`IT Day From Hell' Survey.

This survey was commissioned by ICL, the e-Business services company and conducted by Benchmark Research in July 2000. Of the 200 employees interviewed on the telephone, 50 work in the services industry, 51 work in manufacturing, 3 in the public sector and 96 in other sectors. Eighty-nine per cent of those polled have their IT services managed in-house. In response to the problems outlined in the research, ICL has developed a 10-point plan to avoid such IT failure.

When asked to compare inability to access one's PCfor a day to various scenarios:

* 38% find this more stressful than being stuck/delayed on public transport. 34% find it less stressful, 28% consider it about the same

* 30% find this more stressful than looking after a young child for a day. 50% find it less stressful, 20% consider it about the same

* 10% find this more stressful than missing a flight on holiday. 84% find it less stressful, 6% say it is about the same

* 30% find this more stressful than giving a speech to a large audience

* 12% find this more stressful than being left by their partner. 83% find it less stressful, 5% consider it about the same

* 79% of people find this more stressful than queuing in a bank. 10% find it less stressful, 11% consider it about the same

* 79% find this more stressful than waiting to be served in a busy bar. 11% find it less stressful, 1 0% said it is about the same

* 68% of people find this more stressful than having to spend a weekend with a partner's parents. 23% find it less stressful, 9% said it is about the same

Miscellaneous findings:

* 93% agree that `New Media, such as email, makes accessing information and communication faster at work'

* 60% say their work suffers from not getting IT problems resolved fast enough 35% don't agree and 5% have no opinion.

* 51% would like more training to help them resolve IT problems. 42% do not, and 7% have no opinion

* Only 17% of people have been caused great stress by computer viruses at work. 8 1% have not

* However, 46% of people are worried that their work is likely to be disrupted in the future by viruses 41% are not worded, 13% have no opinion

IT problem areas ranked (in answer to question: which of the following causes the most headaches at work when they fail):

1. PC (47%) 2. Office network (45%) 3. Printers (43%) 4.Email access (30%) 5. Internet access (13%)

Time wasted per     Time spent waiting
                    day due to          for IT problems to
                    slow/unreliable     be resolved (per
                    technology(%)       incidently)(%)
Less than 5 mins           23                   5
5-30 mins                  45                   5
30mins to 1hour            23                   34
1-2 hours                   7                   22
More than 2 hours           3                   10
Over 30 mins               33                   30
Over 1 hour                10                   62

                    Time spent weekly
                    helping others with
                    their IT
                    problems
Less than 5 mins           42
5-30 mins                  26
30mins to 1hour            14
1-2 hours                  11
More than 2 hours           7
Over 30 mins               32
Over 1 hour                18

10-point guide to avoiding an `IT Day from Hell'

1. "Be proactive"

Establish a proactive IT management service that prevents problems from occurring, rather than a reactive service that tackles problems that have already occurred. Look for problematic trends and act on them before they impact on the operation.

2. "Treat your employees as customers"

Develop a responsive help desk service that is professional, courteous and speedy. The result will be an improved working environment and greater efficiency. Poor service leads to more calls, irate users and more wasted time for both agents and users. Good training and best practice guidelines can be enforced to establish this environment.

3. "Establish a multimedia contact centre"

Users don't want to hang on the phone to find the answers to non-urgent queries. Email, if users can rely on it, saves time and makes running a help desk much easier (advantages include auto-responding to common questions, and the ability to be more organised and less reactive in the way that enquiries are handled). Email is often handled badly by helpdesks, leading to more phone calls and slower service. The web can be used to help people find their own solutions and solve problems faster by showing processes in pictures, words and video, not just through verbal explanation.

4. "Know your environment"

Maintain a complete database of all IT hardware, software and user details that ensures helpdesk agents have the information they require at their fingertips. This allows speedy diagnosis, improved management of software licenses and increases availability for users. It can also help personalise the service offered by understanding the exact requirements of each user.

5. "Manage your environment remotely"

Supply support staff with remote access to servers and PCs. This is often known as remote diagnostics and can ensure automatic updates of applications and services, monitor problems before they affect service and fix problems without users having to become technicians. It allows agents to simultaneously solve problems and discuss these solutions with the PC user over the phone. This teaches and encourages users to provide these solutions for themselves in the future.

6. "Help users help themselves"

Establish a database of information for users, empowering them to solve their own solutions. This information can be in the form of answers to frequently asked questions or simple, easy-to-navigate self-help services. Users should be encouraged to request new equipment, register for services and keep their personal information up to date.

7. "Secure your data"

Prioiitise security and firewalls, to ensure that systems cannot be tampered with either internally or externally. Also, files should be backed up frequently. Backups can usually be set to run automatically.

8. "Invest in skills"

Ensure that you provide comprehensive training, which allows users to feel confident in dealing with minor problems. Oni-ine training materials, including live training sessions can be used more, reducing the cost of formal training events. These steps frees up time that IT agents can use to concentrate on more significant, long-term areas.

9. "Communicate, Communicate, Communicate,,

Communicate fully with users when there are major system problems and help them understand how the solutions are implemented. People cannot work effectively if they don't know what's available and how to get at it.

10. "Use others to help you evolve"

In an e-Business world, no IT means no business. Most companies and individuals have not got the time to understand this changing environment entirely by themselves, as they have their business to run. Be sure to bring in the experts when expertise is needed.

www.icl.com