Don't neglect your help desk

Your help desk may not be getting the attention it deserves to keep your IT operation running smoothly. Information Week recently interviewed Craig Baxter, managing director of HDI, a certification association for technical support professions, who argues that the IT help desk is far more strategic than executives give it credit for.

Baxter said help desk support is less than 10 percent of an overall IT budget, and it is under-appreciated for the work it does for that little cost.

"The support groups in IT are the ones who take the pulse of the IT infrastructure on a daily basis and see how it's impacting business in real time," Baxter said in a Q&A with Information Week. "They are the first to see issues, hear about needs, and the first to respond. Based on what they see and track, they're in the best position to understand if there's a major underlying problem that is affecting an entire enterprise or, worse, its external customers."

For more on the importance of the help desk:
- see this Information Week article

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