Mobility is exploding, both in terms of the proportion of the workers who are now "mobile" in one form or another, and the number and range of devices they may be using to get their work done. On average, employees today use at least three devices, generally including a laptop, mobile phone and tablet. Some still work on a desktop computer when in their business or home office, however use of a stationary desktop alone is atypical. The service desk is under growing pressure to support all of these different devices and computers, and increasingly the applications on the devices – or to find ways to redirect users to other sources of support, often to the detriment of the business. The research and recommendations below provide information and ideas to help organizations evaluate the options and move toward more effective mobility support solutions.
- The Impact of Mobility on the IT Service Desk
- Terrence Cosgrove | Jeffrey Brooks
- 17 July 2013
- The growing numbers and diversity of mobile devices in the workplace is increasing the IT service desk workload, yet organizations are not adding support staff. I&O leaders must implement new support models to address the increasing user demands.
- The growth of mobile usage and device diversity is increasing the number of calls to the IT service desk.
- The lack of new support capabilities for mobile devices is reducing the quality of services infrastructure and operations (I&O) organizations provide to users.
- I&O leaders must create policies that hold IT service desk agents responsible for the quality of data collected from IT service desk tickets.
- Study the trends of service desk issues related to mobile devices and create an action plan to address the most common support calls.
- Consider a bring your own device (BYOD) program to offload support to end users, further reducing the workload on the IT service desk.
- Complement formal support with social support tools to enable greater peer-to-peer collaboration in support of mobile devices, bypassing requests to the support desk.
Vitalyst Perspective
- Live Support: A Critical Element in Enterprise Mobility Support
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Gartner's research on the impact of mobility on the IT service desk highlights the challenges presented by the changing device landscape within the corporate environment. One of the key impacts noted in the research is that "the lack of new support capabilities for mobile devices is reducing the quality of service (I&O) organizations provide to users." There are some important distinctions to consider in support for mobility as compared to basic mobile device support.
- Mobile device support is more associated with basic device set-up, management and connectivity, and has historically centered around mobile phones
- Consumerization of IT has been a key driver for the introduction of new mobile devices (following Apple's iPad) and changes in enterprise mobility approaches, including BYOD, COPE and related models. The new tablets and hybrid devices from Microsoft and it's resellers, Android, Apple and others are changing mobile support dynamics significantly, especially since some of these (such as Microsoft's Surface Pro 2 and Toshiba'sPortege tablet) are actually full computers – with many features and characteristics of lighter tablets but full capabilities of a laptop as well
- The introduction of these broader mobile devices is now blurring the lines between basic device set-up/hardware/connectivity support and more advanced "how to" application and device support – with the latter involving assistance with how to use the device and the applications on it. This "how to" support is absolutely a need among today's highly mobile business users, and often an area where they are left to find their own help. Mobile device support is evolving to something perhaps more aptly described as Workforce Mobility Support, or Enterprise Mobility Support.
