Overnight, all over the world, users are staying at home – and working from home.This requires new devices and new software licenses – but what about support? Expect to see higher load, and tasks you can’t support as today. New tools are needed to get the support done.

More calls

Many users will have new experiences and surprises. How do I print, how do I scan, where is this service, etc.? With more calls comes increased stress for the service desk; queue time for users will increase and general productivity will deteriorate. Look for tools to help the service desk, those that provide fast relief through self-service, to see the total number of calls go down!

Password reset

One trivial incident will not change – users forget passwords and call for password resets. SIMPLE QUESTION: “Can your service desk reset a password at a remote company PC?” Even when you use VPN for security, the service desk can’t access a dead PC. The only solution is for someone to transport the PC back to company premises, so that the PC-cache password can be synchronized with the AD-password, and the user can get the PC back. This is wildly expensive!

Identity verification

New security issues: In “the old days,” people called the service desk from local phones, meaning that we could verify who they were, but working from home doesn’t give us much with which to verify the user’s identity! If they ask for a password reset, how can we verify that the person is the user they claim to be?

Just the above 3 changes to your support team will mean dissatisfied management and concerns from IT security management. Now it’s time to reduce the burden on the service desk and let users give themselves a better service than the service desk can. And don’t forget IT security – the hackers don’t take a break – they’re increasing their efforts right now!