The critical need for corporate wireless help desk services to support companies' thousands of mobile devices has placed a magnifying glass on the IT department, and all employees – from the president down to junior-level staff – are forming strong impressions regarding the IT department's effectiveness based on that first support call. This has been detrimental for many IT organizations that have struggled to provide quality help desk service internally, as they often lack personnel who are skilled in using advanced mobile device management and remote troubleshooting tools.
Companies also face challenges retaining enough qualified staff who know the latest and greatest about every mobile device supported within the organization and offering support during enough hours in the day to meet global employees' needs. Therefore, many companies are finding that outsourcing their wireless help desk has become the key to keeping their corporate mobility well-oiled, high-quality and efficient.
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Wireless Help Desk Issues: In the Trenches
One large nationwide insurance firm's IT department was handling employee wireless help desk services internally and struggling to efficiently meet the specific – and often urgent – needs of employees while completing other priority IT activities. Even with people dedicated specifically to the effort, the setup was not ideal. For example, wireless help desk services were only offered during the Eastern Time Zone hours because the help desk-designated employees were located on the East Coast. This caused problems for staff working in other time zones domestically, as well as for those traveling internationally. The IT department had a basic working knowledge of devices, but they weren't receiving ongoing training in the latest devices on the market or the vast array of possible troubleshooting topics.
The company decided to implement outsourced wireless help desk services and has since eliminated the headaches of trying to straddle such a large undertaking. The outsourced mobile help desk has access to the company's wireless expense management solution, which enables them to view all relevant details regarding the company's mobile environment and they can track all device-related changes made during their support conversations. Additionally, they help all employees select the appropriate device (based on their job role and permissions designated by managers) and ensure each device is set up and running before the employee begins using it. The outsourced wireless help desk is available 24 hours a day and seven days a week, so support requests can be made at any time.
If a device is lost or stolen, the company's outsourced help desk staff will issue an over-the-air (OTA) remote kill by using mobile device management features. They can also ship replacement devices for overnight delivery if needed. Additionally, mobile device recycling with a no-landfill policy is available for securely wiping and deposing devices. With the help of an outsourced help desk team, this company was able to redeploy its IT staff to more valuable projects.
Other Key Benefits – Let Them Do the Legwork
Many other companies have successfully outsourced their wireless help desk and use the resulting efficiencies to not only raise the quality of their help desk services but also drive more bottom-line focused IT initiatives. Following are a few additional benefits of outsourcing a company's wireless help desk services:
- High Employee/Customer Satisfaction – Outsourced help desk providers are expected to perform at a top-quality level at all times and to supply experts who are able to troubleshoot any problem. For peace of mind, companies should negotiate with outsourced help desk providers to ensure specific service level agreements (SLAs) are met, such as a minimum pickup time for calls into the wireless help desk and high customer satisfaction ratings based on employee surveys.
- Real-time Monitoring to Avoid Expense Spikes – Providing more visibility into a company's real-time mobile environment, a wireless help desk provider can utilize real-time wireless usage management to monitor for costly patterns of activity. For example, if a user is traveling internationally without an international plan and begins making calls – which can amount to a very high "heart attack" bill – the help desk team can contact the user immediately and either add an international plan before the bill gets out of hand or message the user to stop using the device abroad.
Ultimately companies should examine their mobile environments and determine whether their IT departments are burning countless hours trying to service the internal help desk rather than accomplishing higher-priority activities that bring the business more value. If this is the case, considering an outsourced help desk may be the ticket to optimal value and fewer mobility nightmares – both for the mobilized employee base and the IT department.
John Shea is chief marketing officer at Rivermine