Jet Set Help Desk

If I had not taken this job, I would not enjoy the exclusive trips to the Royal Albert Docks and now Dublin, Ireland. Okay, I hear what you are thinking, not the most breathtaking destinations on the planet, but it is clocking up some miles on business. Even if somewhat modestly on Ryan Air and not quite British Airways Business Class. It is very important to go meet and great your clients, particular in my role, where I spend the majority of the time a faceless name on the end of the telephone. Also, carrying out some 'work' before the eyes of your customers is rewarding. When most of the time you are working remotely, in conjunction with IT departments all over the place.

I like getting out of the office, the change in scenery does me good. However, last week I was in the zone and closing calls for fun (almost) and really wanted to keep my finger on the pulse. The problem with these clients visits, most are unplanned or extremely last minute and there is often an urgency to provide a remedy for things you did not anticipate. You plan to fix five machines and soon discover, a table stacked with seven, with several other members of the office also experiencing difficulties with the software.

If I am honest, as I parked my car around 5am on Thursday morning, in London Luton airport car park, I hoped or rather prayed I would be able to resolve all the outstanding issues. There was always the feeling, a nerve at the back of my mind, that I would get stumped by various issues and have to call head office for help. Yet when we arrived at the offices, sometime after 9.30am, everything appeared to be going well. All machines we had been notified about where there, charging and I could start fixing them. My colleague would be the QC department and I scribbled down on the back of piece of paper all the issues as I came across them. It was going well. Too well in fact. After lunch, we had to clear up some configuration and confirm all the work carried out the previous week, was not a complete waste. Importing the data from the Access database into Excel met a side by side comparison could be made of what should and what is there. Thankfully everything checked out and it was down to the final checks of the administration machine to reload sales data. Then the machines were communicated once last time and the sales download confirmed. Then came to the final task of the day. Most companies have a head office person, a national manager if you will. In our case he had just come out of his meeting and was about to check the software on his laptop. All fine, I had checked it over and it was working now. No it was not. Attempting to run sales analysis report bought up a error. My colleague gave me a glaring look. I sat down at the desk and did not take my eyes of the screen. For a few minutes both my colleague and the client were overlooking my shoulder as I tried furiously to fix the problem. Repairing the software did nothing, registering various DLLs proved useless. What was the problem? I logged off and on with the local administration account and low and beyond it worked. Thank God. Now, how do I get this to work under the user profile which connects to a domain? My Windows NT knowledge is patchy to say the least. I was sweating, I was under pressure. The company PA popped her head around the door, to inform us our taxi was waiting outside. Great. I was under pressure and I had to get this done. Looking back, I live for moments like this. The adrenaline rush, that only another person with a great interest in technology would understand. You act on instinct and suddenly with every problem there are four or five possible remedies and you try a combination of them all to get the job done. Meanwhile I felt more concerned with my colleague, as the account manager trying to appease the client, prove this was a minor glitch and would be resolved before we left the building and country. We got there in the end, although it was touch and go for a few split seconds. As we got into the taxi, my colleague ripped off his tie and took a deep breathe as we took our seats on the black leather seats. The heart attacks are part of working life, particularly with bespoke software solutions, but I feel I earned my money yesterday. Was it worth going out and leaving the helpdesk to fend for themselves for a ten hours? It was, if only to put faith back into our ability to quickly respond to a potential disaster. Management will tell you that no business survives purely firefighting, I believe attending the odd fire does you the world of good. Everyone comes out alive, perhaps only me with my fingers burnt.

The Appreciation Society

Employers should never underestimate the power of two simple words. I may not have a long work history but what I have learnt in a very short space of time is how different organisations treat their employees. Let us take as an example my placement year with a medium sized solicitors. Although my manager did make an effort to thank me from time to time, generally it came across as disgenious and lacking conviction. After a heavy week in the office their remedy would be buy everyone two bottles of wine, which although might appease the (how do I put this?) more mature members of the company, did nothing but leave a bitter taste in my mouth. It was the poor management skills and lack of leadership in a crisis that proved to the be biggest bug to bare. In any case, (as I was told at the time) company culture is a big monster and very difficult to change (if at all) from the bottom up. Being a year placed in industry, this was an ideal time to come to grips with the office politics of a modern work place. Experience comes from both good and bad.

With time you know how you like to be valued by your employer and your view can differ slightly from the colleague that sits next you. I am all for incentives, put within a frame work for achieving both short term and long term objectives, but there is something far simpler. I have been writing this entry over the course of a few weeks. Adding a few lines each time, removing several paragraphs and then coming back a few days later to amend. Coincidently we have had situations arise at work which call for a big commitment from all members of the team and perhaps I can use this as a prime example.

What is the best way to get attention? You escalate your grievances to the highest possible level of the hierarchy. By doing so, you feel you will get your issue resolved with the utmost priority. Personally I think it takes slightly longer as so many people at the top of the chain have to know about the problem, what happened, what went wrong, who did what, who was responsible. In any case eventually on the helpdesk we are told to explain the issue and why it remains unresolved. Many people wonder why I work on a helpdesk, speaking to people all day and dealing with the negative aspect of our products. This does not work, these issues are incorrect, this report does not show the right information, why has this still not been mended? To this day it remains the joy in hearing over the phone, the smile of a satisfied customer. Sure enough, not everyone puts the phone down happy but more than most do. Frustrations I sympathize with, but customers need to understand that we are here to help and not a final crash barrier for their bad day. Ultimately if I am frank, my job is so superficial it goes against my own personal constitution. Why should I assist a representative in gaining their £2000 bonus for selling twenty units of X, Y, Z. I am all for rewarding hard work, but sales is a field I could never personally agree with. While I agree with the capitalist economy, I disagree with commission (in it's many forms). Perhaps my views would be different if I was spending all day trying to see a particular potential lucrative customer. Right, now to cut a long story short and keep the content as cryptic as possible. The MD this afternoon thanked me for my time working on the calls of said client. He appreciated that it was a difficult set of circumstances and working an extra hour into my evening was duly noted. When you are valued from the top, you feel pleased that your work, (clog in the big machinery if you will) is more than a number on the business payroll.

The pressure does not look to be off over the coming few months. If anything else the next period until September will be the busiest for us on the helpdesk. Perhaps because the bar has been raised to such a level that we are now expected to work miracles. I might not quite be able to walk on water, but expect to pull my socks up, get my head down and close some calls.