THE ROLE OF A HELP DESK WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION

 Managing a Help Desk:

The function of the Help Desk is to provide users with a single point of contact through which their needs regarding the use of resources and services of technological platforms can be resolved and / or channeled, always in accordance with a standard adopted by the company. Among the objectives of a help desk are:

- Answer all calls received

- Solve a high percentage online

- Online monitoring of derived cases

- Reduce recurring calls over time

Definition

The Help Desk and Support is a work team, a point of contact between the users of the company and the standard technologies adopted by it, and whose main objective will be to respond in a timely, efficient and high-quality manner to requests that said users carry out, in relation to the various aspects of Information Technology.

Scope

The scope of a Help Desk is very wide. Some of the categories in which we could group its various functions are the following:

- Services

- Attention of Reports

- Use Policies

- Training

- Recommendations

- Advertisements

- Publications

Benefits

This service provides the following benefits for users and for the organization:

- Provides a unique contact number where users can channel their questions or problems. - A centralized administration of all the requirements and problems associated with the computer platform is provided. - Constant availability of support. - Increases the productivity of users, preventing them from requesting help from their co-workers, generating unproductive times and solving a high percentage of requirements in minutes. - Alleviates a very demanding problem to the IT areas, who are the ones that usually assume this role, allowing them to dedicate themselves to their core activity. - Periodically provides information and recommendations to take continuous improvement actions.

Components

- First Level of Support: This role represents the first point of contact with the user. The first level of support is made up of personnel in charge of solving simple and / or procedural requests by telephone, based on procedures previously surveyed for resolutions in the first instance.

- Second Level of Support: This role corresponds to the groups of technicians in charge of solving requests that require a higher degree of specialty. The second level of support is made up of more specialized personnel and they act on the basis of predetermined procedures according to each one's respective specialty.

- Supervision:With the purpose of managing the service, the figure of the Supervisor is understood as the one who will be in charge of ensuring and controlling compliance with the predefined solution time standards for all calls received, also, will carry out the monitoring and control of the correct Compliance with the solution time standards for all problem reports, as well as the commitments assumed by the resolution units regarding the solution deadlines for these reports. The Supervisor will then act as the first escalation level for cases not resolved in the specified time.

Analysis unit

The function of a Help Desk Software Administrator or Analyst will be to carry out a monthly analysis of Indices and Data, the objective of which is to evaluate the behavior over time of all Indices defined in advance in the detail of procedures, according to service agreements. , promptly alerting the deviations that may occur, and generating proposals for corrective actions. In addition, it must have a user survey service according to their sector, which includes conducting six-monthly surveys to all users associated with the Help Desk service, in order to identify weaknesses in care and establish continuous improvement . The survey format can be developed in conjunction with the client.

Reports

It is part of the service of a Help Desk, the delivery of periodic Reports, which reflect the historical activities and the level of compliance with them. Likewise, these reports allow to visualize situations to improve both for the Client and for the Help Desk and make the necessary changes. The report identifies the requirements according to their scope, type of report, care modality and statistical graphics, as well as a list of the reports generated with the highest frequency in the month. As attached data, the various analysis of results regarding the periodic management delivered by the Failure Record Administration system should be included in these reports. Implementation

In each implementation of a service of these dimensions, the following activities are developed:

- Induction of technical support personnel in the culture, objectives and business processes of the client. - Periodic training of human resources provided by the Help Desk. - Analysis and implementation of the Help Desk Administration system, procedures, methodology and controls, as well as feedback from the client for the continuous improvement of said Administration system. - Definitions of the system: Categorizations of problems, Rules of appropriate and efficient assignment, Levels of Impact, Prioritization of cases according to criticality, Adequate Escalation Policies so that the requirements are reassigned according to their complexity in combination with minimum waiting times for the end user, Notifications and alarms of servers and active equipment,

- Test the model according to the above. - Documentation of procedures, methodologies, controls, model design and use of the requirements management software. - Installation and start-up of the requirements management software. - Generation and documentation of management reports that the client requires for the purposes of evaluating and measuring the level of service helpdesk agent.

Outsourcing

Some of the problems faced by organizations and in particular IT departments are: - Being able to justify and reduce costs for IT services.

- Increase user satisfaction and productivity by focusing most of the time on their core issues and leaving the Help Desk to deal with and solve problems related to the SW and HW tools that the user uses. - “Real” record of IT assets (fixed assets) as well as their use, location and accounting status. - Solve repetitive problems and also implement updates and software patches that require too much time on certain occasions.

The Help Desk must make periodic proposals and warnings to its clients to reduce the cost of the operation and support, taking into account the following perspectives:

- Financial: Control of own and rented assets, budget reduction, justification of value and return investment in systems, transformation of fixed costs into variables. - Security: constant updates of patches and effective compliance with external audits and information security and risk policies. - Technical: Diversity of products, constant updates, little time devoted to business strategy.