Your IT Help Desk can Improve Organizational Productivity
Roman Gruzdev, Chief Technology Advisor and CEO of Sequentur, discusses how to make your IT department an efficient tool to improve organizational performance. The IT department should not simply be considered an overhead cost, and when viewed that way, IT would become a fifth wheel. Actively supporting the IT functions of the organization is key to harnessing your IT department for improving organizational productivity.
In previous videos, Roman spoke of communication as the primary tool for an IT department and organizational efficiency. Here, he discusses the other tools which are important for improving IT efficiency and productivity. The IT Help Desk is key to improving productivity, not just in the IT Department, but also company-wide.
Three Components of the IT Help Desk
The structure and organization of the Help Desk includes three basics, which are: The ticketing system, the knowledge base, and the incoming call line.
Ticketing Systems: Help to organize delivery from the IT department when responding to help requests. These systems also allow your organization to keep a running history of help desk requests and the solutions which have been deployed. Having this running record of events can help your IT Department document trends and even be proactive in resolving company-wide issues much faster, often before any major slow-downs arise from technical changes and other issues.
The Knowledge Base: When used appropriately with the ticketing system, this knowledge base allows IT professionals to reference known solutions to common issues more efficiently. A knowledge base is a hosted website, organized like a wiki or an encyclopedia, and is often referenced by IT professionals in resolving internal IT issues. You can also make parts of your knowledge base available throughout the organization, giving some access to resolution steps that computer savvy employees can use to solve problems with their own software or computers. Your IT Department can update the knowledge base over time. As new issues arise and are resolved, the steps for resolution can be documented here to be referred to later and increase efficiency in response times.
The IT Help Line: Is a telephone extension which employees can call to request assistance from the IT Department. Having known procedures for calling in an IT help request will give your employees an organized way to receive help from the IT Department. This helps to avoid support requests being made in passive communication to your IT Department employees. Giving requests for support the formality of being called into the help desk and immediately entered into the ticketing system assures that every issue gets addressed and resolved in an organized manner.
Less Wait Time Equals More Productivity
When your Help Desk is properly implemented, your end-users will have less wait time for IT help requests and are happy with the results. Organizational productivity increases when you properly organize your IT Help Desk.
