Is Your IT Help Desk Crippling Your Technology Initiatives?

Why Your IT Business Technology Initiatives Fail

Maybe you call them business objectives, initiatives or annual goals, but I’m certain you have been thinking (at the very least!) to identify how to make your business work better in the New Year (more sales, happier customers, a competitive edge). And I’m sure you’ve been thinking about how to leverage technology (and your IT support) more effectively to meet these objectives.

When you think about your business goals for 2017—specifically how you want technology to work for you and your team—shouldn’t you consider how you and your users get fundamental help desk support? Can you REALLY grow your business if your basic IT Support can’t grow with you?

The hard truth is: You can’t win a marathon if you’re wearing lead shoes.

What do I mean here? If your IT Help Desk Support team continues to slow down your users’ productivity (slow response times, no escalation paths for hard-to-solve tickets, poor communication on ticket resolution path with your users), adding new shiny technology will do nothing but complicate your already under-performing technology.

I’m sure you’re planning some great marathon goals for 2017. What I want you to think about is: Will your basic IT help desk support be able to support users and adjust to upcoming change?

Many of your technology goals end up being too complicated to achieve because your process of supporting users is broken. More often than not, your business technology initiatives fail because your fundamental IT help desk support system inadequately supports your teams. Without a solid process-based IT help desk support system, how can you expect technology meet your business goals in this New Year?

What I’m talking about here is simple and to the point:

Before taking on ways technology can you’re your business finish the year at the front of the pack (bigger sales, more productive and fulfilled team members, higher profitability), you need to take a look at whether your current processes and systems ensure that your users are COMPLETELY SUPPORTED and are able to successfully do their work without work stoppages is essential before considering any bigger goals for the year.

One of the EASIEST (AND Cost-Effective) ways to effectively leverage your technology is by having a solid IT support system in place. When I talk about effective IT Support, what I really mean is having a team of expert technicians that (1) answer your calls quickly, (2) respond to your users professionally, and (3) can document and get to the heart of your technology issues. Effective IT Support also means a system with (1) proper documentation that outlines when to escalate your users’ issues, (2) 24-7-365 help desk support to resolve issues whenever you or your team needs help, and (3) a help desk that frequently handles common problems your users face to get them back to work within the first call.

If you currently have a IT Help Desk, here are 3 things to ask before tackling your big 2017 tech initiatives:

1. Where is their accountability?—Who holds them accountable to resolving your users’ issues quickly? What metrics do they report to show you that they are getting your users back to work quickly? Here is a helpful guide to understanding what metrics to evaluate whether your IT help desk is adequately doing their job.
2. Where does your IT help desk spend the most time?—Does your help desk seem to have a hard time resolving specific issues? Do they follow up with your users to get issues resolved as they come in? Making sure your IT help desk has a system in place to optimize their service to you and your team is critical for them to adequately support your users as you grow.
3. How long is too long?—The biggest question to think about when looking at your IT help desk support is what is an acceptable response (AND resolution) time? If you’re like most successful businesses, you don’t want your users down at all. And if your IT help desk doesn’t guarantee (or DELIVER) fast responsive IT support, you might need to consider finding a way to get timely support. If your help desk isn’t finding ways to resolve common user issues quicker, they likely aren’t investing in process-based solutions to optimize your IT Support experience. Either way, you need to identify how long is too long and determine whether your current IT help desk is helping or preventing your business from growing.

Realize that no goal or resolution can reasonably be accomplished overnight (especially when it comes to figuring out your technology initiatives for this year!). Evaluating your fundamental IT help desk support is one of the biggest ways to ensure initiatives get on track.

How certain are you that your help desk is helping your business reach your objectives? What all should you look for to determine whether your help desk is working? Contact us TODAY for a free IT Help Desk Health Assessment.