It’s the end of the helpdesk (again)

The era of the IT helpdesk is almost over according to industry analyst Gartner, marginalised by consumerisation, cloud and crowdsourced IT support.

We’ve heard it all before of course.  The helpdesk was supposedly finished when we began branding it as the ‘one stop shop’ service desk.  Then we read about predictions that with Windows and the associated hardware becoming more stable and advanced, IT support was expected to engage in frequent periods of procrastination.  Next self/web-based service was primed to make the IT helpdesk an anachronism.  Of course, while all of these events may have altered the delivery of IT support to a degree, they have collectively failed to seriously dent the value and importance of a decent service desk.

Now we see IT being shifted to the cloud, consumer mobile negating the need for corporate owned tech, and social collaboration meaning that users will just ask a colleague rather than ring the helpdesk.

At Richmond we acknowledge the importance of tracking changes to technology and accept that IT continues to morph.  We do however suggest that hype is replacing logic when it comes to this issue. 

While it makes sense to search YouTube for a video showing you how to customise your phone, or even configure a service, diagnosing a network failure specific to your device on the corporate network is not something a 14-year old teenager is going to help with.  The belief that IT support simply exists to troubleshoot printer jams or to tell users to ‘turn it off and on again’ shows a lack of understanding about what service desks do today.

Cloud may alter the way that the business delivers IT, but shifting a platform or service to the medium doesn’t mean it suddenly becomes bulletproof; existing in some heavenly state of perfection.  There will still be problems, teething troubles, integration issues - all requiring a helping hand from the service desk.

Then consider the wide-range of devices connecting to these cloud services: who helps when the business customer is having a problem with these?  Apple and Google have made great leaps making their products accessible, but the idea that their ‘simplicity’ equates to a lack of complexity is misleading.  

Whereas until recently there were just PCs and laptops connecting to a handful of legacy and proprietary corporate systems, now the range of devices and accessible services has increased by an incredible degree.  IT complexity, despite what the consumer brands like us to believe, is greater than it was 10 years ago.  The only way that businesses can ensure that their staff are supported is with effective IT support.  The helpdesk isn’t dead; it’s just getting started.