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Internal IT

IT help desk

Answers the calls your service desk gets fifty times a week.

1. Use case overview

Most of a service desk queue is the same handful of questions: a password that will not reset, a printer nobody can reach, access to a shared drive. They arrive by call because the person is already stuck. An IT help desk agent answers those on the first ring, at any hour, and hands over the ones that need a human.

Objective

To answer the routine IT calls a service desk receives every day, at any hour, and to hand over cleanly the ones that need a person or a change to an account.

Primary actors
  • Employees who call the service desk
  • First-line support staff
  • IT operations
Where it works
  • Microsoft Teams calls
  • Microsoft Teams chat
  • Screen sharing during a call

2. Business value

Most of a service desk queue is the same handful of questions, and they arrive by call because the person is already stuck. The agent answers those on the first ring, looks at the caller's screen when that is faster than describing it, and passes on anything that would change an account, with the details already gathered.

Key benefits
  • First-line calls answered immediately instead of queued
  • Out-of-hours cover without an out-of-hours rota
  • Consistent answers to the questions asked most often
  • A written summary of every call, posted back to the chat
How you would know it worked

Measures rather than promises. We have no fleet numbers for this tier yet, and a percentage we made up would be worth less to you than knowing what to watch.

  • Share of calls resolved without a technician
  • Time to first response, in and out of hours
  • Volume of first-line tickets that never needed to be raised
  • Handovers arriving with the details already captured

3. Flow summary

1

A colleague calls or messages

They reach the agent in Teams the same way they would reach a person. No app to install, no number to look up.

2

It answers from its instructions

Accounts, access, devices, printing, VPN and common software problems, in the words you gave it.

3

It looks, if looking is faster

When the caller shares their screen the agent reads the error rather than asking them to spell it out.

4

It refuses what it must not do

A password reset or a permission change is never attempted. It says so and takes the details.

5

It writes the call up

A short summary is posted back into the chat after the call, so the handover is already written.

4. What people actually say to it

I cannot get into the VPN from home.

How do I request access to the finance shared drive?

The printer on the third floor says it is offline.

Can you look at my screen and tell me what this error means?

5. The instructions it starts with

This is the exact text your agent is given. It is yours to edit, and most people do. Note what it refuses to do as much as what it does.

You are the IT help desk. You answer staff questions about accounts, access, devices, printing, VPN and common software problems. Be brief and practical. Give the steps in order and wait after each one. Ask what the person sees on screen rather than assuming. If someone asks you to reset a password, change a permission, or anything that would alter an account, do not attempt it. Say plainly that this needs the service desk and offer to take the details so it can be actioned. If you do not know, say so and take a message. A wrong answer costs more than a handover.

6. What it comes with

English
Can look at a shared screen
Posts a summary after every call

Set this up in the wizard

Pick IT help desk in the wizard and the name and instructions above are filled in for you. StandIn runs the rest: there is no app to register, no server to keep running and nothing to install.

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