SESSION 506Tuesday, October 30, 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM

Track: Service Operations

Unified Communication: Inform Customers and Manage Expectations David Disney Director, Customer Service/Help Desk, Information Technology Services, Board of Regents, University System of Georgia David.Disney@usg.edu Session Description Is your service desk overwhelmed by having to provide service status updates? Enterprise services can be hosted in a variety of environments. A unified communication approach can mitigate communication challenges by proactively positioning a service desk to manage customer expectations and perceptions, practice contact avoidance, and create organizational and customer alignment. This presentation highlights communication order, roles, content, structure, governance, challenges, and benefits. This session also presents two case studies from a service delivery environment, as well as select suggestions and practices. (Intermediate) Speaker Background David Disney has over thirty years of service and support experience. Currently the director of help desk operations for Information Technology Services at the University System of Georgia. Disney's help desk provides central, frontline support for enterprise business and education applications and technical services using a single-point-of-contact multichannel support model. Disney’s team has won many awards and he is a seasoned presenter.

SESSION 506

UNIFIED COMMUNICATION: INFORM CUSTOMERS AND MANAGE EXPECTATIONS

David DisneyInformation Technology Services (ITS)

Board of RegentsUniversity System of Georgia (USG) 

Director, Customer Services and ITS Helpdesk Operations

• IT support/Help Desk Manager, Customer Service Director• ITS Service Desk; Customer Services (11+ years)• HDI (8+ years)

• Early understanding of service: Family owned business • Passion, Practice, Influence

– Perception, Expectation, Communication– Customers talk about us for the right reasons

Today’s Outline

• Unified Communication and Service Level Management– Defined and aligning for today’s discussion

• Information Technology Services: Who we are, what we do• Problem statement: What happened; why did we do this• Case history and practical application

– Walk through: Evolution of people, process, and technology• Measures: Return on Investment• Framework: A suggestion for adaptation• Lessons learned, challenges• Conversation: Questions, answers, clarification

Unified Communication and SLMWhat began as contact avoidance…

– Unified Communications experience• Consistent, real time (across the Enterprise)• Customer needs, when and where• Multiple channels, funneled into/out single environment• Marketed, managed, measured, adjusted, and sustained

– Service Management• Focus: Customer relationship, keep informed, managing expectation(s)

…emerged as a passion for influence and practice

– Proactive service– Anticipate customer needs– Meaningful communication, right customer(s), right time– Mindset:  Follow us and at times find you

University System of Georgia (USG)

• 35 colleges, universities

• 270,000 students

• 42,000 employees

• 9,350,000 state residents

Information Technology Services (ITS)• Athens and Atlanta, Georgia, comprehensive technology 

resources, services, and solutions for USG enterprise products and service

• ITS Helpdesk– Single‐Point‐of‐Contact (SPOC) Service Desk– Pro‐active communications for service status changes– Issue/request/question and Global issue management– Business/organization impact focus– 24 hours a day, seven days a week– Multiple channels of communication– Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 support triage

ITS Enterprise Services and Products

• Learning Management System– 32,000 on‐line classes– 318,000 faculty, staff, and student users– Customers:  126 USG institution administrators

• Financials information, reporting• Student services, information system• Georgia's virtual library (GALILEO)• Data Warehouse, analysis, reporting• Fiber optic network

Unified Proactive Communications

• Statement of the problem

– Contacts to the Helpdesk

• Status of my support request

• Status of the Enterprise service or product

Learning Management System (Phase I)

• Hosted, administered, supported at a single site• ~1,000 on‐line courses (volunteer use, not aligned)• No maintenance schedule (outages rare)• Communications through product (informal, inconsistent, risky)• Product changes as released, perceived as covert operations• Customers: Faculty; Users: Students• Strong user community, high expectations, wanted changes NOW• Why and what changed?

– Product mission alignment grew (importance and scale)– ITS/key institution staff relationship grew– ITS role changed/grew (host, support, communicate)

Unified Communication LMS (Phase II)Early Maturity

• Redefined the customer• Communication still through product• Began using Listserv managed mailing list• Started weekly customer telephone‐web  conferences

– Built trust: Changed covert operation perception

• Engaged Customer Services to manage communication• Roles defined, focus emerged

– LMS Subject Matter Experts (SME)      Product– Customer Services      Communications

Unified Communication LMS (Phase III)Late Maturity

• Enterprise expanded• Added Sorry Service, monitoring (automation)• LMS SME/Helpdesk partnership emerged

– Inbound (reactive)– Outbound (proactive)

