IT Help Desk Outsourcing:
Lessons Learned
EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic Conference
January 7-9, 2009
Eric Behrens, Swarthmore College
Kathie LaMartina, Montgomery College
Copyright Eric Behrens and Kathie LaMartina. This work is the intellectual property of the
authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non‐commercial, educational
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Swarthmore College:
Traditional classroom setting
Residential campus
Undergraduates only

1490 students

Year-over-year growth in call
volume at faculty/staff help desk
11,000
10,698
8,250
7,120
5,500
3,802
2,750
0
2002 2003 2004

Faculty/Staff Students
4.5 0
professional FTE professional FTE

Prior to contract...
All first-level help services for
students were provided by students.
No effective call tracking system for
managing student service calls.

$150,000
Annual expenditure for student labor

August 15, 2003

(blaster worm)

Pressures
OS variety
Security
Wireless
M
es
or
ri
e
ito
la
rm
pt
o
op
d
s,
ew
m
N
or
e
fa
ilu
re
s

Could
outsourcing
provide relief?

Outsourcing = Off-site
24/7
Supplementary

ant
lt
nsu
o
C
s
sal
o
op
Pr
3
FP:
R
vel
Le
ice ent
erv em
Se
r
Ag

90 minute drive

Cost per call
($19 actually)

$50,000/yr
3 yrs
Funded by offsetting attrition in student workers

Additional Advantages
Single call tracking database, vendor provided
After-hours diagnostics and response
Help calls already logged at 8:30 AM
Call forwarding on demand

Relationship
On-site training of technicians
Small team of regulars answered calls
Regular meetings with account manager

⅔
Initial call closure rate

2nd year: expanded to faculty/staff
(no extra cost)

When the wheels start to come off...

er.
m
sto
cu y.)
al
g. rr
pic
n
wi o
(S
ty
gro ur
are o
ot
We en
ar
u
Yo

Who is this? ➞

Apple Macs
70% of faculty
40-50% of students

Client satisfaction with after
hours and weekend service
Very satisfied 17.3%
Somewhat satisfied 34.6%
Not satisfied 48.1%

“They just didn't
know the answers,
which seemed to
“They told me I should
require more specific,
call back in the
apparently college-
morning. I called the
specific, knowledge
number back to see if I
than they had.”
got a new rep. I did
but got told the same
thing.”
“They didn't know the
answers to my
questions and they
flopped around
“Basically, I learned
searching for things.”
never to call after
hours.”

By the end...
⅓
Initial call closure rate

Renew?

Adaptations
Single call tracking database, vendor provided
Built our own
After-hours diagnostics and response
Rotating on-call monitoring by staff
Help calls already logged at 8:30 AM
Call forwarding on demand

Lessons Learned
How will you manage the
client’s experience with
off-site service providers?
Are you a mainstream
customer for your
provider?
Does your need resemble a
commodity?
Can you use outsourcing as
a transitional strategy?