Companies should complete a thorough analysis of help desk costs to identify areas of improvement appropriate for their environment. The analysis should include staffing costs (and where they are spending their time), training costs, software costs, and other operational expenses. Companies reported that the majority (i.e., 75 percent) of help desk costs is typically personnel, so process improvements have a major impact. The cost per user varies with the size of the organization, industry, and level of IT maturity but can be improved and reduced with a focus on process improvement.
Start by establishing the help desk as the point of contact for all requests. Simple process improvements such as providing communication to users on service availability helps decrease support calls and improve service. Depending on the size of your organization and level of maturity, many companies that have done ITIL training and implemented ITIL in their help desks have realized significant cost savings. In fact, some companies report saving 10 percent total cost of ownership by implementing ITIL-recommended practices. Additionally, there are ITIL supporting technologies that provide a complete suite of tools such as Altiris or BMC Remedy.
Top Tip: Follow-the-sun approach
"We implemented a follow-the-sun approach when outsourcing the help desk. This saved a lot of money as we did not have to pay overtime to handle nightly calls. Someone is always awake in another part of the world."
—Gail Farnsley
Purdue University
(former Cummins CIO)
Purdue University
(former Cummins CIO)
Making improvements in help desk processes can garner decreased costs per user, decreased costs per call, and decreased costs due to lost productivity for business users, among many other benefits. Do this by improving processes, making better use of people, and improving technology. Bettering the effectiveness and efficiency of the help desk also affects the costs to the organization as a whole as IT problems interfere with users achieving business objectives.
However, keep in mind that attempts to reduce help desk costs easily turn into false economies, i.e., if the cost reduction translates to a service reduction that increases the duration or impact of a service incident. In fact, in CIO interviews, when asked what areas would not reduce costs, many of them replied, "the help desk." The help desk is IT's face to the business. Be aware that decreases in service level in this area are immediately apparent to the business. Not only is it typically apparent, but it is perceived rather negatively if customers have gotten used to a certain level of service and expertise. Specifically, companies that had attempted outsourcing of the help desk admitted that it caused problems and did not garner the anticipated savings.
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