This article from The Edvocate describes how Manhattan College and Western Kentucky University are overcoming some of the most common challenges facing Higher Education IT departments to save time and money while delivering better IT support.
By Matthew Lynch, Author at The Edvocate
Hiring and retaining qualified IT staff and providing adequate user support are among the top priorities for campus IT leaders this year, according to the latest Campus Computing Project survey. But there are some key challenges standing in the way of these goals. For instance, three-fourths of campus leaders say their IT salaries are not competitive with the private sector—and only 10% say their technology training for students is excellent.
Manhattan College and Western Kentucky University are among the institutions that are overcoming these challenges. They’re using effective strategies such as student-run IT help desks and dynamic knowledge portals to save time and money while simultaneously improving the quality of their IT support.
Student-run help desks
At the 4,000-student Manhattan College, the ITS department’s client services team handles anywhere from fewer than 100 to nearly 200 requests for tech support each week. Because this number fluctuates so widely, the college supplements its two full-time client services employees with a few dozen part-time student employees.
Hiring and retaining part-time IT professionals to staff its help desk would be nearly impossible, says Richard Musal, director of client services and operations for the college. “It’s hard to hire a part-time person with the proper skills who would stay,” he explains.