When mobile entered the enterprise, it brought promises of increased productivity and profitability. Part of those productivity gains were expected to come from mobile’s “always-on” connectivity, which extended the workday and improved communication with customers and colleagues. Today, employees routinely use their mobile devices to conduct business after hours – with 66% reporting that their customers expect them to be available outside the traditional work day, as do 70% of their colleagues.
In addition to extending the workday, companies with geographically distributed operations are using mobile to neutralize time zones. Knowledge workers and front-line employees can use their mobile devices to dissolve the boundaries of space and time, making the 24x7 global workplace a reality. As a result, mobile support needs to be available 24x7x365, yet most internal support teams are not staffed to handle round-the-clock availability.
Responsiveness and rapid issue resolution are two of the most critical challenges any mobile support operation faces. Internal Help Desks generally take more than a minute to answer an incoming call, and first-call resolution is not the industry standard. While those two facts may seem inconsequential in a traditional support scenario, mobile support must be lightning fast because of the critical role these devices often play in operations. For example, mechanics working under an aircraft’s wing have minutes to make a repair that puts the aircraft back into service. Every second of delay costs the airline money. The urgency of the situation requires that mobile users not wait on hold and explains why they need first-call resolution of problems. If enterprise users in critical operations are spending time waiting on hold and more time waiting for issue resolution, the impact of lackadaisical support on the bottom line can be devastating.
