| Problems IT Help Desk customers frequently | | | | improved, IT customers are more likely to respond to |
| encounter | | | | future surveys. |
| Whether your organization has an in-house or | | | | Important IT Help Desk survey design and survey |
| outsourced IT Help Desk, some of your IT Help Desk | | | | execution issues: |
| customers are likely dissatisfied with the service they | | | | 1. Asking the right questions and wording them |
| are receiving. Some of the common causes of | | | | effectively. |
| dissatisfaction with IT Help Desks include: | | | | 2. Making IT survey responses anonymous. IT Help |
| 1. Rude Help Desk Service Reps. | | | | Desk customers are more likely to respond to IT |
| 2. Long wait times when calling the Help Desk or after | | | | surveys and to provide honest answers when an |
| submitting a service request by e-mail or using a Help | | | | outside survey company conducts the survey and |
| Desk Web portal or ticket system | | | | they are comfortable that their responses will be |
| 3. CSR’s that don’t understand their | | | | anonymous. |
| customers’ problems | | | | 3. Including IT customer demographic questions |
| 4. Closing IT incident tickets before problems are | | | | (location, department and other pertinent demographic |
| resolved | | | | information), and generating survey reports for each |
| 5. Lack of follow-up by IT Help Desk CSR’s | | | | demographic criterion. |
| 6. IT customers confronted with recurring problems for | | | | 4. Providing the opportunity to include comments and |
| which the cause never gets addressed or eliminated | | | | suggestions along with ratings. |
| 7. Inadequately trained IT Help Desk Service Reps that | | | | 5. Encouraging participation in the survey. |
| lack knowledge needed to solve problems | | | | 6. Sharing the survey results with IT Help Desk |
| 8. IT customers having to explain their problem or | | | | customers and IT Help Desk employees. |
| question to multiple CSR’s and IT technicians | | | | 7. Acting on the survey results. |
| 9. IT customers having to wait a long time for Help | | | | 8. Conducting the survey annually, semi-annually or |
| Desk problem resolution, hardware repairs, software | | | | quarterly and tracking IT Help Desk customer |
| installation, and other IT support provided at their desk | | | | satisfaction and IT Help Desk performance progress. |
| or by phone/e-mail | | | | Acting to increase IT Help Desk Customer satisfaction |
| 10. IT Help Desks not being staffed when customers | | | | and IT Help Desk performance |
| need support (nights, weekends) | | | | Some of the actions that CTOs, CIOs, IT Help Desk |
| 11. IT Help Desks having CSRs with difficulty | | | | managers and other IT managers can take to |
| communicating with IT customers in English (e.g. IT Help | | | | increase Help Desk service levels and customer |
| Desks often outsourced in other countries) | | | | satisfaction include: |
| Assessing IT Customer Satisfaction and IT | | | | 1. Providing training and mentoring for IT Help Desk |
| Performance | | | | CSRs in how to handle customer calls, problem |
| The best way to assess IT Help Desk customer | | | | handling and resolution, acting professionally, technology |
| satisfaction and IT Help Desk performance is to | | | | knowledge, IT customer follow-up and other pertinent |
| conduct an “IT customer satisfaction survey”. | | | | issues. |
| An IT customer survey gathers IT customer / IT user | | | | 2. Identifying and managing IT Help Desk customer |
| perceptions, experiences and suggestions about IT | | | | expectations for service. |
| Help Desk performance, along with the performance | | | | 3. Establishing and communicating SLAs (service level |
| of other IT services. The collective information and | | | | agreements or standards) to Help Desk CSRs and IT |
| insight provided by IT customers provides IT Help Desk | | | | Help Desk customers. |
| and other IT managers with the ammunition they need | | | | 4. Ensuring that Help Desk CSR hiring practices are |
| to make changes to increase service levels and | | | | effective in hiring the right people to staff the IT Help |
| customer satisfaction. | | | | Desk. |
| In a well designed IT survey, IT customers indicate their | | | | 5. Staffing and scheduling the IT Help Desk to provide |
| satisfaction level with the in-house or outsourced IT | | | | consistently high levels of customer service based on |
| Help Desk and with the other IT support services | | | | IT customer demand for service. |
| including Desk Side Support, Application Support, | | | | 6. Identifying and eliminating recurring technology |
| Network Support and any other IT services. IT | | | | problems. |
| customers also include comments and suggestions | | | | 7. Streamlining the IT environment. |
| related to the specific issues included in the survey | | | | 8. Providing effective IT Desk Side and Application |
| questions. | | | | support. |
| The IT survey should include questions about IT CSR | | | | 9. Having an effective IT Help Desk ticket tracking |
| knowledge, problem handling and resolution | | | | system, managing ticket ageing to keep the backlog |
| effectiveness, CSR courtesy and professionalism, | | | | minimal, and ensuring that tickets are not closed |
| timeliness in actually contacting the Help Desk, | | | | prematurely, before problems are resolved completely |
| timeliness in getting problems resolved, ability of Help | | | | and effectively. |
| Desk CSRs to understand the customer’s problem, | | | | 10. Sharing IT survey results with IT Help Desk staff |
| follow-up by CSRs and other pertinent questions. | | | | and other IT employees, enabling them to understand |
| To achieve the best results, IT survey responses | | | | how IT customers perceive the effectiveness of IT |
| should be anonymous. IT customers are more likely to | | | | Help Desk and other IT functions. |
| respond to IT surveys and to provide honest feedback | | | | 11. Creating an action plan to address the issues and |
| when they know their responses are anonymous, | | | | opportunities identified by the IT survey and tracking |
| eliminating any chance of retribution from IT staff if | | | | implementation of actions/changes made to increase |
| negative ratings and comments are given. | | | | IT customer satisfaction and service levels. |
| Most organizations that conduct “IT Help Desk | | | | Reasons to conduct IT Help Desk Surveys |
| surveys” conduct the surveys annually or | | | | Conducting IT Help Desk surveys and other IT |
| semi-annually, using the same questions in every | | | | customer satisfaction surveys / IT user satisfaction |
| survey. Some organizations do a great job of taking | | | | surveys is well worth the effort. When designed and |
| action based on the survey results, while other | | | | executed well, with effective analysis of the survey |
| organizations take minimal action. When we conduct IT | | | | data and timely action taken on opportunities, IT survey |
| Help Desk surveys for our customer companies and | | | | benefits include: |
| other types of organizations, we provide them with | | | | 1. Significant increases in IT Help Desk service levels |
| trend reports that track progress in addressing | | | | and customer satisfaction |
| problem areas and opportunities needing improvement. | | | | 3. Improvements in performance of the IT Help Desk |
| Help Desk managers receive survey data that | | | | and other IT functions |
| identifies areas of strength and weakness, where | | | | 4. Decreased cost of delivering IT Help Desk and other |
| improvements have been made since previous | | | | IT services as they become more efficient and |
| surveys, and where Help Desk customer satisfaction | | | | recurring problems are reduced or eliminated |
| levels have decreased. | | | | 5. Increased service levels for your company’s |
| Most IT Help Desk customers respond to surveys with | | | | external customers as employees are able to perform |
| the expectation that their feedback will be taken into | | | | their job more effectively as a result of improved IT |
| consideration and acted upon. When IT Help Desk | | | | Help Desk performance |
| managers take action on survey results and Help | | | | 6. |
| Desk performance and service levels are visibly | | | | |