Down To Business: Don't Forget Your End Users

The Other Masters

Sometimes overlooked amid this management scrutiny, however, is whether IT organizations are serving their other masters: the internal people who use the computers, networks, applications, services and other tools that IT specifies, administers and manages. It's generally accepted that IT organizations lost credibility with their corporate muckety-mucks during the recession, but how's their cred with ordinary end users?

Good but not great, according to a recent Forrester Research survey of 2,183 non-IT users in a variety of industries. Apparently, most users are happy with their basic technical tools but have mixed feelings about their dealings with the technical support and service people at their enterprises.

Some 75 percent of survey respondents said they were satisfied with their desktop technologies (PCs, e-mail, office productivity software), and 64 percent said they were satisfied with their employee intranets. Only 23 percent and 33 percent, respectively, said they were "on the fence" about those technologies, and hardly any respondents expressed dissatisfaction with them.

A larger percentage of survey respondents were on the fence or dissatisfied with areas that involve IT pros more regularly: enterprise applications, remote access systems, helpdesk support, remote worker support--and, overall, with IT's ability to help them do their jobs "with minimal downtime or service disruption." But even in those areas, a clear majority of respondents expressed satisfaction and less than 10 percent expressed outright dissatisfaction.But less than half the users surveyed expressed satisfaction when it came to IT's communications with the rest of the company. Only 48 percent of respondents were satisfied with the progress reports they receive on system repairs; 42 percent were satisfied with the updates they receive on IT projects that affect them; 39 percent were satisfied with communications on technology introductions; and 39 percent were satisfied with the updates they receive on IT organization roles. In all four areas except progress reports, more users were on the fence than satisfied, but only 9 percent or 10 percent were dissatisfied.

Among the 692 "tech influencers" surveyed by Forrester, 41 percent said they want more timely information on the status of technical issues, and 38 percent want better links between their business units and IT. The biggest beef among these more senior-level users? Integration between apps used in their business units, with half the respondents calling for improvements.

A majority of tech influencers see IT as vital to boosting workforce productivity, improving product and process quality, lowering operating costs, and driving innovation. Yet less than 40 percent said they were satisfied with IT's support for such initiatives.

For the most part, users seem OK with the level of tech functionality, service and support they're receiving internally. But you want users who are delighted with you and your IT colleagues, not just passively content or indifferent. Enlist an enterprise of IT organization champions, one user at a time. Even those users who aren't tech influencers today may be tomorrow, so get them into your corner.

Rob Preston is editor in chief of Network Computing. Write to him at [email protected].0