IST Finalizes Help Desk Consolidation

IST is in the process of finalizing the consolidation of Help Desk services to a centralized unit with the focus on you, the customer. Currently, Help Desk East is housed at Kuralt Centre and supports all DSS customers. Help Desk Central is housed at Hal Marshall Center. This group supports all other Mecklenburg County customers. Both groups are managed by IT Manager Dan Traweek and are part of the IST Desktop Services organization. The IST Desktop Services group also includes the Desktop Support and the Enterprise Core Process teams.

Three years ago, IST began the process of consolidating departmental IT staff to create an enterprise-wide service. In early August 2007, Help Desk East and Central will be fully consolidated as staff members move into the newly renovated Hal Marshall Annex. The new facility is called the IST Technology Services Center.

“The consolidation will benefit the County in many ways,” says Senior IT Manager Jeff Vince. “Having our Help Desk team centralized at one location gives a one-stop approach for customer service and will eventually allow all of our customers to call one number to meet all their support needs. Currently, DSS customers call 2-8000. All others call the 2HELP (2-4357) extension. With this consolidated approach, it yields us increased coverage to provide faster more efficient customer service.”

Jeff says the Help Desk is also exploring new ways of providing customer service. “We can now help customers through email and over the phone. Down the road, we will explore utilizing live chat, web based self help, and other customer centric avenues.”

Help Desk technicians have also been given opportunities to work from home, providing more flexibility for the employees and eventually allows them expand service and delivery for the customers.

“Our main goal is to solve the problems of our customers,” says Jeff. “We want to create a customer-oriented environment that is solution-oriented.”

On Thursday, September 6, IST will be hosting an open house for employees to come and meet the consolidated Help Desk team, along with other members of the IST Desktop Services team. “We want our employees to come out and meet their teammates who support them and get an understanding of what they do.”