you realize that you have to call the cable company. The automated phone tree. The confusing list of options, none of which actually addresses your issue. The ridiculous wait times. The unbearable hold music. The frontline customer service rep, reading from a stale script, that you know will have to escalate your issue before you even start talking. It feels like a waste of time… because it is a waste of time.

According to NPR, consumers are “more unhappy with the customer service they’re getting than ever.” (1)

In my experience, recent declines in customer service in the consumer space have systematically lowered customer service expectations in the business world. Unfortunately, small businesses cannot afford the interruptions or downtime associated with an ineffective or unresponsive IT Help Desk. Stakeholders don’t necessarily understand technology – including their own networks – and thereby allow themselves to be serviced insufficiently by their tech teams.

This article suggests that small businesses can improve their Help Desk experience simply by expecting more. It identifies four topics critical to successful Help Desks and describes what should become acceptable levels of service for each.

Responsiveness

When a work interruption occurs, Help Desk responsiveness is key. According to a survey by the Help Desk Institute, the average response time for IT Help Desks is two hours and 42 minutes. (2)

While that response time may be sufficient for an ordinary issue, it could prove costly for numerous common technical issues, such as an Internet outage or an accounting system challenge on pay day. For more severe issues, such as a ransomware attack, a Help Desk delay could threaten the viability of the business.

Small businesses should insist upon a documented Service Level Agreement (SLA) with their Help Desk. The SLA should define the response time promised upon receipt of a new ticket. The Help Desk should assign different priorities to different tickets, based on the severity of the issue.

For example, at Dynamic Edge, we offer the following SLA according to ticket priority:

• Emergency = 1 hour
• High = 4 business hours
• Normal = 1 business day
• Low = 3 business days

When you call the cable company, all tickets are created equal, whether they feature a faulty TV remote or a total service outage. This is obviously insufficient for a small business. When a Help Desk assigns different response times for different issue severities, it demonstrates the level of sophistication required to service multiple clients effectively and simultaneously.

Finally, Help Desks should allow end users to assign the ticket priority, rather than technicians guessing as to its severity. While end users must use this power responsibly, they understand their needs best and can help guide the Help Desk to timely resolutions.

Availability

According to a survey by CompTIA, 61% of businesses with less than 100 employees reported that they need IT help desk services outside of regular business hours. (3)

With the prevalence of remote work, both employees and clients require support outside of a traditional schedule. Small businesses should partner with a Help Desk that offers 24/7/365 support, again with a defined SLA outside of traditional business hours.

Different end users communicate in different ways. In turn, Help Desks should offer multiple contact methods or ways to open a service ticket, including phone, email, chat, or directly through a proprietary ticketing portal. End users should have the option to request their preferred communication method for updates. While older professionals may prefer phone calls, younger workers may insist on chat or other digital means consistent with their work habits.

Who answers the phone or responds to a ticket also matters tremendously. When you call the cable company, you sense that they’re trying to eliminate your call through automation. If a robot can give you the answer, they don’t need to assign a real person to you. When you make it to a real person, they often exhibit skills so low that they rely completely on scripts before escalation to a real engineer.

Small businesses should require their Help Desk either to provide self-service features (for end users comfortable with that approach) or staff their phones and portals with engineers, who can solve technical problems on the first call. Businesses should inquire about how many tickets are resolved on the first call or within the first business day versus. Those escalated to alternative resources later. Certainly, many issues require extended time or skill, but ticket escalation should be the exception, not the rule.

Expertise

When small businesses partner with a Help Desk, they take advantage of an entire team’s experience, skill, and expertise – which cannot be matched by any single internal IT resource.

According to a survey by Spiceworks, the top technical skills required by IT professionals include cybersecurity knowledge (58%), hardware diagnostics (48%), and software acumen (47%). (4) In a similar study published by CompTIA, experts also highlighted the importance of troubleshooting skills and knowledge of IT Service Management (ITSM) best practices. (5)

The more a team knows, the better they’re prepared to solve issues quickly and efficiently.

To maximize the advantage of a Help Desk over an internal resource, small businesses should require the Help Desk to demonstrate its broad range of technical skills in a quantifiable way. Engineers should offer the certifications that identify education and experience. For example, when migrating Microsoft technologies to the cloud, an engineer should have completed one or several of Microsoft’s 17 current certifications related to Azure. A CISSP signifies a security professional dedicated to both continuing education and demonstrated experience. Project managers who hold a PMP manage projects and the related communication according to best practices. Small businesses should ask their Help Desk about professional development for its engineers and how they stay abreast of the latest developments.

Communication

Good communication is essential to any business relationship and IT Help Desks are no exception.

According to ConnectWise, small business owners prioritize responsiveness (90%), the ability to solve problems quickly (77%), and being easy to communicate with (68%) when choosing a Help Desk partner. (6)

Two simple communication rules will ensure higher productivity and a satisfying experience for end users:

1. Small businesses should require a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for ticket updates. While many Help Desks consistently reply according to SLA, they struggle with updates once work begins on a ticket. Ideally, the Help Desk should provide updates in alignment with the priority of the ticket (i.e. an update every four hours for a High priority ticket) or on a cadence decided in collaboration with the end user. A client should never have to call or email to find out “what’s going on” with their ticket.
2. Help Desks should demonstrate that they can explain technical issues in plain language decipherable by the average businessperson. While end users don’t need to understand detailed configurations, routing tables, and other complex features, they should receive a explanation that conceptually illustrates the relevant issues. Just as a quality physician must explain health challenges in a comprehensible way, Help Desks should validate end user trust with the appropriate amount of detail.

Despite the reputation of a few condescending technicians, IT Help Desk professionals pursue their career for their love of helping people. Small businesses can feel empowered by this collaboration when they require an acceptable level of responsiveness, availability, expertise, and communication.

Dynamic Edge Can Help

Since 1999, Dynamic Edge has helped hundreds of small and mid-sized businesses maximize the return on their technology investment. Contact us today for a free network assessment, so that we may help you implement cost-effective security solutions to keep your organization and its clients safe and productive. Our Help Desk features friendly, experienced engineers who answer calls live and solve more than 70% of issues on the first call.