LEGAL SERVICE DESK SUPPORT

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1 2nd Edition September 2011 THE GURU S GUIDE FOR LEGAL SERVICE DESK SUPPORT LAW FIRM SPECIFIC METRICS & KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 1

2 GURU S GUIDE: DATA & SYSTEM ASSUMPTIONS As was the case with the original Guru s Guide released in August 2010, the 2 nd Edition is an evolving work in progress report and will be regularly updated with fresh data as well as new metrics and performance indicators. The data and findings included in the 2 nd Edition Guru s Guide are based on the specific technology infrastructure and service level assumptions. Items of note... The data presented in the 2 nd Edition Guru s Guide is based on the following: Analysis of more than 1.2 million law firm tickets 150+ major software rollouts and upgrades supported by Intelliteach service desk analysts within the past five years An Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) system receiving, distributing and reporting the results of all phone and support requests is in place A ticketing system automatically recording each customer interaction and soliciting end-user satisfaction is in place (IQTrack) Assumed service levels are as follows: >= 90% telephone live rate within 20 seconds <= 5 minute average wait all others calls <= 15 minute average response time all s >= 85% first call resolution >= 90% excellent or good end-user survey Any changes to the above systems or assumptions will alter the corresponding data. 3

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Intelliteach, the only dedicated law firm-specific outsourced service desk company, has released the 2 nd Edition of the Guru s Guide, a comprehensive report aggregating independent law firm user support and service desk statistics and metrics. The updated Guru s Guide provides unique benchmark data relating to the most supported legal applications, service desk staffing, service quality ratios pre and post-software conversions, and analysis of support ticket origins and day of service. The data presented in the 2 nd Edition is based on 1.2 million service desk tickets collected and analyzed from January 2010 through June 2011 across a variety of law firm sizes, locations and hardware/software configurations. 2 ND EDITION GURU S GUIDE FINDINGS INCLUDE: TOP TICKET CATEGORIES 43% of the 1.2 million service desk tickets closed are specific to various versions of Microsoft Office, including 22% for Microsoft Outlook. 14% of all service desk calls pertained to firm document management systems. INCREASE IN MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 & 2010 TICKETS Microsoft Office-related service desk calls have more than doubled within the last 12 months. CONVERSION & UPGRADE IMPACT ON THE SERVICE DESK Conversions cause a significant increase in volume and add additional strain to existing resources, systems, and service quality. Ticket volumes increased by 42% during firm-wide upgrades and took an average of 90 days to return to pre-conversion levels. 4

4 2nd Edition Guru s Guide Findings LIVE RATES TICKETS TICKETS BY BY ORIGIN WEEKDAY Pre-conversion, the overall is kept the same during conversions, the live rate drops by 25%. Average wait time in the queue jumps from 10 seconds to 81 seconds. 70% of employees reach out to the service desk via phone, while 27% sent an describing their technology issues. for both the user and the service desk: 86% of live (phoned-in) service desk tickets are resolved in that 7% of tickets can be resolved in a single contact. Data indicates that, on average, tickets created via have a lifespan 6 times longer than those originated by telephone. Based on 1.2 million analyzed tickets, Tuesday sees the highest call volume (20.52%) and Friday (16.81%) the lowest. It should be noted that all Guru s Guide provide 24/7 support and therefore urgent issues that occur over a weekend can be dealt with on the Saturday or Sunday. Firms not providing 24/7 support typically see Mondays as the most demanding service desk call days. 5

5 TOP TICKET CATEGORIES This chart shows the top categories of all law firm user support tickets closed by Intelliteach s service desk from January 2010 to June The total, including requests handled by internal legal I.T., exceeded 1.2 million tickets during that time frame. Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Word Document Management Other Software Remote Access PDF Tools Internet Explorer Document Production Tools Operating System Timekeeping Network Other Microsoft Office Administration Anti-virus, Spyware, etc. Printer Server Telephone PDA Desktop Litigation Support Hardware Laptop Equipment Request 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 4% 4% 4% 6% 6% 6% Printer Network Server Document Management Server Desktop PDA Procurement Hardware Telephone Laptop Exchange Server 14% of SErVIcE desk tickets relate to various versions of document management systems. 4% 5% 4% 14% 10% of tickets SubmIttEd to I.t. departments pertain to common printer issues. 5% 6% 5% 6% 6% 8% 19% This is historically the biggest resource drain of any I.T. department. Approximately 50% of all user service tickets handled directly by legal I.T. are specific to office hardware, networks and servers. 10% 22% 43% of SErVIcE desk tickets relate to various versions of Microsoft Office. 22% are specific to Microsoft Outlook. The next largest category is Microsoft Word at 19%. INTERNAL I.T. DEPARTMENT TOP 10 TICKET CATEGORIES 6

6 THE CHANGING PROFILE OF MICROSOFT OFFICE TICKETS As to be expected, given the number of Microsoft Office rollouts taking place during 2010 and 2011, Office-specific call volumes increased from month to month: from 16,000 total calls in Q to 50,000 total calls in Q4, and dropping slightly to 48,000 calls in Q1 2011, as firms completed their rollouts before year-end. (Typically conversions are paused during holidays or at the approach to financial year-end.) [ TOTAL MICROSOFT OFFICE CALLS RECEIVED ] 80,000 70,000 60,000 66,219 50,000 40,000 49,981 48,627 49,885 30,000 20,000 10,000 21,327 19,448 0 Q Q Q Q Q Q Office version Not known XP distribution of calls by office version as % of total Items of note Towards the end of Q4 2010, Office 2010 call volumes increased, however, not enough for significant data impact or analysis. 3 By Q1 2011, Office 2007 calls make up 44% of the total Microsoft Office calls compared to 22% for the same period 12 months earlier (Q1 2010). The proportion and volume of Office XP calls has dropped significantly from 19% in Q to just 7% in Q Office 2010 calls make up less than 1% of calls in Q and increase to 3% in Q Related ticket volumes will continue to rise through 2011, with several client firms planning to roll out Office 2010 with Windows 7 in Q3 and Q

7 THE IMPACT OF CONVERSIONS ON FIRMS AND THE SERVICE DESK [ AVERAGE TICKETS PER USER PER MONTH ] % IncrEaSE In VolumE during firm-wide software updates 0.0 Pre-conversion Conversion 30 days post conversion 60 days post conversion 90 days post conversion conversions cause a SIGnIFIcant IncrEaSE In VolumE and add additional StraIn to ExIStInG resources and SyStEmS. Most firms prudently staff to maintenance levels not project levels and require additional support to properly service the user community during upgrades. Using recent data from law firm service desks (average firm size 700 employees), volumes increased by 42% during firm-wide software upgrades. Analysis of a limited number of Intelliteach s full-time clients suggests that, on average, it takes three months for call volumes to return to pre-conversion levels. month 1 month 2 month 3! The impact to staffing is significant. The difficulties a firm faces in recruiting and training a team familiar with the new software while maintaining existing support for the old software is only magnified by the recent cost cutting measures most firms have instituted. 8

8 RETURNING TO PRE-CONVERSION CALL VOLUMES INTELLITEACH HAS SUPPORTED OVER 150 MAJOR ROLLOUTS FOR MANY LAW FIRMS OF VARYING SIZES. HERE ARE TWO SAMPLE SCENARIOS TO DEMONSTRATE BACK TO NORMAL TICKET VOLUMES. Firm a Firm A implemented an aggressive rollout, or big bang approach across multiple offices, including international. Call volumes took five months to return to normal after the last user was converted. 10,000 9,000 8,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 Average pre-conversion call volume: 4,574/month Volume returned to normal after five months Pre-conversion Conversion Post-Conversion Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Firm b 10,000 9,000 Firm B implemented a slower rollout across its multiple offices. In this case, call volume took one month to return to normal after the last user was converted. 8,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 Average pre-conversion call volume: 2,656/month Volume returned to normal after one month 1,000 0 Pre- Conversion Post-Conversion Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

9 IMPACT OF CONVERSIONS ON SERVICE DESK STAFFING AND QUALITY OF SUPPORT The common make do attitude firms have when it comes to handling major implementations can severely impact service desk quality. If a firm assumes they can absorb the volume increase, not only will the I.T. staff suffer, but response time to end-users and possibly the quality of support will be negatively impacted. Using the same data from the sample firms on page 7, Intelliteach modeled service levels and how those compare without appropriate staffing. [ PERCENT OF CALLS ANSWERED IN 20 SECONDS LIVE RATE ] % live rate Intelliteach defines live rate as the percentage of phone calls answered real time within 20 seconds per a typical Sla 8am 9am 10am 11am The overall summary to the make do approach reduces the live rate by 25% and significantly increases user hold times, abandon rates, and maximum queue times all contributing to service desk frustration and a dissatisfied user experience. 12pm 1pm 2pm 3pm 4pm 5pm measurement Pre-conversion conversion difference Overall Live Rate 93% 68% 25% Average Time in Queue 10 seconds 1 min, 21 sec 1 min, 11 sec Maximum Time in Queue 1 min, 40 sec 12 min, 40 sec 11 min 10

10 USING SAME STAFFING LEVELS AS PRE-CONVERSION: PRE-CONVERSION CONVERSION [ AVERAGE DELAY IN SECONDS ] am 9am 10am 11am 12pm 1pm 2pm 3pm 4pm 5pm [ MAXIMUM TIME IN QUEUE IN SECONDS ] am 9am 10am 11am 12pm 1pm 2pm 3pm 4pm 5pm [ PERCENT OF CALLS QUEUED ] % 8am 9am 10am 11am 12pm 1pm 2pm 3pm 4pm 5pm 11

11 TICKETS BY ORIGIN THE TICKETS BY ORIGIN CHART SHOWS HOW THE END-USER CONTACTED THE SERVICE DESK. 69% of contacts were made via the telephone while produced 27% of total contacts. 2% other include phone and contacts made to other members of the I.T. staff. IS the FaStESt GroWInG contact method with most firms averaging less than 10% just five years ago. More law firms are also trying new channels for support including self-service and instant messaging. 27% Voic 1% Other 2% Walk-up 1% Live Call 69% Items of note... While continues to grow in usage, are employees actually receiving better service? [ PERCENT OF ALL SERVICE DESK INCIDENTS LOGGED BY ] 30% A sample of tickets across a range of law firms were analyzed and this reflected that, on average, most live calls can be resolved in the first contact (78%) whereas only 11% of incidents can be resolved in the initial contact. Data indicates that, on average, tickets created via have a lifespan six times longer than those originated by telephone. This is typically due to the user s inability to troubleshoot their situation or clearly describe the need they have in their original request, often requiring an additional exchange or callback % * 2020* (*estimates based on IQTrack data) [ EFFICIENCY OF LIVE CALLS VS ED INCIDENTS ] 1 Incidents logged by Live calls by telephone Number of contacts per service desk ticket 12

12 TICKETS BY WEEKDAY THE TICKETS BY WEEKDAY CHART SHOWS ON WHICH DAY OF THE WEEK THE END-USER CONTACTED THE SERVICE DESK. 350, , , , % 19.05% Perhaps surprisingly, Tuesday typically sees the highest weekday volume % 19.96% 18.87% 18.87%... while Friday sees the lowest % 150, ,000 50,000 Tickets on the weekend are slightly higher on Saturday compared to Sunday % 1.98% Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday One might expect Mondays to have the highest call volume, however most public holidays are on a Monday and if people take a long weekend, this may have some impact on call volumes. It should be noted that the firms analyzed provide 24/7 support and therefore urgent issues that occur over a weekend can be dealt with on the Saturday or Sunday. If a firm does not provide 24/7 support, Mondays may be more demanding. Typically, firms not providing 24/7 support receive 1% of incidents over a weekend or weeknights after hours. In firms that do provide formal 24/7 support, that volume is likely to increase to 5% of total call volume, typically servicing timekeepers or fee-earners. 13

13 TICKETS & REQUESTERS BY LOCATION Measuring the effectiveness of support across locations is an important gauge on how successful an I.T. organization is at reaching all of its employees and determining if centralized procedures are paying dividends. A simple chart, by location, providing % of total employees, % of tickets, and % of unique users* will provide invaluable information to that end. Graphing the same data will often provide clarity to any issue which is in need of review. * Unique users have contacted the service desk at least one time. HERE IS A SAMPLE: 100% Total Users Total Tickets Unique Users New York Chicago London Items of note: While the New York office represents 51% of all firm employees, its employees produce 67% of the total volume. Why is this? Could that location be going through an upgrade, have networking issues that haven t previously been identified or simply need more assistance? London logs the lowest number of tickets despite having more employees than the Chicago office. Are London callers more proficient? Should lower call volumes be a consideration when establishing after-hours or 24/7 staffing? Why are Chicago s unique users considerably lower than other locations? Could it be that a local I.T. representative is fielding requests that normally should go to the service desk (and are not being logged)? 14

14 SURVEYS Measuring user satisfaction may be the most important measurement of all. If employees aren t co-worker or possibly discover the answer for themselves. Both of these alternatives create nonproductive time while never addressing root-cause issues and/or sharing knowledge with others. Providing end-users the opportunity to rate each and every interaction with the service desk is an adjustment to user expectations. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION RATINGS 0.7% 0.8% 6.6% 0.8% 0.7% 6.8% 0.4% 0.3% 6.1% 0.8% 0.8% 6.8% 91.9% 91.8% 93.2% 91.6% QUALITY OF SERVICE TIMELINESS FRIENDLINESS OVERALL EXPERIENCE EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR NEEDS IMPROVEMENT Above are Intelliteach survey results from January 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011 based on satisfaction surveys completed by 102,000 random and voluntary end-users. While this benchmark might not be a realistic target for all law negative items are addressed immediately. In our environment, poor surveys automatically reopen, the priority changes to emergency status, and the ticket is escalated to a member of management for follow-up with all parties AN AVERAGE OF 98.7% excellent or good ratings never allow a complaint to go unanswered. 15

15 ABOUT INTELLITEACH spanning 1,250 locations and including more than 30% of the Am Law 200. Intelliteach offers need-based support options including: Complete Service Desk Outsourcing (live user support 24/7/365) with additional coverage at night and on weekends) ABOUT THE GURU S GUIDE reporting and to accelerate service desk improvements through better user support information, consistently collects and tracks massive 2 nd Edition Guru s Guide is based on 1.2 million service desk tickets collected and analyzed from January 2010 to June 2011 across a variety For more information on the Guru s Guide: visit guru@intelliteach.com or call (866)