1. Helpdesk System Definition
A typical help desk can effectively perform several functions. It provides a single point of contact for
users to gain assistance in troubleshooting, get answers to questions, and solve known problems. A
help desk generally manages its requests through the use of software such as issue tracking
systems.
The role of the Help Desk in your Organization
The IT help desk as a problem fixer
In an ideal world, where nothing went wrong, and all computer users in your organisation were
perfect users of perfect software running on perfect hardware, the Help Desk would, I guess, be
superfluous.
But that’s not the case, and the cloud isn’t going to solve everything either. So although the help
desk has evolved greatly in its automation and efficiency, it still draws on its first primary objective
of providing a centralized resource for restarting broken PCs and broken software and helping users
for whom the whole computer thing was a bit of a mystery. The concept of self-healing PCs, so
popular in the previous decade, never really became reality; if it had, it would have given the help
desk a narrower focus on guidance for users. Instead, the help desk is a bit like a good (public?)
health system, taking care of any ailment with whatever resource is available to it. Questions arise as
to how to charge for it, how to fund it. Should it be via incident-based chargeback at a departmental
level? Should you have to pay for simply phoning the helpdesk? Or is it simpler to fund the helpdesk
by one universal levy?
The IT helpdesk role in problem prevention
The help desk can also see itself as ideally placed to act to prevent problems arising in the first place.
Through its experience-based insights into the problems of the user community, it can devise
educational programs to improve users’ awareness of the IT resources that they use. Improved
security awareness, and making the most of some key applications might be examples. Even if the
help desk is not seen as having any competency in training (despite the endless examples of showing
users what to do and what not to do….), it can still evolve from just solving problems to becoming
pro-active in helping maximize the ‘health’ of your IT provision.
Even if you already have a separate IT training function, is the help desk software that you use able
to analyse its history of incident records to find common issues, or areas of IT provision that seem
particularly prone to problems? Do you make use of that function? Does your training department
regularly consult the help desk to help identify training needs?
The IT helpdesk as instigator of a culture of pro-active IT improvement
And do you then mandate that all users receive training, or do you try to isolate particularly
problem-prone groups of users. Then how is it all this training to be paid for, and how is the expense
justified as a business case? Just like the politics of healthcare, these are questions that need
answering, not ignoring, to get the most out of the IT resource in your organization. The IT help desk
can take a lead in identifying the potential value that would accrue from preventing and reducing
the flow of incidents, promoting the overall health and performance of IT as a resource, rather than
just fixing its problems.