HDI Industry Benchmark Report Series

Transcription

1 HDI Industry Benchmark Report Series Education 1

2 Education Each year, HDI releases the HDI Practices & Salary Report based on the results of more than 1,000 surveys submitted by support centers worldwide. The published report provides IT support professionals with a benchmark against which to measure their support centers performance. In addition to the published report, HDI has made available, for the first time, supplemental survey results that provide additional benchmark data on the performance of IT support services in 2009 in education. The data presented in the 2009 HDI Practices & Salary Report, as well as these previously unpublished survey results, is a valuable tool for IT support executives and managers. You can compare your current business performance metrics to the average in your industry or review key performance indicators (KPIs) other markets are leveraging to determine the best metric for your team. These reports will be updated yearly as new data becomes available. Executive Summary The prolonged financial crisis of 2009 made it a challenging year across all sectors, affecting even the usually recession-proof field of education. Perhaps no other market encountered the overwhelming demand accompanied by expansive budget cuts quite like education, and the ripple effect is only beginning to take effect. To compensate for drastic budget cuts stemming from hard-hit state funding and local property taxes as well as the drying up of federal stimulus funds, public school systems have resorted to dismissing hundreds of thousands of teachers, closing schools, cutting programs, enlarging classes and even shortening the school week. Institutions of higher education have not been unscathed by the global financial crisis; they now face increasing demand for cutting-edge technology and support services minus the requisite increase in tuition costs. In fact, according to Key Issues for Higher Education, 2010, by Gartner Inc., a leading information technology research and advisory company, higher education has become a competitive business, one that demands the capability of effective governance and strategic planning, largely due to economic pressures draining the wallets of parents and alumni, the proliferation of e-learning, political pressure as well as environmentally-induced constraints on resources. Though dire, this also presents an opportunity for IT support center leadership, as the education sector marries two extreme user types: the earliest adopters, students and the late adopters, academics/teachers. Furthermore, the 2009 HDI survey results from the education sector show a glimmer of hope. Instead of a collapse in service/help desk support due to the pressures of 2009, the data demonstrates that the IT support industry, across all sectors, continues to work hard to maintain its commitment to service and support. (6) With this renewed commitment comes additional responsibility. According to The Research Roundup: 2010 Service Desk Best Practices Guide by Gartner Inc., the service desk is no longer just a trouble-ticketing mechanism or a problem-reporting station, but is the governance hub for service and support delivery to the organization. Maintaining this leadership role requires continuous optimization and ongoing scrutiny of best practices and benchmarks to ensure that education IT support organizations continue to play a strategic role long into the future. The findings of this report suggest that while KPIs for support centers in the education sector either fall below or meet averages across all industries, they have the most opportunity for leadership and innovation with both their processes and technology. In addition, while education has traditionally been a relatively late adopter of new technologies, support centers in the industry show that their end-users are extremely adaptable when seeking 1 Dillon, Sam and Tamar Lewin. Districts Warn of Deeper Teacher Cuts. The New York Times 10 April 2010: A12. Print. 2

3 support through various channels, which translates into easier adoption by the end-user of more progressive and cost-effective means of providing support. Support centers in the education sector have little option but to continue to improve to meet increasing demands. The HDI survey results show IT service centers in education have seen a greater increase in incidents (74%) than the industry average (70%). While the education sector surpasses the industry average of incidents involving expanded service offerings, 38% versus 25% respectively, the data shows that incidents involving infrastructure and product changes, upgrades, conversions and installations represent the greater need, at 39%. This indicates that while current education support performance is above average, it is in danger of being outstripped by rapidly escalating requirements. Why most support centers have seen an increase in their number of incidents Education Industry % All Industries % Infrastructure or product changes: upgrades, conversions, installations Expanded service offerings by the support center More customers 7 19 Increased awareness of the support organization 8 7 Lack of customer competency 4 5 Product quality 4 3 The survey results indicate that support centers in education can indeed do more with less while still finding room for optimization, demonstrating their capacity for leadership and innovation. 3

4 Telephone Support: Calling For Improvement Among the most requested metrics in 2009 was first call resolution (FCR). A term borrowed from the customer service call center industry, FCR has migrated into the technical support world (48). First Contact Resolution (telephone only in the HDI survey) is a quality metric that strongly impacts customer satisfaction. As FCR rates rise, so will customer satisfaction scores. The HDI survey results shows that an overwhelming majority (98%) of education support centers receive incidents by phone. With this in mind, it is disheartening to find that average FCR in education lags behind the industry average, 62.6% vs. 64.1%, respectively. This merits attention as, according to the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), an average FCR of 71% is considered low, leading to lower customer satisfaction scores. The average target FCR in education is 69.4%; however, only 34% of education support centers actually met their target FCR. 2 First call resolution rate (telephone only) Average First Call Resolution Rate Average Target First Call Resolution Rate % Who Make Their Target Education Industry 62.6% 69.4% 34 All Industries 64.1% 68.6% 45 In two related metrics, education support centers again fall below phone support industry averages: in hitting target rates for average speed to answer, 63% vs. 66%, respectively, and the percentage hitting their target abandonment rate, 49% vs. 52%, respectively. Despite the preference for phone support, the data reveals that while the phone appears to be the most widely used channel, 77% of education support centers still receive incidents via walk-up, which is the highest percentage of support via walk-up across all sectors. Whether or not a direct correlation exists, other channels may prove to be more cost-effective, efficient and productive than phone and walk-up. 2 Zbikowski, Erik. The Essential Call Center KPIs, Customer Management Insight. 17 April

