Executive Summary

After extensive research and evaluation of each Helpdesk’s experiences with Windows Vista and, we have determined that Windows 7 will provide substantial Helpdesk savings for high volume users who switch to Windows 7.

Windows 7 can be expected to reduce support costs by $483 per user per year and annual savings will continue for the life of the product.

Our Research is able to identify many areas where Windows 7 will offer significant Helpdesk operations impact. Our analysis has shown that, in a steady state environment, users should see a reduction in volume of PC Helpdesk calls of between 15% and 29% annually due to Windows 7 robustness security and ease of use.

From our analysis, Research projects this average size Helpdesk will also see an average reduction of 67%, range 44% to 93%, from the previous number of onsite visits requiring technical staff. In this average sized site, Research projects a further savings of $333,600 /month due to on-site visit avoidance of 112 visits per month. Technicians will be able to use Windows 7 remote management services, other advanced features to fix the call via the network. The Windows 7 characteristics of reliability and high security contribute to reductions in onsite technician visits.

We should point out this is for the steady state condition after the users have passed the learning curve of using Windows 7. The savings cited above are for larger computer sites; however, we feel the results can be extrapolated to different sized sites and your results should vary proportionately. It was readily apparent from our research that each organization’s Helpdesk varies considerably in the types and range of problems encountered, as well as costs associated with resolving the problems. See the spreadsheet at the back of this document for use in auditing your own site-specific Helpdesk data and calculating estimates for your organization. In addition to the cost savings noted above, there are also business and productivity benefits that accrue through increased user satisfaction, less end user downtime and improved confidence in system reliability.

Helpdesks are moving from an expense center to an integral part of the technology implementation matrix.

Research was retained to quantify potential support and Helpdesk benefits that might be derived through the major operational enhancements that will be delivered as part of Windows 7. Examples of these enhancements include: protection of operating system from user programs, improved and simplified security and multitasking, Remote Control, Systems Management Services, the same simple and intuitive user interface as used in Windows 7, support for long file names and User

Configuration information centralized in a registry, etc.

If your Helpdesk is like most support organizations today, it is probably being asked to do more with less. Demand for support has risen sharply, but staff levels have either remained flat or dropped. For this reason, the future of successful support rests in a user’s ability to interface with a Helpdesk possessing complementary support tools that take advantage of broad open-system standards, which facilitate the required technology interfaces.

Increased desktop complexity and networking have driven call growth volume geometrically.

Client server system implementations have brought an unexpected dark side-the cost of technical support. Many times the customer bought the vision of re-engineered, open, flexible client server systems as the way to reduce cost and increase service to all users. Frequently, what users have experienced has been increasing complexity, sometimes-unmanageable application development, soaring support costs and less-than-effective implementations.

Many times users inadvertently brought down their systems by deleting files or altering settings.

As more advanced networked applications have been deployed over the past five years, the cost of the Helpdesk and technical support has grown geometrically. The desktop user effectively became a desktop (and larger) systems manager. Many times users inadvertently brought down their systems by deleting files or altering settings that ultimately required a technician’s visit to complete a repair. Microsoft has addressed a significant number of these operational issues with Windows 7. The result will be a reduction in the number of user calls to the Helpdesk due to improved reliability and security, as well as functional improvements, making systems more crashworthy and controllable.

Windows 7 prevents and assists in the resolution of a wide range of user problems.

This paper reviews the Helpdesk operations of a number of large existing Windows Vista users, identifies the types of problems they are currently experiencing and then isolates those problems that Windows 7 will either prevent or assist in resolving more efficiently. It is the objective of this white paper to provide reasonable quantitative estimates of how the inclusion of Windows 7 functional enhancements delivers productivity improvements to users, while lowering customers’ internal and external support costs. The paper will also supply a method and worksheet that can be used by the reader to estimate their own savings using their data.

Primary paper objectives are to:

Analyze existing Helpdesk loads and costs of running Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Project steady state cost and productivity benefits when the organization migrates to Windows 7.

Note the estimated cost savings that users should experience.

Provide a methodology that can be extrapolated to a customer’s current Helpdesk environment.

Note user productivity gains through improved Helpdesk efficiency.

