Computerworld - CTO says helpdesks will become a thing of the past

Turgon

NASA CTO says help desks will soon be thing of past - Computerworld

KrisA

the first you do is Google or Bing it. If you can't get the answer there, you ask your kids. If you can't get your answer there, you ask your friends who are like you.

If users actually did that, I could see it going away. But this is the real world. Users rather make a ticket than google for the answer. Not to mention, you [Helpdesk] have to sift through all the useless shotgun approaches taken by others to resolve the issue. If you have not dealt with the issue before.

njkt

Interesting but unsurprising. I like the part where it says "you can have it if you can write an application for it"

Akaricloud

KrisA wrote: »

If users actually did that, I could see it going away. But this is the real world. Users rather make a ticket than google for the answer. Not to mention, you [Helpdesk] have to sift through all the useless shotgun approaches taken by others to resolve the issue. If you have not dealt with the issue before.

Yeah.. it seems that this acticle thinks helpdesks will go away because users are going to become competent enough to solve their own problems. Everything mentioned still looks to require helpdesk support to me.

pham0329

ha...users researching their problems...that's a good one! On a serious note, why is he comparing a mobile's phone "help desk" to an IT helpdesk?

Everyone

At my last job, they allowed personal mobile devices to connect to the network. We still had to provide as much support as possible for these devices if they couldn't connect to our systems. You don't have to know every device out there, just the OS that runs on them. The Help Desk handled as much as they could, but a lot of the issue got escalated to me, as I was seen as the SME.

In situations like that, if the device can't connect to a business system (most commonly Exchange via ActiveSync), and basic troubleshooting doesn't fix the issue, you send the user to their cellular service provider for assistance.

In my experience, the Help Desk is still the first place someone calls when their stupid iPhone/Android/Blackberry/etc. isn't getting any e-mail or whatever.

JockVSJock

I would like to throw this NASA CTO on the phones in my last help desk environment and see how long he would last or see how long the end users would have their problems dumped back on them, before he would see a user revolt.

"Now the workforce and consumers of IT are becoming mobile. Have you ever called a help desk for your mobile device? What do you do? Probably, the first you do is Google or Bing it. If you can't get the answer there, you ask your kids. If you can't get your answer there, you ask your friends who are like you. For us, that's the workgroup," Soderstrom said

Huh, wha? I never had any end users try to figure out their issue via Google or the Internet before calling. They are not that tech savy, even though some think they are because they can text from a Smart Phone, or use websites like Twitter/Facebook.

"It's impossible. You can either blow up the help desk or [forbid] new devices and the end users will be unhappy," he said.

New devices? I don't understand this. Is he referring to a company issues wireless device? I can understand that, however I can't tell you how many times we had end users call and want to connect their personal iPhone, Blackberry, or laptop to the company network and they don't understand maintaining standards for troubleshooting, patching and security.

bababooey1

“Therefore, help desks will have to shift to helping employees innovate by providing, for example, expert advice on how to write mobile apps that can help the business. "That's where we think the help desk is going, from a commodity to an expert," Soderstrom said.”

The folks in help desk are now application developers that can whip out an app on demand?

“Soderstrom said that when a scientist recently asked him for an iPad, he was told he could get one only if he could develop an application that could help the business. The scientist went on to create NASA's Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project (LMMP), which shared all of JPL's data about the moon on the web.”

Not all users are ROCKET SCIENTISTS!

This guy is completely out of touch

Hypntick

Yeah....they'll research the problem alright. Then they'll call the help desk when their research didn't provide the solution. There has got to be a layer between the end users and the engineers, otherwise the engineers would revolt.

MrRyte

Soderstrom said that when a scientist recently asked him for an iPad, he was told he could get one only if he could develop an application that could help the business. The scientist went on to create NASA's Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project (LMMP), which shared all of JPL's data about the moon on the web. The scientist earned a free iPad, Soderstrom said.

And how many non-IT people have the skill to develop an application for their company?