5 Percent of support centers who make their Average Speed to Answer Target Education Industry 63% All Industries 66% Percent of support centers who make their Abandonment Rate Target Education Industry 49% All Industries 52% Tomorrow s Snail Mail? The vast majority of education support centers (95.4%) have established as a support channel. With , there is a correlation between response time and customer experience. In education, 42% of support centers responded to in under an hour on average, compared to 44% across industries. However, education meets the industry average of 11% to respond to in 15 minutes or less. What stands out is that the highest percentage (40%) of incidents are responded to in one to four hours. Average time for an agent to respond to a customer about an incident reported through < 15 minutes 15 minutes to 1 hour 1 to 4 hours 4 to 8 hours 8 + hours Total Education Industry 11% 31% 40% 11% 7% 100% All Industries 11% 33% 35% 13% 8% 100% 5

6 The HDI data also shows that several exchanges, where one exchange equals one receive plus one send, may be required to resolve an issue through , taking away from the productivity advantages that support promises at first blush. More than 50% of incidents received by require at least two exchanges. As text messaging has surpassed as the preferred form of communication for teen and college students, this delayed response time may prove unacceptable to future students who are accustomed to real-time responses. 3 Average number of exchanges it takes to resolve an incident via (1 exchange = 1 receive + 1 send) Education Industry % All Industries % More than Text Messaging Supplants for College Students, University Business Magazine. 16 June 2010; Lenhart, Amanda, Rich Ling, Scott Campbell and Kristen Purcell. Teens and Mobile Phones. Pew Internet and American Life Project. 20 April < 6

7 A large percentage of incidents initiated through end up escalating to phone support. However, education beats the industry average: 34% of education support centers convert 10% or less of incidents to phone for resolution, compared to 27% across all sectors. Nevertheless, considering the previous data, the question remains as to whether adding as the first step in a two-step process lengthens or shortens the overall support process for these support centers. Percent of incidents reported through converted to telephone support before being resolved Education Industry % All Industries % Less than 10% % - 20% % - 30% % - 40% % - 50% % - 60% % - 70% % - 80% % - 90% % - 100% 2 7 7

8 The Right Tools For The Support Center Support centers across all industries recognize the vital role that technology plays in delivering improved service, the importance of which is made evident now more than ever in the education sector by the current fundamental paradigm shift: from a 1,200 year history of self-evident and almost revered societal status to having to function as a competitive business in the global marketplace. The entire construct of education in and of itself is also facing transformation: from roots planted in a physical meeting of the minds to virtual meetings of the minds via remote learning and online collaboration, made possible by technology. 4 One related, clear-cut question asked in the HDI survey about this future of IT support was what tools were used and what tools were considered essential to an effective support center. A clear discrepancy emerged between actual use and perceived optimal use in education. For instance, while 44% of respondents in education considered online chat an essential component of an effective support center, 70% of education support centers were not using online chat. Similar discrepancies held across other tool categories as well, such as knowledge management, remote support and self-help tools, demonstrating that support center managers believe that there are still gains to be made through the use of technology. The data also highlights opportunities to leverage new solutions that will equip education to not only compete as a global business, but also to facilitate the future of learning itself. For instance, as stated previously, online chat is not used by 70% of education support centers, but it may offer the lowest fully burdened cost per incident. Averages across all industries suggest that median per-incident cost with chat are only about half that of phone incidents and one-third less expensive than incidents. Not only is phone more expensive, the Gartner Inc Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers finds a new generation of customers has a deep resistance to telephone-based customer service. Finding alternatives to the phone may be not only cost-effective, but also timely. 4 Lowendahl, Jan-Martin, et al. Key Issues for Higher Education Gartner Inc. 14 February

9 Another potential opportunity is the convergence of online chat with remote support and monitoring tools. The HDI data suggests that these two technologies are being used separately, but current solutions combine these two channels in a way that enables seamless escalation from chat into remote diagnostics and remote support. Central Michigan University found that within three months of implementing chat with remote support, the time-to-resolution decreased significantly overall, and is less than half when comparing chat support with phone support. The click-to-chat option has become increasingly popular among students and prospects. In fact, Jeff McDowell, the help desk manager in the CMU Office of Information Technology, noted that the upcoming freshman class is now starting to chat with us more than our upper classmen. This shows that we re providing students of the future with what they want. An effective support organization must have this tool (Percent who agree) Education Industry % All Industries % Incident Management Software Knowledge Management Software Customer Satisfaction Tool Remote Monitoring / Support Tool Self-help Tools Online Chat

10 Percent of support centers NOT currently using these tools Education Industry % All Industries % Incident Management Software 10% 10% Remote Monitoring / Support Tools 24% 14% Customer Satisfaction Tool 37% 31% Knowledge Management Software 47% 36% Self-help Tools 41% 50% Online Chat 70% 75% Fully burdened cost per incident U.S. Median Chat $10 $15 Phone $18 Walkup $20 10

11 Conclusion The information in the 2009 HDI Practices & Salary Report, along with this supplemental data, indicates that while education lags behind its peers in many measurements, it has the most potential for leadership and innovation due to the changing nature of the market. By exposing the current challenges in support, the data also reveals opportunities for optimization, preparing the support organization for the imminent demands of tomorrow and beyond. Are you prepared? Next Steps If you are interested in learning more about how other support centers in education and other industries have been able to improve their core metrics, improve customer satisfaction and reduce support costs, please contact Bomgar to see if you qualify for an individualized value assessment for your organization. For more information call BOMGAR ( ) or visit our website at Specifications are subject to change without notice Bomgar Corporation. All rights reserved. Bomgar and the Bomgar logo are registered trademarks of Bomgar Corporation. All other brands and products referenced herein are acknowledged to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. 11