One of the most common questions I hear from IT support managers is “How many analysts do I need for my service desk?” It’s a great question, but one that is rarely answered adequately. The result is that many service desks are not staffed properly because they do not follow any sort of proven methodology when making headcount decisions. Instead, they rely on “gut feel” or “instinct” when it comes to service desk staffing.
In this whitepaper, MetricNet defines a methodology for determining the appropriate analyst headcount for the service desk, and provides a link to a
for rightsizing the service desk. Using MetricNet’s headcount calculator, your service desk can be assured that it will be staffed to meet the needs and expectations of its customers, while simultaneously delivering services in an efficient, fiscally responsible manner.
A common misperception in the service desk is that the user population alone will define the number of analysts needed. This approach wrongly assumes that the ratio of the service desk analysts to the number of users supported is fixed. For example, 3 service desk analysts are needed for every 1,000 users. The error in this approach is that no two user populations have the same needs, and therefore no two user populations generate the same workload. As such, staffing decisions in the service desk should be based upon workload, not user population.
Consider the example of a financial services company with a corporate staff of 5,000. The device count for this user population is as follows:
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- 4,200 Laptop computers
- 1,900 desktop computers
- 280 printers and copy machines
- 4,650 smart phones
- 490 servers
The number of service desk analysts required to support this workload turns out to be about 13.
Now take the example of an electric utility with the same number of users: 5,000. The device count for this population is as follows:
- 4,400 desktop computers
- 1,100 laptop computers
- 320 printers and copy machines
- 2,600 smart phones
- 220 servers
The number of service desk analysts required to support this workload turns out to be about 8. Despite the fact that the user populations in our examples are the same, the two user groups generate very different workloads, and hence require different staffing levels in the service desk. The workload for a service desk is driven not only by the number of users or “seats supported”, but also by the number and mix of devices, the age of devices, the service level targets of the organization, the level of standardization and virtualization in the IT environment, and a myriad of other factors.
The key point is this: the analyst staffing requirements of a service desk should be based upon the workload generated by the user population – the contact volume and average contact handle time – not on the number of users supported. With this in mind, it is easy to understand why two organizations with the same headcount may require very different staffing levels in the service desk.
Since staffing is based on workload, it makes sense to first define what we mean by workload. Workload is the sum of all inbound contacts multiplied by the average contact handle time:
Monthly Workload = (Monthly Contact Volume X Average Contact Handle Time)
Handle Time includes the average handle time for all contact channels: voice, chat, web submit, email, walk-in, but does not include any self-help contacts.
Let’s do the Workload calculation for the financial services example from above. The 5,000 employees at the corporate headquarters generate an average of 7,200 inbound contacts to the service desk each month with an average handle time (AHT) per contact of 8 minutes.
We can now calculate the workload using the formula from above:
Workload = (7,200 Inbound Contacts X 8 Minutes per Inbound Contact) = 57,600 Work Minutes per Month.
Now that we have the service desk workload for our financial services company, we can determine the analyst headcount needed. Using data from MetricNet’s worldwide Benchmarking Database, and the MetricNet Service Desk
Headcount Calculator, it turns out that to properly staff the service desk we need about 13 analysts.
How does this same methodology play out for the electric utility? The 5,000 employees at the utility headquarters generate an average of 5,200 contacts per month at an average handle time of 6.5 minutes. We can now calculate the workload for the utility using the formula from above:
Workload = (5,200 contacts/month X 6.5 minutes per contact) = 33,800 workload minutes per month. Finally, using MetricNet’s Service Desk
Headcount Calculator, we can determine that we need about 8 analysts.
These two examples clearly illustrate the importance of basing headcount decisions on workload, rather than the size of the customer population. In the case of the financial services company, we have 13 analysts supporting 5,000 users. This is one analyst for every 385 users. By contrast, we have 8 analysts supporting 5,000 users in the electric utility. This is one analyst for every 625 users.
Data extracted from MetricNet’s Service Desk Benchmarking Database shows that the workload, and hence headcount requirements, can vary dramatically from industry to industry, and even within a particular industry. The wide variation in headcount requirements is driven by the wide range of workload requirements from company to company, and from industry to industry. This, in turn, is a function of the average contact handle time, and the number of contacts generated by the user population.
MetricNet’s Service Desk
Headcount Calculator offers an automated, yet rigorous and analytical methodology for right sizing your service desk headcount!
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