Building an IT help desk that can actually help!.

Running a successful and efficient help desk can be a matter of thinking outside the box and taking advantage of initiatives elsewhere in your firm, said Greg Davis, information technology director and principal at Salina, Kan.-based CPA and business advisory firm Kennedy and Coe.
Running such a desk, however, requires forethought, especially in hiring the right people, standardization of procedures, clarifying objectives and measurement systems, understanding clients, and securing the support of a firm's management, Davis said.
Davis delivered his remarks to session attendees at the recent Tech 2006: The AICPA Information Technology Conference, held here. Davis led a session titled "Best Practices for a Corporate Help Desk."
Responding to such audience suggestions as paying attention to security and trends, an over-reliance on a help desk to provide staff training that should be coming from elsewhere, and better matching of caller sophistication to help desk personnel, Davis noted that a good help desk can increase the productivity of clients, improve overall revenue and profits, and produce more knowledgeable clients, among other benefits.
* Hiring: Davis said that firms must determine exactly how many staffers they need on their help desk, considering as well the need for a desk manager, front-line staff to gather information and log calls, and the location of the help desk. He recommended one location - as close as possible to the hardware supported.
Help desks are also "high-stress" posts, he added, seeing turnover sometimes as high as 40 percent annually.
* Training desk staff: Davis also recommended shadowing, or on-the-job training in which recruits work side by side with veterans of the desk for a week or two, then veterans shadow recruits as they try to handle their first calls. Staff should