One problem we have traditionally faced at the Help Desk has been obtaining adequate student staffing during our busiest times, which coincide with the times students are most likely to be in classes. Switching to professional staff eliminates this problem so we are now able to provide increased staffing during the times our customers are most likely to call.

There are two major reasons why we expect that customers will now receive answers more quickly from the first person they talk with at the Help Desk. First, it will no longer be necessary for certain calls to be escalated to a supervisor. Previously, student staff could not be granted access to systems containing critical financial and student data, so many problems and questions related to those systems required a supervisor’s attention. Now, any member of the staff can perform a greater range of tasks on these systems. This will result in more immediate service to the customer.

Second, employees who work full-time at the Help Desk will become more knowledgeable as a result of increased training opportunities and on-the-job experience. Because of the dramatic growth of information technology over the last 10 years, it is no longer possible for student staff working part-time to keep up with the diverse range of applications and systems the Help Desk is tasked with supporting.

The new team of Help Desk specialists is working under the direction of a new Help Desk manager, Dawn TeboMatlock. Ms. TeboMatlock brings extensive experience in both help desk and customer service fields to the position and will be a great asset to the new Help Desk configuration.

Contact us with your IT related questions by phone at 301.405.1500, at http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/contact/, or in person at 1400 Computer and Space Sciences Building. You may also visit our extensive set of IT help resources located on the web at http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu.

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