Communicating with users UCISA February 2008 Derek Norris IT Customer Service Manager

Inherent problems with IT Communications Students are very difficult to reach effectively en mass. They don’t read e-mail regularly as they are not desk based. They change their mobile providers regularly. They are not operating in core hours a lot of the time. They are not good at spotting alerts on VLE pages either. Generally staff/students don’t look at web pages to find out about their systems problems. Single point communications have limited effectiveness and annoy those even more who didn’t see it. IT staff don’t see communication as part of their role. All users are stupid! Is still sometimes uttered in IT functions. IT staff don’t want to say anything until they know what the problem is, Its already too late and no one understands it. Customer service does exist with IT staff as they worry about user down time Text is expensive

Getting started 1. Someone in IT needs to own the communication process for all sections. 2. The messages need to be interpreted from IT speak to understandable user language, short and concise without jargon. 3. The delivery mechanisms need to be accessible and understood. Bulk e-mail may have implications on your mail servers or be disallowed by policy. “ The TCPIP protocol failure…” 4. Timing is of the essence!. Too late, too early all detract from the effectiveness. Most importantly - Communicate IT IT IT IT

The message strategy General awareness Objectives: Keep everyone informed about new initiatives, recent issues and developments. Message: Relevant details about their IT provision and what is happening about known issues and new activities. Bulletin format Follow up: Provide some thread between bulletins Advance warnings Objectives: Prepare users for the planned systems down time or impact. At least 1 weeks notice. Message: Brief details of the impact, via e-mail, and web. Likely duration and affected systems. Follow up: Reminders close to the actual planned work. Pop up message the day before. Immediate problems Objectives: Instant response from IT to identify and acknowledge a problem exists. Message: Brief details of the impact, via e-mail, pop up messages, (VB script) phone and web. Follow up: Give an indication of possible duration and update accordingly.

Measurement 1. Need to establish where you are currently with IT Communication. Existing data, views of staff and students, surveys etc The very first thing to do before you start communicating , 2. If possible, include questions in your staff/student surveys about communications. 3. Feedback from staff is usually instant, students don’t tend to come back to you at all. Style and appropriateness, or even timeliness 4. In theory, you can’t manage things you can’t measure!