ABSTRACT

Are you overworked, unappreciated and under-resourced? This book understands you, and provides years and years of User Support experience packed into one volume. The 'How To' book that every IT department needs, it will help turn your helpdesk into a company asset. How to be successful at probably the most stressful job in IT

This book offers tools for measuring productivity and features ten key steps for successful support, while User Support successes and failures are revealed in true life case studies.

This book gives you techniques for:
*Justifying staff and other expenditure
* Gaining senior management support
* Getting the users on your side
* Running a motivated and productive team
* Designing and managing services and service levels

The second edition of this popular book brings updates to several of the author's ideas, strategies and techniques with new material on:

* Customer Relationship Management - definition and the role of the helpdesk
* E-Support and the Internet
* Contrasting the Call Center and the Helpdesk
* first, second and third line support
* Operational Level Agreements
* Strategies for backlog management
* Telephone technologies in user support

In addition there is:
* A new Template for a Service Level Agreement
* An Improved cost justification model for the Internal Helpdesk
* A New cost justification model for the External Helpdesk

part |62 pages

What is ‘support’?

chapter |7 pages

Defining computer user support

chapter |10 pages

Support as an IT function

chapter |31 pages

Forms of support

chapter |8 pages

Typical support structures

chapter |4 pages

Support functions

part |66 pages

Client management

chapter |9 pages

What is a ‘customer’?

chapter |11 pages

What do they want?

chapter |6 pages

Prioritizing clients

chapter |18 pages

Keeping in contact

chapter |11 pages

Customer service in IT support

chapter |4 pages

A view from above

chapter |5 pages

Marketing the support department

part |74 pages

Service management

chapter |13 pages

Analysing service needs

chapter |20 pages

Putting services in place

chapter |4 pages

Excellence in support service

chapter |16 pages

Service level agreements

chapter |10 pages

Support from outside

chapter |9 pages

The international dimension

part |66 pages

Workload management

chapter |10 pages

Reactivity and proactivity

chapter |9 pages

Managing the queue

chapter |14 pages

Delegation and escalation

chapter |12 pages

Measurement and reporting

chapter |19 pages

Controlling the workflow

part |36 pages

Resources management

chapter |11 pages

Justifying user support expenditure

chapter |8 pages

Knowledge

chapter |15 pages

Equipment

part |39 pages

Staff management

chapter |7 pages

The ideal support person

chapter |13 pages

Motivation and productivity

chapter |9 pages

Staffing and structure

chapter |8 pages

User support management considerations