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Rescue for the Helpdesk
A Whitepaper on the effects on Win 95
A comprehensive study of the operations of F100 Helpdesks with
projections of the business benefits that will accrue when
the users migrate to Windows NT Workstation.
Prepared by
Technology Business Research Inc.
400 Lafayette Road
Hampton, N.H. USA 03842
Technology Business Research Inc. is an employee
owned market research and consulting firm
which has acquired the assets of WorkGroup
Technologies Inc.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
We would like to take a moment and recognize the
Helpdesk managers and their staffs for working with us during
the interview and for supplying the data that made much of this
paper possible. We know we cannot mention you by name; however,
you know to whom this applies. We thank you for helping us prepare
this study.
Trademarks
Microsoft, MS-DOS and Windows are registered trademarks
and Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.
Netview is a registered trademark of International
Business Machines Corporation.
Novell and Netware are registered trademarks of Novell,
Inc.
Kodak is a registered trademark of Eastman Kodak
Company.
0196 Part No. 098-63972
During 1995, Technology Business Research undertook a comprehensive
study of 14 Helpdesks in F100 firms having large numbers of installed
PCs. After extensive research and evaluation of each Helpdesk's
experiences with Windows 3.x and Windows for Workgroups 3.x, we
have determined that Windows NT Workstation will provide
substantial Helpdesk savings for high volume users who switch
to Windows NT Workstation.
Windows NT Workstation can be expected to reduce support
costs by $483 per user per year and annual savings will continue
for the life of the product.
The research program consisted of in-depth discussions with 14
Helpdesk managers (9 of whom provided the call detail reports)
in F100 companies representing over 120,000 PC users and more
than 1.4 million Helpdesk calls per year. After analyzing more
than forty-seven thousand individual Helpdesk call reports, having
extensively evaluated and used Windows NT Workstation, and
having surveyed Windows NT Workstation adopters, Technology
Business Research is able to identify many areas where Windows NT
Workstation will offer significant Helpdesk operations impact.
Our analysis has shown that, in a steady state environment, users
should see a reduction in volume of PC Helpdesk calls of between
15% and 29% annually due to Windows NT Workstation robustness
security and ease of use. Using an example average site (based
on this study), with 9602 PCs, the reader could anticipate an
elimination of 1222 calls per month for a potential savings of
$19,980 per month. Alternatively, existing Helpdesk resources
would be able to handle more users with no increase in Helpdesk
staff. Obviously, savings will vary based on site population
as well as other variables.
From our analysis, Technology Business Research projects this
average size Helpdesk (serving 9602 PC users) will also see an
average reduction of 67%, range 44% to 93%, from the previous
number of onsite visits requiring technical staff. In this average
sized site, Technology Business Research projects a further savings
of $333,600 /month due to on-site visit avoidance of 1,112 visits
per month. Technicians will be able to use Windows NT Workstation
remote management services, other advanced features to fix the
call via the network. The Windows NT Workstation characteristics
of reliability and high security contribute to reductions in onsite
technician visits. These savings, due to both call avoidance
and onsite visit avoidance, will generate an estimated monthly
savings of $386,580.
We should point out this is for the steady state condition after
the users have passed the learning curve of using Windows NT
Workstation. The savings cited above are for larger computer sites;
however, we feel the results can be extrapolated to different
sized sites and your results should vary proportionately. It was
readily apparent from our research that each organization's Helpdesk
varies considerably in the types and range of problems encountered,
as well as costs associated with resolving the problems. See
the spreadsheet at the back of this document for use in auditing
your own site-specific Helpdesk data and calculating estimates
for your organization. In addition to the cost savings noted
above, there are also business and productivity benefits that
accrue through increased user satisfaction, less end user downtime
and improved confidence in system reliability.
Helpdesks are moving from an expense center to an integral
part of the technology implement-ation matrix.
Technology Business Research was retained to quantify potential
support and Helpdesk benefits that might be derived through the
major operational enhancements that will be delivered as part
of Windows NT Workstation. Examples of these enhancements
include: protection of operating system from user programs, improved
security and multitasking, Remote Control, Systems Management
Services, the same simple and intuitive user interface as used
in Windows 95, support for long file names and User Configuration
information centralized in a registry, etc.