Research Results

Helpdesk Goals

The existence of a Helpdesk clearly has a singular purpose-to assist users in resolving difficulties they incur while using their PCs. Every Helpdesk subscribes to the following three goals:

Call avoidance

Obviously, the best call is no call at all. The majority of Helpdesks, today, attempt to do everything possible to eliminate calls, from assisting in the selection of a more reliable product to conducting in-depth training for users. Any product or methodology that will result in a reduction of calls is examined closely. Windows 7 is clearly such a product.

Rapid problem resolution; either on-the-phone or via the network

The goal is problem resolution in 1 hour or less in 80% of the cases.

If a call cannot be avoided, then the Helpdesk’s goal is to resolve the call as effectively and quickly as possible. Simply put, user downtime is unproductive time. While our sample achieved an average repair time of less than one hour 61% of the time, all indicated their goal was to achieve a better than 80% rate. Systems or software that allow easy remote access to a user’s PC for diagnostics, rebooting, remote loading of software, remote management and lockdown are very effective methods of resolving problems without the overhead of a site visit. Again, Windows 7 offers a rich set of features that support these requirements.

Technician visit prevention by reducing events that will cause visits

The goal is to also reduce site visits to an absolute minimum.

Finally, while site visits will always be a necessity, substantially reducing the number of visits as well as their duration is a major goal given the costs associated with field calls. Systems Management Services facilities of remotely loading software and updates, Remote control which enables the helpdesk person to set the user through unfamiliar actions greatly reduce the need for physical site visits.

Typical Helpdesk Position in the Organization

The Helpdesk has long been considered part of the MIS backwater;
a service organization that was typically treated as an expense center. However, we found the Helpdesk is increasingly an integral part of the IT organization as shown in Figure 1 and is usually centrally funded from the IT budget. Regardless of how a company implements a Helpdesk function, Windows 7 offers substantial potential savings.

Helpdesks are evolving from reflex response to productivity.

The evolution is from an organization historically noted for simple reflex response to one that is becoming extremely proactive and integral to technology employment decisions. It is not unusual, today; to have the Helpdesk staff evaluates a product for serviceability and reliability as well as provide input to user training programs.

Whether internally provided or outsourced, call savings are very similar.

For many of the sites we worked with, at least some portion of the Helpdesk and technical support function was outsourced to a third party organization. Often, the outsourcing was done on a flat per call basis, especially for onsite technician visits. Although usually providing very effective support, it is clearly not in the third party’s best interest to effect sharp reductions in call or visit volume.

Helpdesk Functions and Responsibility

Most sites operated a three level Helpdesk structure. The first level usually qualified the call, logged it and tried simple remedies for the most frequently observed problems. If unsuccessful in resolving the problem, the call is escalated to level two. Level two technicians investigate the problem and do everything possible short of visiting the site to effect a fix. If a fix is not possible after an hour or two, the job is handed over to a field technician to resolve at the user’s site. If the fix requires new hardware or parts, the technician frequently has to make a return visit with the new part to complete the repair.

Top problem call generators require immediate, proactive remedial programs.

The three levels of Helpdesk responsibility are:

Dispatch, qualifying, fixing easy problems

Technical support working via network or dial-in access

Field Technician or third-party dispatch sent to site

There is also a management layer that handles human resources as well as proactive problem identification and prevention. In nearly every site, there are proactive measures taken to seek out the top problem call generators and fix them through special training or by changing systems to reduce recurring problems. Many Helpdesks also provide direct input to the development of user training courses.

Current Helpdesk Problems

After analyzing over 47,000 call detail reports from 9 Helpdesks (responsible for more than 1.4 million Helpdesk calls per year), Research has gained significant insight into the types and frequencies of problems experienced by users. The size of the sample base is more than adequate to achieve statistically significant results.

Analysis of Data from the Sites

We were able to qualify 9 sites, conduct in depth interviews with the Helpdesk managers and acquire large volumes of call detail reports, which we analyzed in detail.

The most consistent problem areas are printing, applications and operating systems followed by networking. Hardware shows substantial swings due primarily to age and equipment configurations.

