Case Study: GSI
A technology firm’s process to centralize and distribute requests to Support Services in accordance with Service Level Agreements was too complex. TeamSupport and it’s helpdesk support made it easier and more efficient.
The Customer:
Global Systems Integration (GSI) is a Georgia-based technology consulting firm specializing in the implementation, upgrade and day-to-day maintenance challenges associated with complex enterprise resource planning (ERP) packages–and a specific focus on Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne and World Software suites.
With more than 100 years of cumulative expertise, GSI’s consultants provide single-point ownership for the mission-critical financial software. “Our clients are small- to medium-sized businesses, as well as some Fortune 500 corporations,” said Vice President David Telford, who manages day-to-day operations and the Support Services organization. “We operate in a niche area with very unique JD Edwards skill sets; we’ve earned a reputation as the ‘go to guys’ for that particular software.”
The Business Challenge:
GSI needed a Help Desk solution to centralize and distribute requests to its Support Services team and escalate them in accordance with client Service Level Agreements (SLAs). For years, they’d done everything by e-mail; whomever received an incoming request responded to it, copying everyone on everything for every customer, regardless of their project focus. Telford’s team explored various solutions, even trying one product for a year with little success.
It wasn’t bad software, but it was overly complex for their needs.
“I’ve been in IT too long to need a 1 1/2-inch thick manual just to get the basics out of a system,” said Telford.
The TeamSupport Solution(s):
Getting TeamSupport up and running was easy. Said Telford: “Just point to the [TeamSupport] site, customize a few things and we were done … everyone was using it within a week!”
GSI’s Support Services consists of a focused group of people handling a large number of customers. TeamSupport helps them prioritize and categorize calls and requests to make sure published [SLA] response and time-to-resolution criteria are met. The Support specialists are responsible for day-to-day care and feeding of the company’sclients, who can integrate with GSI via their own internal Help Desk software or by simply submitting support tickets.
The Results:
TeamSupport has “absolutely improved our efficiency,” said Telford. “We have dynamic notification to everyone involved with a given client; anyone with availability can respond to tasks as they appear.”
And, TeamSupport lets Telford track turnaround time and other key response parameters.
“I collect data from it weekly to see if we have enough people in Support Services or need to step-it-up a bit,” he said. “We watch workflow trending on issues and as new clients come on-line, so we know when it’s time to ‘pull the trigger’ and ramp-up the group.” That’s really important because GSI could be penalized for not meeting an SLA.
“TeamSupport lets us proactively address staffing issues that could financially impact our company.”
Telford also extracts support tickets for the company’s clients weekly, “everything we’re doing – the status of anything that has been open, closed or modified in the last week” is displayed in his report. That success has led to GSI looking at ways to use TeamSupport for their implementation business, “those projects can run four to 10 months and we’re often asked for things that weren’t part of the original job. It’s a natural response for team members to see an issue or be asked for something and simply do it – there’s no tracking, it just gets done.” Telford hopes to better manage client expectations and capture revenue from that extra effort in the future by using TeamSupport as a tracking tool. “Although it would take a bit of change in discipline on the part of our implementation teams,” he noted.
Asked about TeamSupport’s own customer support, Telford said they’ve been very responsive.
“I’ve suggested some things I’d like changed, and in several instances they saw the value of those features and turned them around quickly. In other cases, they may say ‘it’s not part of our core, so we’re not going to address that,’ and that’s OK … at least they’ve let me know and not just put it on the chalkboard.”
He added that TeamSupport personnel have been very informative, always keeping him posted on the status of changes or fixes. “A lot of that has to do with the fact ‘they eat their own dog food’ so far as using the software to manage their own development efforts.”
Would he recommend TeamSupport to others? “Absolutely! I’ve been very happy with them, but the better news is our clients and Support analysts are happy with it. They’re the ones hitting it every day.”
