Upgrading Microsoft Office and What It Means to Your Service Desk

With the worldwide release of Office 2010 in June, Microsoft has once again unleashed a frenzy of new software purchases ' and even more Office upgrades ' globally.

While Microsoft is touting the versions of Office 2010 preinstalled on new PCs for consumers, business customers, including law firms, have to carefully weigh their options when contemplating an upgrade. In addition to the obvious end-user productivity, software, training, hardware, and IT resource costs associated with such an upgrade, law firms have to think twice about what such a “mission critical” upgrade might mean for their internal help desks and their ability to best serve the firms' users. While some firms for now have chosen to leave what works well enough alone, and there are discussions of other cloud-based alternatives such as Google Docs, many are making significant upgrades to the latest version of Office for strategic reasons, while still others see it as a necessary evil to keep their product supported. With that being the case, what can the legal help desk proactively initiate to plan for, anticipate and deal with potential support increases related to MS Office and other major software upgrades?

Making Up for Lost Time

While the 2009 ILTA Member Technology Purchasing Survey revealed that planned Microsoft Office upgrades within in the 2009/10 time frame were up significantly from previous years, the survey also indicated that 75% of such planned purchases were pushed back or put on hold due to the difficult economic climate. Fortunately for the industry and the likes of Microsoft introducing major releases of their Office and SharePoint solutions, 2010 has seen increased implementation rates for such back-logged IT projects. While Office 2010 is still way off on the horizon for many firms, most medium and large law firms are now sensing the urgency to upgrade old systems and old versions, most notably Office 2003. A small, but growing number are embracing Windows 7 as well.

With the prospects of a major software upgrade come the challenges typically faced by the legal service desk: “How do we train and gain experience with our own support team? How do we provide the same level of user support when call volumes increase with new software? How can we continue to address our help desk's other needs while handling increased call volume? What can we do to make sure we can handle all levels of service calls with the new upgrade? How can we create buy-in among firm users to ease the transition to the new version?”

Commonsense Upgrade Pointers for the Service Desk

Don't turn into the help(less) desk when it comes to managing major upgrades such as MS Office. Here are some best practices and pointers you might want to consider when you are faced with that “dreaded” upgrade and the potential of support volume increases ranging from 15% to 35%:

• Use data and ticket tracking software to monitor volumes. You can't manage what you can't measure so make sure you can keep track of volume increases ' where they are coming from and when they occur. Having this analytics knowledge base is critical so you can make proper training and staffing decisions. For example, if volume increases occur at the same time previous peaks occurred, the measure of adding additional analysts will just create peaks and valleys of production, and not relieve help desk pressure or increase the user experience.
• Establish a knowledge base. Collect information, share data and best practices with the firm user base in an easy to digest fashion. Continue to update and reference this invaluable information repository throughout the duration of the given project, not just at the beginning.
• Be responsive. Being responsive means taking responsibility for service levels and honestly communicating what your help desk can and can't do. If your users know they will have to deal with longer response times based on certain aspects of a rollout, they can plan accordingly, and ideally re-prioritize certain tasks and workflows.
• Enhance/provide floor support. During your firm Office rollout, provide hands-on, ideally desk-side, user support as well as adequate “train the trainer” tutorials. It goes without saying that the firms that have offered little or no training, or failed to provide adequate floor support, have had the largest increase in support calls. Make the proper investment the first time around. The adage “you can pay me now, or you can pay me (more) later” comes to mind.
• Avoid being “training happy.” While training and floor support are critical to successful upgrades, don't feel the need to convert everybody into power users. Establish firmwide core technology standards, possibly incorporating assessments to validate satisfactory learning levels, and teach each position to that minimum. Advanced users will reach out for additional classes, floor support, or through the help desk.
• Consider “additional help.” Increasing the size and capability of an internal service desk versus outsourcing can be a difficult decision to make. A few factors to consider when weighing your options include: 1) 24/7 availability (especially as it relates to upgrade related questions); 2) staffing & training (since software upgrades have a fairly predictable beginning and end, it might be worth turning to external subject matter experts who only handle level 1 upgrade support calls and are exclusively focused on legal-specific user support and have previous experience with your upgraded software); and
  3) reporting and benchmarking (legal-specific outsourcing vendors should not only be able to deliver ongoing ticket reports and provide benchmarks from other firms, but help you act on this data).

Conclusion

Software upgrades always test the mettle of the legal service desk. Microsoft Office upgrades are no exception, and based on the many new features, functions and user interface changes in Office 2010, the volume of user support tickets will rise. While there is no magic potion for satisfying users and addressing all their questions and issues during a major software update, there are many common sense tips and best practices that service desk staff can utilize to ease the collective upgrade and support pain.

