Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Skills Assessment and Customized Training for Help Desk Staff Save Time and Money
Overview
Country or Region:Germany
Industry:High Tech and Electronics
Customer Profile
Getronics HelpYouDesk is the international customer support and service center for Getronics, a global solutions and service provider for information and communication technology.
Business Situation
The company wanted to have 30 helpdesk employees earn the Microsoft® Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST) certification, but their varying levels of expertise made standardized training difficult.
Solution
The help desk specialists used the Microsoft Skills Assessment for Organizations to evaluate their knowledge, enabling the campus, a project partner, to develop customized training based on individual needs.
Benefits
Cut MCDST training time by 40 percent
Increased employee motivation for training
Provided company with knowledge of staff expertise
Saved 25 percent annually on IT training / “We’re saving 25 percent of our annual IT training costs because we’re now able to accurately identify our actual needs.”
Melanie Schoebel, Project Manager, Getronics HelpYouDesk
Getronics HelpYouDesk, located in Berlin, Germany, is the customer service and support center for Getronics Deutschland, a provider of information and communication technology. Because the service center wanted to have 30 employees earn the Microsoft®Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST) certification, it turned to the campus, an IT training firm. With the help of the campus, the technicians used the Microsoft Skills Assessment for Organizations, an online tool from Microsoft Learning, to identify the extent of their knowledge.By using the tool, the technicians discovered they already knew much of the material on the certification exam, which prompted the campus to shorten its training course by 40 percent. Employees liked using the tool, which increased their motivation for further training, and with continued use the company has cut IT training costs by 25 percent.
the company 25 percent on IT training annually.
Situation
Getronics HelpYouDesk offers service and support for the customers of Getronics Deutschland, a service and solutions provider of information and communication technology. As a customer service center, Getronics HelpYouDesk provides assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by phone, Internet, or e-mail, answering questions and fixingcustomers’ IT infrastructure problems. “We are a company with worldwide operations, and we support multilingual user help desks for our international customers,” says Melanie Schoebel, Project Manager, Getronics HelpYouDesk.
Advanced training is a vital part of any project that Getronics HelpYouDesk undertakes. “Our support specialists study a new customer’s IT infrastructure in detail before they ever begin to process support requests on behalf of that customer,” Schoebel says.
Before the support technicians work with a help desk user, they also need to identify what they don’t know about the customer’s technologies and applications and then fill those gaps. At Getronics HelpYouDesk, gaining this knowledge typically requires a training period of several business days—time away from serving customers.
In the fall of 2004, Schoebel learned about a new method of identifying employee training requirements from the campus, a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner for Learning Solutions. The campus recommended Microsoft Skills Assessment for Organizations, a tool that is part of the Microsoft Learning program. By using a comprehensive questionnaire that corresponds with their tasks in the company, the skills assessment tool checks and evaluates employees’ levels of IT knowledge and expertise.
Katrin Bokermann, Sales Manager at the campus, received her skills assessment training in November 2004 and knew right away that, “There was tremendous potential to reduce costs and increase employee motivation to learn more.” An experienced IT instructor, Bokermann told her long-time customer Getronics HelpYouDesk about the Skills Assessment for Organizations at precisely the right moment.
Schoebel had been thinking of introducing the Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST) certification at Getronics HelpYouDesk. The MCDST credential is for professionals who need the customer service skills to educate users, solve hardware or software operation problems, and address application issues related to the Microsoft Windows® operating system. MCDST-certified technicians are recognized by employers, clients, and peers within the IT industry as having the expertise to successfully support Microsoft products and technologies.
“We wanted the advanced training to get our support specialists MCDST-certified to give them the skills to effectively assist customers using Microsoft Windows XP-based infrastructures,” says Schoebel. She asked her employees and customers what they thought. “The result confirmed that Microsoft certification is highly regarded by both groups,” says Schoebel.
When a major corporate customer then expressed interest in getting the 30 Getronics support technicians MCDST-certified, so they could take over management of its international help desk, Schoebel and Bokermann decided to conduct a study of the Skills Assessment. With it, they planned to document the levels of expertise of the certification candidates and determine how suitable the application was for use on a continual basis at Getronics HelpYouDesk.
