Elon University, a mid-sized private university in North Carolina, wanted to optimize their IT service delivery experience but was feeling held back by their current IT Service Management (ITSM) software. According to Patrick Donohue, Assistant CIO and Director of Campus Technology Support, they were challenged by systems that couldn’t flex to meet the university’s growing ITSM needs. That when they found TeamDynamix.
Making the Switch
Donohue said the features offered by TeamDynamix aligned well with Elon’s processes and approach to work – so they made the switch in 2019 and quickly gained some efficiencies. First, because TeamDynamix is a cloud-based platform Elon’s IT service team can automate several processes that were done manually before. In addition, they’ve been able to implement a self-service portal with a knowledge base to better serve students, faculty and staff.
Before implementing TeamDynamix, Elon University didn’t have an IT service catalog, and its knowledge base consisted of a publicly available wiki. To initiate a service request, users would have to call or email the IT support team.
A Fast Migration with White Glove Service
TeamDynamix made it easy – it was easy to spin up a knowledge base and portal; it was easy to hook up the service request catalog; and it was easy to build out the automation and workflows to streamline the process. The transformation was completed quickly, and now users have the option to submit their requests through an online service portal hosted within the TeamDynamix platform.
“We have configured ways to route service requests directly to the team that’s responsible for resolving them, based on the answers to questions in the service forms,” said Brooke Spires, Service Design Analyst. “By bypassing the first point of contact, we’re cutting down on the time it takes to resolve tickets.”
This service portal also contains the university’s knowledge base articles, which have been imported from the wiki — and this enables IT staff to create simple workflows for creating, reviewing, and updating articles on a regular basis, improving the accuracy of the information.
“We can meet our customers where they are, in whatever manner they would prefer — by phone, email or online. That’s a dimension we were missing before.”
Increased Self-Service Adoption
Before TeamDynamix, it was cumbersome to update knowledge articles, Donohue said. As a result, articles weren’t always updated with the most accurate information. Now, when a technician creates an article describing the steps that he or she has taken in resolving a problem, a knowledge expert is alerted automatically to review and approve the article for publication. Users can rate the effectiveness of articles in helping them resolve their own IT issues, and knowledge experts are notified after a certain period to time to review articles again to make sure the information is still relevant and up to date.
“When people use our knowledge base now, they can be confident that they’re getting accurate information. That’s critical,” Donohue said.
A Single Portal with an Integrated Knowledge Base
Creating an automated service portal with an integrated knowledge base has enabled Elon University to deliver better IT service to its entire community.
“We can meet our customers where they are, in whatever manner they would prefer — by phone, email or online,” Donohue said. “That’s a dimension we were missing before.”
Prior to TeamDynamix, IT staff were using separate wikis to store knowledge and there was some confusion as to where certain knowledge should be kept or promoted, “Where should we post information? On our website, or in the wiki? Integrating these functions has given our staff a single, unified place to post information,” Donohue says. “This has helped our teams work better together, while also transforming our knowledge base into a living, breathing collection.”
By using the principals of Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS), Elon has greatly improved their knowledge base. Here are a few other ways KCS can positively impact an organization:
- Helps to lower inbound call volume.
- Increases customer satisfaction.
- Provides customers with the answers they need when they need them.
- By crowdsourcing knowledge, you can keep your content accurate and up to date.
To read more about Elon’s TeamDynamix experience, check out their customer spotlight: Elon Reduces Total Cost of Ownership and Optimizes IT Service Delivery User Experience