With the worldwide release of Office 2010 in June, Microsoft has once again unleashed a frenzy of new software purchases ' and even more Office upgrades ' globally.

While Microsoft is touting the versions of Office 2010 preinstalled on new PCs for consumers, business customers, including law firms, have to carefully weigh their options when contemplating an upgrade. In addition to the obvious end-user productivity, software, training, hardware, and IT resource costs associated with such an upgrade, law firms have to think twice about what such a “mission critical” upgrade might mean for their internal help desks and their ability to best serve the firms' users. While some firms for now have chosen to leave what works well enough alone, and there are discussions of other cloud-based alternatives such as Google Docs, many are making significant upgrades to the latest version of Office for strategic reasons, while still others see it as a necessary evil to keep their product supported. With that being the case, what can the legal help desk proactively initiate to plan for, anticipate and deal with potential support increases related to MS Office and other major software upgrades?

Making Up for Lost Time

While the 2009 ILTA Member Technology Purchasing Survey revealed that planned Microsoft Office upgrades within in the 2009/10 time frame were up significantly from previous years, the survey also indicated that 75% of such planned purchases were pushed back or put on hold due to the difficult economic climate. Fortunately for the industry and the likes of Microsoft introducing major releases of their Office and SharePoint solutions, 2010 has seen increased implementation rates for such back-logged IT projects. While Office 2010 is still way off on the horizon for many firms, most medium and large law firms are now sensing the urgency to upgrade old systems and old versions, most notably Office 2003. A small, but growing number are embracing Windows 7 as well.

With the prospects of a major software upgrade come the challenges typically faced by the legal service desk: “How do we train and gain experience with our own support team? How do we provide the same level of user support when call volumes increase with new software? How can we continue to address our help desk's other needs while handling increased call volume? What can we do to make sure we can handle all levels of service calls with the new upgrade? How can we create buy-in among firm users to ease the transition to the new version?”

Commonsense Upgrade Pointers for the Service Desk

Don't turn into the help(less) desk when it comes to managing major upgrades such as MS Office. Here are some best practices and pointers you might want to consider when you are faced with that “dreaded” upgrade and the potential of support volume increases ranging from 15% to 35%:

• Use data and ticket tracking software to monitor volumes. You can't manage what you can't measure so make sure you can keep track of volume increases ' where they are coming from and when they occur. Having this analytics knowledge base is critical so you can make proper training and staffing decisions. For example, if volume increases occur at the same time previous peaks occurred, the measure of adding additional analysts will just create peaks and valleys of production, and not relieve help desk pressure or increase the user experience.
• Establish a knowledge base. Collect information, share data and best practices with the firm user base in an easy to digest fashion. Continue to update and reference this invaluable information repository throughout the duration of the given project, not just at the beginning.
• Be responsive. Being responsive means taking responsibility for service levels and honestly communicating what your help desk can and can't do. If your users know they will have to deal with longer response times based on certain aspects of a rollout, they can plan accordingly, and ideally re-prioritize certain tasks and workflows.
• Enhance/provide floor support. During your firm Office rollout, provide hands-on, ideally desk-side, user support as well as adequate “train the trainer” tutorials. It goes without saying that the firms that have offered little or no training, or failed to provide adequate floor support, have had the largest increase in support calls. Make the proper investment the first time around. The adage “you can pay me now, or you can pay me (more) later” comes to mind.
• Avoid being “training happy.” While training and floor support are critical to successful upgrades, don't feel the need to convert everybody into power users. Establish firmwide core technology standards, possibly incorporating assessments to validate satisfactory learning levels, and teach each position to that minimum. Advanced users will reach out for additional classes, floor support, or through the help desk.
• Consider “additional help.” Increasing the size and capability of an internal service desk versus outsourcing can be a difficult decision to make. A few factors to consider when weighing your options include: 1) 24/7 availability (especially as it relates to upgrade related questions); 2) staffing & training (since software upgrades have a fairly predictable beginning and end, it might be worth turning to external subject matter experts who only handle level 1 upgrade support calls and are exclusively focused on legal-specific user support and have previous experience with your upgraded software); and
  3) reporting and benchmarking (legal-specific outsourcing vendors should not only be able to deliver ongoing ticket reports and provide benchmarks from other firms, but help you act on this data).

Conclusion

Software upgrades always test the mettle of the legal service desk. Microsoft Office upgrades are no exception, and based on the many new features, functions and user interface changes in Office 2010, the volume of user support tickets will rise. While there is no magic potion for satisfying users and addressing all their questions and issues during a major software update, there are many common sense tips and best practices that service desk staff can utilize to ease the collective upgrade and support pain.