• Customer challenges– LMS critical Enterprise service/product emerged– Latency issue: Need information faster with options– I am not always at a computer (24/7)– Provide message or alert "to find them"

Unified Communication Emerged

• Roles

• Value based training– Core organization values

– Contact Avoidance

– Customer Needs

• Procedures

• Tools 

Unified Communication Model

• Executive Support, Alignment, Marketing– Stay in the Communication Loop

• Components/Tools– USG Services Status web resource

– Telephone Service Information Message

– Emergency Communication Service

– Customer Self‐Service Global Issue

– Mailing Lists

Marketing

Up Selling• Service Level Guidelines• Conferences/meetings• Customer contacts• Events• Customer Service web Site• Telephone Service Information Message

• Internal Meetings

CustomerView

Allservicesavailable

CustomerView

One serviceaffected byperformance or delay

HelpdeskProcedure

CustomerView

Announcement

Initial Analytics – Customer Adoption

• Unique visitors

• Number of visits

• Pages

• Hits

• Bandwidth

2009: ~50% increase; use steady and sustained

USG Services Status Activity (2010‐2012)2010• Unique visitors: 11,906• Number of Visits: 64,782• Approximately 100% increase• Steady use, spike January 2010

2011• Analytic tool not available 7 months• Planned and unplanned service interruptions• Extrapolated data showing significant use increase

2012 (January‐June)• Extrapolated for 1 year similar to 2010

Return on Investment

Investment

• January‐June 2012

• 141 initial Status postings

• 2 postings each = 282

• Extrapolated for full year– 564 Status updates

• 10 minute avg handle time

• 94 hours or 2.5 FTE weeks

Return• 5 minute handle time

• Visitors (~12,000)• 10 % ~ 100 hours ~ 2.5 FTE Weeks

• 35 % ~ 350 hours ~ 9 FTE Weeks

• 50% ~ 500 hours ~ 12 FTE Weeks

• 100% ~ 1,000 hours ~ 25 FTE Weeks

• Visits• 50% ~ 2,708 hours > FTE• 100% ~ 5,416 hours > 2 FTE

Future: Emerging Trends and Decisions

•More touch points• Status most valued customer touch point?•Automation•More service integration•Greater Enterprise service and technology complexity• Social Media: Take message to customer, way they want• Flexibility•Dedicated tools: Homegrown or commercial• Targeted messages, customized service

Framework: Phased ApproachPhase I Foundation

E‐mail

Reliance

HIGH

Don't boil the ocean: Proof of concept, pilot, and then grow• Survey customers; establish how to measure (before/after)• Brand name, describe services, scope• Calendar of maintenance (schedule events/outages)• Service Level Agreement/Guidelines: Communication (+frequency)• Announcement schedule/frequency• Value touch points (defined), service marketed

People: Ownership, operation, empowerment

Technology (anchor tools)• Status web resource• Service Interruption Message (SIM)

Process• Internal communications and handoff• Communication templates (format, content)• Standard branded closing

Framework: Phased ApproachPhase II Integrated Communications

• Formalize OLAs comm/handoff/response/resolution• Service Desk service transition, training, expectation• Social Media Integration

– RSS Feeds, Twitter, Facebook

• Customer Self Service (Service Catalog)– Top knowledge articles published

– Global Issue/Problem Management communication

• New Value Touch Points defined• Mature Service Level Guidelines

– Delivered, communicated, sustained

E‐mail

Reliance:

MODERATE

Framework: Phased ApproachPhase III Mature

• Service Desk service monitoring/automation• Critical/emergency text messaging (Opt In)• Standardized, documented procedures/marketing• Service Level Guidelines, all branded service defined•New Value Touch Points integrated, in production• 3rd party system/services support agreements

E‐mailReliance:LOW &

Supplemental

Challenges and Lessons Learned• Culture on multiple levels

– Service owners (fix or communicate, manage internal communication)

• Organizational alignment and commitment–Market, contact up‐selling; promote at every level, opportunity (outage)– Sustainable (Strategic Communication Plan)

• Governance, ownership–Generous time: Rehearse, practice, simulate worse case moment

• Service Desk Transition (outbound, pro‐activity, customer impact terms)

• Manage perceptions/expectations through communications• Baseline and benchmark metrics (before and after)

–Define and record labor effort; same for usage/adoption–Map each event to analytics

• Survey (Baseline, benchmark, event‐driven, calendar‐driven, suggestion box

Thank you for attending this session!

Let's have a conversation!

(Questions/Clarifications welcomed)

Please complete an evaluation

DAVID DISNEY

DAVID.DISNEY@USG.EDU