Leading hotel giant Southern Sun recently took a strategic decision to outsource its internal helpdesk to Logical, Datatec`s systems and integration company, enabling the hotel chain to stick to its core business of "filling hotel rooms" and servicing its guests.
An added spin-off is that the group now finds itself in the position of being able to track trends and potential problem areas, thanks to the reporting facility that Logical provides as part of the solution.
Jeremy Dennehy, information systems director for Southern Sun, says this means the company is able to be proactive instead of reactive when it comes to certain problem areas.
"Because of the ability of the Logical software to categorise calls we can now pick up recurring problems such as user problems with software, consistent lines down, and so on. This means we can immediately respond either with relevant training, or we can implement new hardware or upgrade the software," he explains. "Before we had this facility, we had no way of knowing which staff needed training, where problems were recurring, or which hardware was creating a difficulty."
In the past Southern Sun used a table-based helpdesk system which was managed by external contractors at head office: if these contractors left or were absent from work, Southern Sun had no one to replace them.
"Staying abreast of technology, recruiting and retaining staff and building the knowledge base internally are increasingly difficult and expensive propositions, so outsourcing the helpdesk was a logical choice," adds Dennehy.
Southern Sun outsourced its helpdesk to Vircom - a Datatec company now incorporated under the Logical brand name - in February.
The helpdesk caters to the group`s 1 400 staff around the country, providing support on Southern Sun`s entire BackOffice range as well as other applications such as AccPac. Logical has three technicians and an administrative person onsite while staff are on standby for problems which may occur in the Cape Town and Durban areas. The solution is a 24x7 one which means that Logical staff are available 365 days a year, with additional technicians being provided at certain times such as budget reviews or year-end.
Logical manages the Southern Sun helpdesk through its South African-developed Logidesk software, which includes a Web client for logging calls, and runs on Exchange and SQL on the back-end.
On average, the helpdesk receives 50 telephonic and 50 e-mail requests every day, all of which are captured to ensure that calls are not lost. There is also a strict procedure in place for dealing with requests, says Logical support manager Mike Clarke.
"The system automatically notifies the user via email that the call has been logged. The call is then assigned and, once fixed, the administrator is informed, and in turn checks with the user to ensure the problem has been solved satisfactorily. Only once the user is satisfied is the call logged off.
Because the system has been designed to be open to end users, Southern Sun staff can now track the status of their request, and see at any time of the day what is being done about their particular problem.
"This procedure, driven by the Logidesk software, is essential from a quality control point of view and gives the user control over the process," emphasises Clarke.
Dennehy explains that Logical was chosen as an outsourcing partner not only because of the impressive calibre of its staff but also because of the reputation that the company had built up.
"Controlling helpdesks is one of Logical`s key business areas and as such, we felt confident in its ability to run ours. In addition, the culture of the two companies is similar so the Logical staff fit into our environment perfectly," he says.
A new call sequencing system, which will queue calls and forward them onto the first available agent, is currently being implemented to ensure calls aren`t dropped. SMS to facilitate better remote support is also being looked at as a future option.
Dennehy admits that there were a few teething problems initially but that everything is now running smoothly. "Southern Sun fully supports the concept of outsourcing because, even though it may look expensive on the surface, issues like economies of scale come into play and the end result is more cost effective.
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