When summarizing the value of cooperation and collaboration, business magnate Andrew Carnegie once wrote: “teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.” ITS Neighborhood IT and Service Center teams embody Carnegie’s advice with their latest collaborative effort, MiWorkspace Front Line Support, a pilot program that has, in just a few weeks, improved first contact resolution (FCR) rates by 10 percent.
MiWorkspace Front Line Support is an initiative launched in early May by Phil Ray, manager of the ITS Service Center, and John Hufziger, manager of Neighborhood IT, to improve FCR rates for MiWorkspace calls and customer concerns. Ray hopes the improved resolution rates “will have a huge, positive impact for thousands of faculty and staff.”
Every two weeks, a set of five Neighborhood IT staff rotate into the service center to shadow one of its staff members and then provide direct support to faculty, staff, and students. David Chambers of the Service Center MiWorkspace triage team already feels a change in the Service Center atmosphere as a result of Front Line Support. “The reception in the service center itself has been widely positive, just because of the sheer fact that we now have faces to the names that we work with,” he said. Due to the different groups’ unique skillsets and talents, Chambers believes this collaboration helps drive FCR and improve service excellence.
