Where do you go if you have a problem
with your satellite television or broadband
service provider? Whom do you call if
your have a problem with your computer’s
installation system or if your printer
just died on you before a major presentation?
Who is the one person who can quickly
help you stop that whining noise and
smoke that your lap top is generating
right in the middle of the conference
call you are having with your boss?
If you are like me, the auto dial function
on your telephone will have the number
of your friendly global help desk!
According to me, the help desk is
the best invention of man in the twenty
first century. The computer and all
the electronic gadgets are over hyped.
Technology changes much before it
becomes affordable in the first place.
And gadgets and gizmos are flooding
the marketplace like never before.
If there is anything at all that has
remained consistent through all the
tumult, it has been the ubiquitous
help desk.
The concept of the help desk started
off as a service offering, provided
by makers of new IT products and services
to clients, who were still unfamiliar
with the new age technology. But as
users have gotten more savvy, the
products and services too have become
even more complex. Which makes the
role of the help desk even more important.
Take Windows itself. This simple operating
system started off as Windows 1.0.
It grew over the years to become Windows
3.0, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, 97,
2000 and now XP. Obviously, each new
version has seen the features increase.
And each passing year has seen more
users start taking up desktop computing
as a real option.
This has only meant more work for
the people at the Microsoft help desk.
As the versions increased and the
features expanded, the conventional
help desk too expanded to become much
more than a mere service offering.
Software products and services almost
being on par made the quality of the
after sales service a critical component
in the competitive marketplace. And
the help desk, being at the forefront
of this arena, has had to adapt and
evolve.
So, the typical help desk of today
is staffed not just with people who
can familiarize you with products
and their features, but also specialist
engineers and technicians who can
troubleshoot your problems and provide
you with the correct solution, often
within the duration of a simple telephone
call. And since the business demands
skilled professionals who come with
an innate understanding of technology,
better prospects have emerged for
IT professionals.
In fact, in keeping with the global
outsourcing trend, most help desk
jobs have moved to countries like
India and China where there is no
shortage of skilled manpower, and
the quality of the professionals is
assured. The beneficial cost structures
have also contributed to this trend.
For like I mentioned earlier, the
products may evolve and newer versions
may come up. But unless the help desk
remains an integral part of the service
offering, there will be no exponential
increase of market share.
