Expanding help desk services: the benefits of student S.O.S.

ABSTRACT

It is a given fact that information technology managers often must make decisions on how to best serve the community at large while most effectively utilizing the manpower and resources available to them. Many Help Desks have expanded services by offering new technology, like Desktop Streaming, that has enabled them to meet the users' demands for immediate service without having to wait for a technician. However, what can the Help Desk do when this technology will not work because the user cannot get online? In this case, we rely on technicians to go out and fix the problem.At Brown University we recently initiated a Service on Site (S.O.S.) program that is free of charge to our community. In the case of our student clients, we send two person teams of student consultants to the dorm room of the client who needs assistance. Besides the obvious benefit of being able to fix problems that cannot be solved over the phone or via Desktop Streaming we have seen many additional benefits. We will outline each benefit in this paper. For the Brown Help Desk they have been: 1. a positive adjustment in the way the community views our services; 2. the ability to help users secure their computers against virus and compromise incidents; 3. the ability to educate customers on how to use their computers to best fit each customer's individual needs; 4. the opportunity to educate customers on other services the department offers, such as software, training, and file services; 5.on-the-job training for our newer consultants and cross-training for our more experienced consultants.Since some problems will always require on-site technicians to resolve them, it makes sense to use the technicians to further expand and promote our services.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.1 Project and People Management
          Subjects: Management techniques (e.g., PERT/CPM)

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.1 Project and People Management
          Subjects: Strategic information systems planning; Staffing
  K.8 PERSONAL COMPUTING
      K.8.3 Management/Maintenance

General Terms:
Management, Measurement, Performance

Keywords:
accountability, customer service, help desk, management, measurement, on-site assistance, performance, student consultants, student staff