Virtual Tech Bars: Recreating the IT walk-in experience, with Sophos
How do you provide a walk-in IT experience for employees in global offices without an on-site IT service, or who are working remotely?
Our customer Sophos came up with a Virtual Tech Bar to replicate the human touch that their end-users were missing – it worked.
IT Support Services usually handles employees’ IT Incidents and Requests via digital channels like Email or Portals, and in-person through a Walk-in Service.
Having a combination of both digital and in-person channels enables IT to cater to a variety of end-user needs and preferences. After all, some end-users still prefer the more human and real-time interaction of a Walk-in Service.
But what happens to the IT Walk-in Experience if many of your employees are working remotely?
Whether because your organization is distributed across different locations, or because the Covid-19 pandemic has led to more remote work amongst employees, you may find it difficult to offer the IT Walk-in Experience to your end-users.Our customer Sophos, which only has an on-site IT service at three of its offices globally, faced this exact challenge.
From the end-user feedback they were getting via HappySignals IT Experience Management Platform, Sophos discovered that end-users based in offices with no on-site IT service were missing the walk-in experience for IT Incidents and Requests.
Hence, they created a Virtual Tech Bar to replicate this experience and provide on-demand access to IT support to its employees, wherever they are.
How Sophos implemented their Virtual Tech Bar
Sophos’ Virtual Tech Bar has several notable features:
- A 24/7 Zoom Bridge connects employees to IT in real-time. Service Desk Agents and Engineers on the Zoom Bridge take calls as they come in.
- Employees can choose to either queue in the Zoom waiting room to speak with an available Service Agent, or use the Scheduler to book a convenient time slot later.
This Virtual Tech Bar was well-received by Sophos employees, with end-user Happiness generally above their target of +85 and hitting a high of +100 in June 2021.
Employees appreciate the human touch, even virtually
The success of Sophos’ Virtual Tech Bar is unsurprising. Based on findings from our latest Global IT Experience Benchmark Report, end-users rate IT touchpoints that involve human interaction more highly, while impersonal touchpoints like Portals are rated more poorly.
Employees value the human touch when receiving IT Support! The switch to remote work in recent times may have even intensified their desire for it.
Virtual Tech Bars like Sophos’ are an effective way to recreate that human interaction remotely. I am looking forward to see where it goes next, especially with the new developments Sophos has planned.
Hear directly from Dean Underwood, Director of IT Services at Sophos about their Virtual Tech Bar and what’s next for it in this episode of Happy in 15!
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