Challenge
The largest heavy equipment manufacturer in the world is a 3.7 billion dollar company with specialties in lift trucks, appliance distribution, specialty retail and mining. With four subsidiary companies and 1800 distributors to support, its technical help desk needs to be fully integrated and efficient.
In 1998, this customer staffed its Portland location with a full-time help desk including one manager and six Level 1, 2 and 3 technicians. The quality of service was deemed low enough to support the decision to outsource help desk services to IBM. Costs were high at $18,000 dollars per month to support 630 users, yet overall response times did not improve measurably. Users began to rely on other employees for faster resolution to their problems, which proved disruptive and costly.
Solution
HTG placed four Level 1, 2 and 3 help desk support technicians onsite full time. They used the existing customer reporting application, MAGIC, for call tracking. HTG also provided executives with critical 24/7 after-hours support. Duties quickly expanded and continue to include:
- Supporting basic repair functions in most applications, including Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, and Adobe Acrobat
- Creating tickets and assigning them to the proper on-call team
- Expediting escalation to other support teams, Core, Pro/E, WebDev, and other helpdesks
- Assisting with troubleshooting
- Moving logistics, such as tracking PCs when users change their locations
- Maintaining the leasing database and managing and tracking hot spares along with loaner
equipment - Installing or replacing components as needed and repairing or replacing desktop equipment
Results
Within three months, 95% of all tickets were resolved in one call. HTG added an automated password reset function which dramatically reduced the call volume. The process that HTG began with four help desk personnel was trimmed to three technicians. Hardware repairs are now accomplished in 72 hours instead of 7 days. The customer receives better technical service and a net savings of more than 30% per year.