Solution
With help from the campus, Getronics HelpYouDesk set up the Microsoft Skills Assessment for Organizations 1.1 from Microsoft Learning. The skills assessment tool allows numerous customized configurations that can accurately show the task-specific and role-specific requirements of each employee. To identify any skills gaps that the help desk group had regarding MCDST certification, Bokermann used the Microsoft Learning default settings. “Looking at the test, this naturally made a lot of sense. We were able to see for ourselves that any desired skill can be assessed in the online questionnaire,” she says.
In December 2004, the 30 candidates who were to take the test received an e-mail containing a link to a password-protected personalized assessment form. The 66 questions on the form corresponded to the Microsoft Official Courses2261 and 2262, which address the Microsoft Windows XP operating system and the installation and administration of applications for Windows XP. On a five-point scale, covering a range of designations from “no knowledge” to “expert,” the candidates evaluated their knowledge and expertise in areas they would later be tested on for certification.
The campus divided the technicians into three groups according to how the individuals assessed themselves. The company then developed individual training plans for them. Because most of the candidates indicated their preference for classroom-based training, the campus focused on this traditional learning format. Some individuals also studied certain topics in greater depth, using Microsoft Press® manuals published by Microsoft Learning. These manuals prepare students for examinations 70-271 and 70-272, which must be passed to receive MCDST certification. The customized approach meant that technicians needed to study only those areas where they still lacked skills—and they could do so by combining instructor-led training with the online offerings and books provided by Microsoft Learning.
Benefits
GetronicsHelpYouDesk found thatSkills Assessment for Organizations performed well and reduced training time for its first group of trainees.Skills Assessment for Organizations enabled blended learning—allowing individual technicians to combine instructor-led training with Microsoft online learning and books to train specifically in areasonlywhere they needed to fill gaps in skills. The employees, the company, and the campus found that this method provided a better approach to training.
Cut MCDST Training Time by 40 Percent
Instead of the five days of training normally required for Courses 2261 and 2262, the campus needed just three, because it was apparent that the candidates already had 50 percent of the required expertise. The 30 Getronics HelpYouDesk candidates completed their MCDST certification within a few weeks and were then fully prepared to take over their customer’s help desk, with its 35,000 users.
Increased Employee Motivation for Further Training
“The feedback on the appraisal process in the Skills Assessment for Organizations was overwhelmingly positive,” says Schoebel, who served as the project manager. “Our colleagues welcomed it as a way of clearly demonstrating their expertise. After taking the assessment, they also made a conscious effort to integrate learning into their daily work. The demand for technical literature increased, and the evaluations were the main topic of office talk. What made us especially happy was that our employees became highly motivated and set ambitious training goals for themselves.”
Provided Information on Expertise and Reduced Training Costs
Skills Assessmentdemonstrated its usefulness to GetronicsHelpYouDesk in another way, as well: The company has gained valuable information on the level of its employees’ expertise. Schoebel is now considering where else the tool could be used, since, as she says, “We’re saving 25 percent of our annual IT training costs because we’re now able toaccuratelyidentify our actual needs.”
Schoebel also appreciates how the tool helps the company plan for the future. “Skills Assessment also gives us a solid basis upon which to plan additional training courses for our support specialists. This commitment helps us with the organizational and financial planning of approved training methods. And with every additional certificate, employees find new career possibilities open to them.”
Individualized Training Reduces Training Time
Katrin Bokermann of the campus is especially pleased with the initial results of Skills Assessment for Organizations. “With this tool, Microsoft expands the ability to use blended learning and provide individualized training. This meets the needs of our customers. Because it shortens training, more qualified specialists will be available for them. And each specialist can then rely on further training courses to stay ahead of developments.” Bokermann expects that she can also use the application in her company to manage her instructors’ training costs efficiently.
Microsoft Learning
Microsoft Learning builds innovative learning products that enable both individuals and organizations to make the most of their investmentin Microsoft technology. Offerings from Microsoft Learning—include skills assessments, books, certification programs, classroom and lab-format curriculum, e-learning, and other online reference materials. Our goal? To make you a more efficient user of Microsoft technology. Learn more about Microsoft Learning: