How Much is End-User Downtime Really Costing You?
No IT department wants to be seen as ignoring the needs of its end users, especially when organizational success hinges on maintaining their ability to be fully operational as much as possible. However, even the most diligent, process-oriented organizations that track all support activities may not have data on idle moments that end users experience before they connect with a live agent or technician.
Understandably, company-wide network outages take center stage in the downtime discussion, but momentary interruptions in application-level functionality and the lack of available IT resources to resolve those issues add up and can be just as costly over time. Nonetheless, most IT organizations tend to tolerate end-user downtime in small doses, because they don’t consider it as urgent as client-facing or companywide issues… until they do the math.
The direct costs associated with the loss of productivity for an impacted employee can be calculated with a simple formula:
Cost of Downtime (per hour) = end-user hourly compensation x utilization percentage (percentage of job functions that can still be accomplished without the affected application(s)).
And, this loss of individual productivity may be just the tip of the iceberg from an internal cost standpoint. For example, if the impacted end user is temporarily deterred from revenue-generating activities— whether it be processing medical enrollments, ordering parts for manufacturing, or performing any customer-facing duties— those costs are further compounded.
To reference George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life, we rarely understand the ripple effect of how one person can impact another. The reality is, unless one end user’s job functions are completely self-contained (meaning no one else depends on their timely execution of those tasks) there will be an organizational chain reaction caused by an interruption in workflow. In this blog, we’ll take a look at how to spot inefficiencies in order to balance your budget, all while retaining quality service desk support.
Reading Your KPIs as Vital Clues
At Mechdyne, we’re strong believers in using data-driven insights to inform the service desk strategies that help our clients perform their best. Keep your eye out for these key metric-based signs that can indicate when trouble is afoot:
- One key indicator of end-user downtime is high abandonment rates. Those are the percentage of inbound contacts in which end users hang up after waiting too long for an answer. High abandon rates are often the result of an insufficiently staffed service desk staff that cannot scale up for peak periods, after hours, or unscheduled absences.
- Downtime could also be the result of an insufficient support model— namely, using IT staff for double-duty remote and on-site support tasks and help desk functions. In such instances, end-user downtime rises dramatically when service desk agents are dispatched for projects away from their desks and are unavailable for inbound phone contacts.
- While it is assumed that IT managers and CIOs are at least aware that abandon rates may be inordinately high should agents be deployed for desktop Installs, Moves, Adds, or Changes (IMACs), they perceive them as a short-term hiccup in the monthly target metrics. Rather than accounting for all the precious minutes end users remain on hold with IT, they tend to focus on big picture items.
While many leaders recognize frequent end-user downtime is a problem with direct financial implications, finding a solution may not be high on the list of corporate expenditures for the coming year. When the conversation does become actionable, it often manifests into some function of adding more full-time staff either internally or through a third-party firm.
Reclaiming Your End Users’ Downtime
At Mechdyne, we’re committed to proactively finding solutions and support models that make sense with the needs and objectives our clients determine, including eliminating downtime. In our experience, scalable and flexible approaches provide much-needed breathing room for our clients to determine exactly what they need to keep everyone working per usual— and to save precious dollars.
PRO-TIP Need a cost-effective, scalable alternative to employing full-time IT service desk agents? We recommend using an overflow support model. With this approach, a trusted outsourced partner like Mechdyne will provide a full team of Level 1 agents on a per-incident basis.
Regardless of the solution, so long as the number of available IT support resources aligns with the end-user demand, downtime should only last as long as it takes the next available agent to answer the phone. When that happens, IT departments can go back to conducting end-user surveys and see the results reflected in their feedback— not to mention their operational costs.
Saving Time Means Saving Money
Whether you have an established in-house IT service desk, or you’re using a partner-provided solution, the phrase “time is money” is more relevant than ever when it comes to end-user downtime. Avoiding wasted time means saving money, and with the right strategic eye, you can identify gaps that can point you towards the right solution. Sometimes, this means making that switch to an onshore alternative. In fact, Mechdyne is proud to offer comprehensive assessments and transparent communication that help identify the very gaps that might be costing you big— and reducing that end-user downtime. Start a conversation with us today: We’d be thrilled to be your new trusted MSP, and the reason you save big.