If your Helpdesk is like most support organizations today, it
is probably being asked to do more with less. Demand for support
has risen sharply, but staff levels have either remained flat
or dropped. For this reason, the future of successful support
rests in a user's ability to interface with a Helpdesk possessing
complementary support tools that take advantage of broad open-system
standards which facilitate the required technology interfaces.
Increased desktop complexity and networking have driven
call growth volume geometrically.
Client server system implementations have brought an unexpected
dark side-the cost of technical support. Many times the customer
bought the vision of re-engineered, open, flexible client server
systems as the way to reduce cost and increase service to all
users. Frequently, what users have experienced has been increasing
complexity, sometimes unmanageable application development, soaring
support costs and less-than-effective implementations.
Many times users inadvertently brought down their systems
by deleting files or altering settings.
As more advanced networked applications have been deployed over
the past five years, the cost of the Helpdesk and technical support
has grown geometrically. The desktop user effectively became
a desktop (and larger) systems manager. Many times users inadvertently
brought down their systems by deleting files or altering settings
that ultimately required a technician's visit to complete a repair.
Microsoft has addressed a significant number of these operational
issues with Windows NT Workstation. The result will be a
reduction in the number of user calls to the Helpdesk due to improved
reliability and security, as well as functional improvements,
making systems more crashworthy and controllable.
Windows NT Workstation prevents and assists in the
resolution of a wide range of user problems.
This paper reviews the Helpdesk operations of a number of large
existing Windows 3.x users, identifies the types of problems they
are currently experiencing and then isolates those problems that
Windows NT Workstation will either prevent or assist in resolving
more efficiently. It is the objective of this white paper to
provide reasonable quantitative estimates of how the inclusion
of Windows NT Workstation functional enhancements deliver
productivity improvements to users, while lowering customers'
internal and external support costs. The paper will also supply
a method and worksheet that can be used by the reader to estimate
their own savings using their data.
Primary white paper objectives are to:
- Analyze existing Helpdesk loads and costs of running Windows
3.x or Windows for Workgroups 3.x.
- Project steady state cost and productivity benefits when the
organization migrates to Windows NT Workstation.
- Note the estimated cost savings that users should experience.
- Provide a methodology that can be extrapolated to a customer's
current Helpdesk environment.
- Note user productivity gains through improved Helpdesk efficiency.
Site Selection and Qualification
To achieve the objective of this study, Technology Business Research
recruited large user sites from a variety of industries among
both large Microsoft Windows 3.x installed users and the F500.
Nine sites were chosen, representing a wide range of industries.
The study was limited to sites in the USA; however, we expect
similar results where local language versions of Windows NT
Workstation are used. Users were screened to determine if they
met certain criterion. In order for sites to qualify, they had
to:
- Operate a centralized Helpdesk.
- Utilize electronic logging of call reports or tickets.
- Support 1000 or more PC users.
- Be willing to provide 6 months of call reports.
The study participants included firms engaged in the following
types of business:
Aerospace Manufacturer |
Food & Beverage Manufacturer |
Full Service Bank |
Stock Brokerage Firm |
Major Consulting Firm |
Life Insurance Company |
Chemical Company |
Automotive Company |
Financial Services Company |
|
During our research, we analyzed, in detail, more than 47,000
individual PC call reports.
After qualifying and selecting the sites, Technology Business
Research provided a briefing package of documents that outlined
the research program's objectives and the type of information
we were seeking. We then conducted telephone interviews to determine
the structure of their Helpdesk operation and to acquire demographics
on users, desktop device base, business problems and general information
about their Helpdesk. We requested call report summary information
and up to 6 months of call report detail for our analysis. During
the call report analysis phase, we evaluated, in detail, more
than 47,000 individual PC-related calls. We identified common
trouble call clusters and then coded the call reports along a
common schema so we could develop a comparative matrix. Specific
call types were then analyzed to determine if Windows NT
Workstation would either eliminate the call or contribute materially
to a faster, more efficient resolution. The results of this detailed
analysis provided the call counts used to generate the improvement
figures cited throughout this report.