| Do you know you can open, answer, close and report | | | | capabilities. For example, if a call for a printer problem |
| help desk information without human | | | | is received at the help desk, workflow automation can |
| intervention?Automation is a powerful feature provided | | | | determine the type of call and direct that call to the |
| by most enterprise level help desk products; however, | | | | right person or provide an automated answer to the |
| most organizations rarely take advantage of these | | | | requestor. In other words, "if" you receive a request |
| features. Based on a survey conducted by RightStar | | | | like this, "then" do this specific task.- Increase Reporting |
| Systems, only 5% of the help desk managers | | | | AccuracyAutomating workflow provides the ability to |
| interviewed were using automation to its fullest | | | | capture accurate help desk statistics by removing the |
| capacity. Most use it to some degree while others do | | | | various inconsistencies injected through human error. I |
| not use it at all. Tom Jud, Emerging Growth Manager | | | | know help desk managers that spend hours each |
| for BMC Software, has observed "...that the Business | | | | month collecting, editing and refining help desk statistical |
| Rules Engine provided by the Magic Help Desk | | | | reports. They spend most of there time correcting |
| product, is the key feature that organizations should | | | | errors and adjusting the numbers that tell the real story |
| leverage to drive support efficiency and cost savings." | | | | of the help desk. Automating workflow is one primary |
| He explains that the two main reasons for | | | | way to assist help desk managers prepare and create |
| organizations not deploying workflow automation are 1) | | | | accurate reporting.- Create Consistency while |
| the perceived level of difficulty in implementing these | | | | Reducing Call VolumeHave you ever called a help |
| functions and 2) The lack of workflow planning used in | | | | desk and received two or three different answers for |
| developing the helpdesk program. Once organizations | | | | the same problem, or worse, no answer at all? It's |
| learn the importance of workflow automation and the | | | | frustrating and it reflects poorly on the help desk. |
| benefit gained, they embrace the feature and drive | | | | Several help desk tools provide the capability to deliver |
| added value from their help desk product.After having | | | | answers on various issues in a consistent automated |
| conducted over 600 site visits and product | | | | manner. This provides the requestor with confidence |
| demonstrations, I have identified 4-main focus areas | | | | that they received the right answer while taking the |
| where organizations can benefit from deploying | | | | guesswork away from the help desk analyst when |
| workflow automation.- Enforcing best practices | | | | answering questions. In many cases, the answer can |
| through automation.Companies looking to provided | | | | be provided without human intervention. There are |
| better and less expensive support services have | | | | various ways of deploying these capabilities; |
| adopted any number of help desk "best practices" | | | | collectively they can provide a tremendous reduction in |
| guidelines. Automating workflow to enforce a help | | | | call volume and a higher degree of customer |
| desk's best practices deployment can drive even | | | | satisfaction.Incorporating automation in your help desk |
| more value and efficiency. By pairing certain best | | | | workflow provides many benefits. As with any |
| practice areas with automated workflow, a help desk | | | | undertaking, it takes forethought and planning, but with |
| can provide a consistent and predictable level of | | | | the right help desk tool and the desire to provide timely, |
| support.- Improving incident response time through | | | | accurate answers with little or no human intervention, |
| automation.Incident response time is how most service | | | | the effort will off-load pressure from the help desk |
| support organizations are judged. According to Beverly | | | | staff and integrate an atmosphere of help desk |
| Wells, Help Desk and Groupwise Manager for | | | | brilliance.Dan Wilson currently works for RightStar |
| CarMax, "Of all the statistics gathered by the CarMax | | | | Systems, a leader in Help Desk Service and Supprot |
| Help Desk, the one area reviewed with the most | | | | Consulting; including problem, asset, change and |
| scrutiny, is how fast we responded to and resolve | | | | desktop management.Dan has over 15 years of |
| calls." Workflow automation can drastically improve | | | | experience in support consulting.You can reach Dan at |
| incident response, problem resolution, and change | | | | dan. |
| requests, by incorporating predetermined "if, then" | | | | |