Business In Set Up

Business In Set Up

Business In Set Up

Posted on: January 22, 2012 - 8:03 am
by Admin

For an IT help desk within a business, serving its employees, the help desk manager will be given a budget and usually a service level agreement (SLA) to work with as agreed by the business. The help desk manager will then need to provision and staff the desk in accordance the needs of the company. In order to do this the following questions need to be asked.

  • How many calls do we expect to take for any given period?
  • How many do we need to fix in order to comply with the SLA?
  • What is the optimum call waiting time and how does that reflect on staff numbers and first line fix rate?
  • On the basis of this, how long should analysts spend on calls?
  • Therefore, how many analysts will we need in order to do this?
  • What sort of a shift pattern will we need in order to cover our core hours?
  • Permanent or contracting staff? (There are pros and cons with both)
  • What kind of kit will they need?

Appointing help desk staff

The type of staff required need will depend upon the desired first line fix rate. If the business demands a high fix rate then you’ll need very technical staff, but often in larger firms the first line mainly deal with a high volume of calls and fix issues only if there is time. There is also a trade-off between customer service skills and technical ability. You need both and that means you have to chose your staff carefully.

Factors in choosing a good help desk call logging system

It must be quick and easy to use. Software which allows the analyst to drill down as they log the call, identifying the correct item codes and software types is essential. Some software will also allow you to select the correct support team to assign the job to as you drill down. This saves time and prevents calls being bounced around between teams.