Designing an Efficient Help Desk Environment

Tech support help desks continue to be the butt of comedy channel comedians and late-night talk show banter. And while most of us may get a chuckle at the skit caller's frustration in trying to get an answer, in the real world a dysfunctional help desk is no laughing matter.

"Successful companies know that a smoothly running help desk is crucial to survival especially in highly competitive businesses," says Mark Bassil, Vice President of MAiSPACE, a systems furniture manufacturer based in Mt. Olive, NJ. "Customer loyalty can vanish in a flash when help desks fail. Part of the solution to a smooth running help desk is finding qualified personnel to staff these desks - a task increasingly challenging for companies selling and servicing high-technology products. The second part of the solution is a help desk environment that conducive not only to hiring but also to retaining the staff."

Systems Furniture Solutions for Help Desks
Help desk personnel must be thoroughly familiar with all aspects of the products or services they represent, but they cannot be expected to have every answer at hand. "Fast access to depositories of information is crucial to an efficient operation and customer satisfaction," Bassil says. "There is the human side of this - such as asking a co-worker for suggestions - and a technology side - a high-speed data network to the company's product and service information resources. Systems furniture can be a strong enabler of both approaches."

Workstations can be clustered according to help desk call-in menus, such as "for email problems press 1." This places staff receiving similar requests in proximity with each other. In the example a particular cluster responds to help desk calls associated with a telecommunications service provider's email service. Another cluster could focus on Internet access issues. "The point is," Bassil says, "help desk personnel grouped by expertise are in a better position to help each other respond to requests, and also will become quickly aware if a more widespread problem is occurring, in this instance in a telecom network."

The second critical help desk design concern is providing staff with access to the company's data banks so that they can check on the customer's product or even pro-actively initiate corrective procedures. "Having two or three computer screens operating in a singe workspace is not that unusual for companies offering high-technology solutions, medical, pharmaceutical, insurance or other services," Bassil says. "Therefore a robust local area network (LAN) is a must."

MAiSPACE addresses help desk voice and data network needs with its patented zone distribution system including plug-and-play connectors, lay-in cabling and the largest cable capacity in the industry.

The Lease Option and Cash Flows
Leasing rather than outright purchase of new systems furniture can help offset the cost of a move. "Today more than 80 percent of U.S. companies lease some if not all of their office furniture, equipment and technology acquisitions," Bassil says. "Compared with other financing methods leasing is easier than securing bank loans and is just as competitive. Payments are fixed instead of being based on floating interest rates, and leases can be structured to support the needs and goals of a business, not the bank."

MAiSPACE has recently introduced a new leasing option and has made it possible to calculate monthly payments in seconds through accessing its website Lease Calculator at www.maispace.com and clicking on the instant quote icon. Starting at a minimum of 2,000 square feet, prospects enter the size of their facility and the length of the lease for a 2, 3 or 4-year term. "As an example," Bassil says, "fitting out 20,000 square feet for a 4-year term comes to $7,521 per month installed or $0.38 per square foot. Buying the equipment outright would cost $300,000 based on our installed cost of $15 per square foot." Either way, the furniture is provided with a lifetime guarantee and warranty against obsolescence. Installations are completed within 4 to 6 weeks of receipt of order.

Cabling is laid in behind snap-off panels. This provides easy access compared to conventional methods of bundling and fishing it through structural components. MAiSPACE also provides ample space to store slack or extra cable, the lack of which can significantly slow down an office reconfiguration. Likewise located behind snap-off panels are consolidation points serving as interconnection brackets to extend cabling coming from multi user telecommunications outlets in ceilings, walls or floors to voice and data connection plates in individual workspaces.

"The system is designed to handle changes in floor plans and workstation positioning without disturbing adjacent work areas," Bassil explains. "In this case help desks can be added, removed or relocated while adjacent desks continue to respond to customer calls."

Attractive Affordable Ergonomic Designs Support Recruitment and Retention
Aesthetics and attention to ergonomic issues are important for today's help desk work stations because an attractive environment helps attract and retain highly skilled personnel, Bassil says. "Our modern design and construction techniques let us offer superbly designed and constructed help desks with their standards compliant lay-in voice, data and power cabling systems at price points as much as 40% below some of the oldest names in the contract furniture industry. And we constantly evaluate and update product options to enhance system furniture capabilities and keep step with advancing technological, ergonomic and architectural innovations.

"An example is MAiCHAIR," he says. "This is our seating line featuring an outstanding design that meets or exceeds OSHA guidelines on office chair components. Another ergonomic plus is our off module stackable panel system that permits unprecedented freedom in workspace configuration and in locating bins, shelves and divider panels where they are most convenient to the office occupant."

Finally, a wide variety in colors and textures helps in creating and distinguishing different help desk clusters. There are some 18 options in easily removable panel segments. They include laminate, Coverseal, veneer, painted metal, embossed steel, brushed stainless steel, airflow; clear, frosted or textured glass; fabric, tackable/acoustical, power/data, marker board and paper management.

Putting it Together
Help desks are complex operations requiring maximum efficiency of operation and space utilization. To assist in this MAiSPACE offers a professional in-house design team to produce the best and most cost-effective layout not only to satisfy customers' current staffing demands, but also to plan ahead. The company is supported by a nationwide network of dealers, distributors and installers served by East and West Coast warehouses.

Summing it up, Bassil comments, "Our objective is to provide customers with beautiful and functional help desks as well as offices in general without sacrificing affordability or performance. Moreover, we commit to meeting project time frames, quick turnarounds and fast resolutions to revisions. And despite our substantially lower prices, we offer a lifetime guarantee and warranty against obsolescence."