Clearly, Windows 7 will have impact upon the OS, networking and printing categories and will provide some relief for hardware and application based problems. The nature of how Windows 7 impacts each of the problem categories is described below.

Feedback from Organizations who have Adopted Windows 7

Research conducted primary research with Windows 7 adopters in December 2009 to understand how their use of Windows 7, in practice, was impacting their operation. This research was conducted on a small sample, 22 users, whose adoption of Windows 7 varied from 2 months experience with a limited number of pilot users to 18 months experience with up to 1000 users within their organization. A majority of these 22 users had not yet reached a steady state environment with regard to use of Windows 7.

We define a steady state environment as that in which at least 80% of desktop users and all the helpdesk and relevant technical support personnel use and are conversant with Windows 7. We have used their feedback in a qualitative sense to compare to our own analysis of Windows 7 in use, however we have projected the impact and saving on the statistically valid database of helpdesk calls described in previous sections of this report.

Benefits from Use of Windows 7

There are a large number of functional and product improvements in Windows 7 that will allow end users to run Windows 7 more effectively and reduce the number of trouble calls. As indicated in the table below, there are many areas where Windows 7 can prevent and/or easily resolve problems that present users are experiencing.

The number of calls avoided through the use of Windows 7 due to the reliability aspect of the product across the sampled sites was found to be in the range 10% to 20% with an average of 15% helpdesk calls avoided.

The number of calls avoided due to the security features of Windows 7 was in the range 4% to 10% with an average of 7%. The total average percent of helpdesk calls avoided, the sum of the two elements, is thus 22%.

Fixed by Helpdesk – This class of problems can be solved via the first level Helpdesk operator. This includes logging the call, qualifying the call and providing remedies for the simpler and or the most frequent recurring problems. Our analysis of the calls showed that Windows 7 enabled between 22% to 74%, average 45%, of all PC and network helpdesk calls to be fixed at the helpdesk level. As a subset of these fixed calls 6% to 17% average 11% of calls can be handled at the helpdesk operative level using the remote control “show and tell” technique whereby the helpdesk operator explains how to achieve a task and shows the user how to perform the steps by taking control of the users PC and executing the functions in real time. A further 1% to 3% range of helpdesk calls can be handled by the helpdesk operator using the System Management Services functions to install or update the users software over the network. We made the assumption that there are some circumstances where this can be undertaken by the Helpdesk operator, about 2% of calls. In other cases this function would be handled by the second level support technician ( see below).

This class of problems can be solved via the first level Helpdesk operator. This includes logging the call, qualifying the call and providing remedies for the simpler and or the most frequent recurring problems. Our analysis of the calls showed that Windows 7 enabled between 22% to 74%, average 45%, of all PC and network helpdesk calls to be fixed at the helpdesk level. As a subset of these fixed calls 6% to 17% average 11% of calls can be handled at the helpdesk operative level using the remote control “show and tell” technique whereby the helpdesk operator explains how to achieve a task and shows the user how to perform the steps by taking control of the users PC and executing the functions in real time. A further 1% to 3% range of helpdesk calls can be handled by the helpdesk operator using the System Management Services functions to install or update the users software over the network. We made the assumption that there are some circumstances where this can be undertaken by the Helpdesk operator, about 2% of calls. In other cases this function would be handled by the second level support technician ( see below).

Second Level Support Technician – This class of calls will be solved by the technician working both with the end user by phone and via network connections, running remote network tests and checks of the user’s system to try to locate and correct the problems. Now, with Windows 7 robustness, System Management Services and Remote Control, Remote Registry Edit, and network policy files, many of the calls can be fixed over the network, avoiding travel to the user’s site. The technician may ask for assistance from the user to try to get the PC running and connected to the network or walk the user through a self help process, facilitated by Remote Control and Event Viewer to locate the problem. Our analysis of the Helpdesk calls found that Windows 7 enabled between 2% to 22% of calls to be fixed at this level across the sampled sites; an average of 11%.

