Peer to Peer Magazine

34 PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA | SPRING 2017 CASE STUDIES So Happy Together: Users + Support Without support, technology — no maer how cuing-edge — can be difficult or daunting for the user. At Quarles and Brady (Q&B), we keep our users happy by designing great user support practices that combine to create a successful user support model. United We Stand Let's begin with our organizational structure. We have a director of security and engineering and a director of IT support, both of whom report to the CIO. The separation is important and helps keep each side focused and in check. Those in support don't promise the moon, and those in engineering gain an understanding of what consequences their actions have in the "real world." The support side includes all forward-facing teams. The legal practice technology manager, the project manager and the user experience and support manager (me) report to the director. My team, about 20 altogether, comprises trainers, local PC technicians and the help desk. A few years back, we outsourced our help desk to Keno Kozie, an offsite vendor in Chicago, which is close to two of our larger offices. This proved to be a great move. We now have a dedicated team that understands how Q&B does things and provides 24/7 support. There's an added benefit of additional overflow support that can be drawn upon when large projects increase call volumes. That benefit couldn't have been made any clearer than when we recently completed our Windows 10 rollout. Call volumes more than doubled for several months, but our team responded instantly with additional support. Our Keno Kozie staff are treated as though they were siing in our building. (But, in these times, who knows where anyone is siing anyway?) We have a weekly team meeting with the help desk, training and local tech supervisors to swap ideas and experiences and ensure we're all singing from the same sheet of music. We have a united front. We've Got Your Back We try to make it easy for users to report issues with a simple-to-remember phone number (extension 2468) and a simple email address (helpdesk@quarles.com). I'd like to say that's enough, but it isn't. Local techs get plenty of walk-up traffic and direct phone calls. We've tried to "train" staff to use the help desk first, but they are smart enough to know when a ticket is going to require someone to physically touch their machine. Staff know a ticket will be escalated to the local tech, so they reach out directly. We ask the tech to create a ticket aerward, so we have a record of the interaction. I'm certain that happens without fail. ;-) Without all incident details, it's hard to determine when something that seems like a lile issue is really a big one. When the help desk sees an influx of similar tickets, the supervisor will contact me or the engineering team to see if a global ticket must What does it take to keep users happy with the technologies available to them? Though many factors combine to make a great user experience, user support has to be at the top of the list. by Larry Dreie So Happy Together: Users + Support LARRY DREIFKE Larry Dreifke's mission is to put a human face to the IT machine at Quarles and Brady. As the Manager of User Experience and Support, he strives to make technology understandable and approachable by using plain speech, common sense and weak attempts at humor. Contact Larry at larry.dreifke@quarles.com.

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