The purpose of this blog posting is to share my experience of what an organization should do to adjust their culture after outsourcing IT services to a managed services provider.
The Problem: No More In-House IT
Managed Services can be a cultural shift for an organization who has typically had an in-house IT person. Before, employees could walk up to someone’s desk with their problem and ask them on the spot to help. That person is now gone and employees don’t have that luxury. What typically ends up happening after managed services is that users wait until it’s an absolute emergency before getting their problems solved. Then, they try to find their support contact at the new managed services provider under duress and have a bad experience because their expectations are off on how quickly service can be received.
What To Do – Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
The best an organization can do after deciding to outsource IT and bring in a managed service provider is to communicate frequently and often with employees. Employees tend to forget processes if they haven’t practiced them in a while. They also lose e-mails, especially if communication was sent over a year ago.
Here’s what you need to do to embrace managed services within your organization and enable employees to adopt a new way of working.
- Send monthly or quarterly reminders in e-mail
- Include blurbs about IT in newsletters
- Post a contact sheet around the office walls and doors
- Use stickers on laptops/phones
- Setup speed dials on user phones to quickly contact IT
- Include documentation in onboarding on how to reach the service desk for new employees
- Talk to your managed service provider about having people on-site to instill within the culture that there is a third party that helps with IT support. They may even be open to coming onsite to do a presentation and answer any questions
Conclusion
Communication is usually a culprit in what can be perceived as bad service. Employees in stressful situations may lash out later if communication and expectations are not set at the forefront properly. Therefore, make sure you do this early and often to provide your end users with a good experience.