This class of calls will be solved by the technician working both with the end user by phone and via network connections, running remote network tests and checks of the user’s system to try to locate and correct the problems. Now, with Windows 7 robustness, System Management Services and Remote Control, Remote Registry Edit, and network policy files, many of the calls can be fixed over the network, avoiding travel to the user’s site. The technician may ask for assistance from the user to try to get the PC running and connected to the network or walk the user through a self help process, facilitated by Remote Control and Event Viewer to locate the problem. Our analysis of the Helpdesk calls found that Windows 7 enabled between 2% to 22% of calls to be fixed at this level across the sampled sites; an average of 11%.

Technician Visit – These problems will continue to require a field service technician to visit the site. The technician will often replace parts and may include swapping out the whole unit if the problems cannot be rectified. We found that site visits were required in the range of between 1% and 38% of calls to the Helpdesk, this range reflects the widely different levels of hardware problems reported across the different sites sampled; an average of 13%.

These problems will continue to require a field service technician to visit the site. The technician will often replace parts and may include swapping out the whole unit if the problems cannot be rectified. We found that site visits were required in the range of between 1% and 38% of calls to the Helpdesk, this range reflects the widely different levels of hardware problems reported across the different sites sampled; an average of 13%.

No Help – There were many Helpdesk calls which were unrelated to the operating system, where Windows 7 could not address the problem.

There were many Helpdesk calls which were unrelated to the operating system, where Windows 7 could not address the problem.

Our research analyzed over 47,000 calls and was able to project how each of the various problems can be avoided and/or more easily fixed with Windows 7. While there may be some “hindsight effect” that makes it easier to fix a problem after you know what the problem is, the vast majority of problems are directly impacted by Windows 7.

It should be noted that the results of our research are specific to the companies that participated in the program. It is clear from the research that every company encounters significant differences in Helpdesk call make up, as well as costs, due to variations in hardware, software and peripherals populations. For this reason, the figures shown are for illustrative purposes only, although it is reasonable to assume, due to the sample size, that similar savings ratios will apply to most organizations. In an effort to make this information easier to relate to your specific situation, Research has provided a worksheet and instructions, so you can see both the areas of benefit as well as the projected cost savings for migrating to Windows 7.

In the table above observe that application and operating systems calls are the most frequent running at 30% and 23% respectively. Although we set out to acquire PC Helpdesk calls, we see variations in our call samples. In some cases, the hardware calls were subcontracted out or handled by another portion of the Helpdesk and, hence, that hardware calls are not included in sites 3, 4, 5 and 9. While in other samples, sites 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 included other kinds of calls, e.g. telephone changes, adds, moves and repairs, requests and reservations for LCD plates, projectors and other shared equipment. As a result, we should be careful about the conclusions at individual sites. Other variations in Helpdesk call make up, as well as costs, may exist due to variations in hardware, software and peripherals populations. For this reason, the figures shown are for illustrative purposes only, although it is reasonable to assume, due to this large sample size, that similar savings ratios will apply to most organizations.

Comments on the Site Specific Data

At the individual site level there is considerable variance in the call detail reports we received due to different modes of operation, organizations, metrics, outsourcing, data capture tools being used and other factors.

Research believes that the average of results is indicative of general industry trends and these will be used in any conclusions for this report. For further background information about each of the sites, the reader is referred to the appendix.

In Table 5, we have summarized the cost savings (for the average site of 9602 PCs) of $19,940 per month for the 999 calls that are avoided and $366,600 per month for the 1,222 visits avoided. This should provide a resulting $483 cost savings per user if the users were all running Windows 7 versus Windows Vista.

Expected Cost Savings:

The reader is also encouraged to check out the worksheet in the appendix for use with their own data to estimate their own savings, both in the areas of benefits as well as the projected cost savings.

Other Corporate Business Gains

Another major corporate benefit is the increase in productivity arising from two principal attributes of Windows 7, reliability and multitasking.

The lack of user interruption due to the resilience of this operating system and that the system is inviolate to user applications faults, increases productivity and provides a more professional business image without the loss of real-time opportunities in critical areas such as trading, order entry and customer service. Further, users will be able to use the Windows 7 system, with the new graphical user interface, with less training or learning time. Both these factors increase their ability to use their PC effectively and efficiently. While not a quantifiable factor for this report, our experience clearly points to significant gains in this area.

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