There is a real, long-standing, and growing problem within "traditional" IT support in that it is inefficient, process focussed, reactive, and relies too heavily on human touchpoints to get anything done.
There is perhaps, no greater headache for employees than the dreaded call to the "IT guy" followed by the long wait, scripted responses, instructions, and then the inevitable line "I'm just going to take over your machine to try and figure this out".
Even then, the process is not done, and watching your mouse move around the screen while you think: "I could have tried half these things" is enough to bring morale down and kill confidence in a business' IT capabilities.
The above scenario would never be allowed to happen in the consumer sphere and businesses within this world have grasped the importance of not just delivering a great product to customers, but delivering an equally great service and experience.
There is almost no end to the number of business processes being automated now and the "rise of the machines" is permeating almost every company in every sector in efforts to reduce inefficiency and bring down costs.
It is time IT support was given the tools they need to be able to provide the kind of service these workers want to give - they, after all, are not the problem but are just working within a rigid system that they are equally looking forward to breaking out of.
Instead of calling the support desk, an employee logs their issue or request within a portal where they could choose their machine, list their problem and raise a ticket. So far, so good; most businesses have now implemented a help portal for IT issues and started to automate some of the simpler tasks like software delivery.
But with over 50% of all employee requests requiring something physical, how can you automate that "last 50 feet" of getting IT equipment to employees?
Rather than waiting for an engineer to fix their device, the employee could be given the choice to pick up a new, replacement device from a secure place via a Smart Locker (like the lockers in use by Amazon) using a bespoke code sent to them directly from their portal.
Still, no human touchpoints involved, and the employee is halfway to having their issue solved within minutes.
Having decided which locker they are going to pick up their replacement device from, the employee can take their faulty device and replace it with the new one, leaving their current device behind to be picked up and fixed later.
In the future, with automated device builds controlled centrally, it will be possible that in the time it takes the employee to get to the locker, their replacement device has been re-imaged to their own laptop, tablet, or phone and can simply open it, sign in to their own account as normal, and carry on working - and all this can happen "zero-touch" without the employee having to speak to a single support person to resolve their problem.
While the employee is back to work, IT support can then pick up the faulty device and get to work on fixing it in the background "out of sight, out of mind" of employees and without wasting employee time and eroding their confidence.
When the device is fixed, the same automated process happens again but in reverse.
The employee gets a notification that their device is ready to be picked up and they can go and get it at their own convenience.
This is an IT support model where things just "get fixed" and the headaches of IT failings no longer exist.
And if this all sounds out of reach of businesses, it's not.
These systems already exist and are waiting for the mindset change within businesses required to drive any new project or innovation forward.
Velocity Smart Lockers, for instance, enables the complete automation of IT support, allowing employees to have their issues fixed quickly and from wherever or whenever they are working.
If you want to know how to implement Velocity Smart Lockers into your business' IT desk-side support, why not download our latest eBook.