Of all the technology trends facing IT service and support professionals, the two that cause the most heartburn are the incredible growth of mobile devices—tablets, smartphones, etc.—and our customers’ desire to use devices that are familiar to them. To accommodate this desire, many...
Tag(s): byod, training, mobility, future of support
What would you say if I told you that you’re overstimulated, that technology is having an impact on your efficiency and productivity, at work and at home? What if I went a step further and said that technology is decreasing your team’s efficiency and effectiveness—would you agree? We all...
Tag(s): technology
On the surface, one might think that a mobile workforce (or student body) using its own technology would increase demand for distance support. Though we have seen a modest increase in distance support, we’ve actually seen a marked demand for in-person support. From our perspective, mobility has...
Tag(s): byod, case study, desktop support, service desk
The IT world is in the midst of dramatic change. With each passing day, the traditional model for remote support becomes increasingly outdated. Today there are 10 billion mobile devices, 50 percent more applications, an infinite amount of unique configurations, and more distributed workers than...
Tag(s): monitoring, remote support tools, service desk, support center, tools
Today’s technical service and support organizations are constantly challenged to do more with less while remaining cost-efficient, maintaining service level agreements, and dealing with an ever-changing business and technological landscape. These changes create disruption and frustration for...
Tag(s): knowledge management, knowledge-management-systems, KM, Knowledge Management Systems, collaboration
Supporting big, fat desktops has been a challenge since these devices first emerged more than three decades ago. In many cases, enterprises spend a lot of time checking the devices, patching operating systems, downloading application updates, blocking malware, and securing corporate information....
Tag(s): desktop support, VDI, virtual desktop infrastructure - VDI
All businesses have the same expectations: run more effectively, grow, and innovate. To meet these expectations, organizations have to regularly adjust their strategic focus based on market demands, emerging technologies, and organizational capabilities. In 2013, Gartner identified the top five...
Tag(s): cloud computing, business alignment
While BYOD and broader consumerization trends may be turning the corporate IT world upside down, such factors have long been a reality in the campus IT environment. But that doesn’t mean that university IT departments are immune to the changing expectations of today’s empowered device owners.
Tag(s): case study, byod, desktop support, service desk, security management
In any service and support situation, the relationship between service providers and consumers is mechanically bounded by the service terms and conditions and a set of agreeable payment terms. What’s often missing in outsourcing-based provider-consumer relationships is a set of business rules...
Tag(s): cloud computing, outsourcing, business intelligence
Knowledge has exploded, and by that I mean, knowledge is everywhere. Knowledge is accessible. Knowledge has been democratized, crowdsourced, repurposed, remixed, and regurgitated. Where knowledge was once scarce, it is now abundant. Where knowledge was once controlled, it is now free. It’s taken...
Tag(s): KM, knowledge management, social media, social IT, crowdsourcing