The consultants who work at the Help Center combine a customer service background with years of experience helping others use technology.

"All of us have been in other customer relations positions at different times in our careers," Kathy Spako, IT/Help Center, said.

Spako pointed out that all the consultants have worked outside the University in positions with consulting firms, manufacturers, software vendors, retail firms and medical practices.
 
"We treat callers the way we want to be treated when we call someone with a problem," Della Scott, IT/Help Center, said.
 
"Our customer service backgrounds make it easy for us to be advocates for the users," Scott said. "We all have a lot of empathy for people when they call with a problem."
 
According to Spako, about half the calls to the Help Center can be handled by the consultant who first receives the call.
 
"Our consultants have the expertise to field many of the calls. But, there are so many different possibilities, we can't answer all the questions," she said.
 
And, nearly everyone wants his or her question answered immediately.
 
"Our consultants' customer service background is essential when we must refer a call," Spako said.
 
"If we refer a call, we want the caller to feel we are not just 'bouncing' them to someone else," Scott said.
 
"It's important to us that they understand the referral is the most efficient way of getting them the help they need quickly," Spako added.
 
"When we refer a call, it's important to us to help the caller understand what he or she should expect," Debbie Durant, IT/Help Center, said.
 
For each question, the caller is given a "trouble ticket number" to assist in tracking the progress of answering the question. This process helps the caller know when to expect a call from an IT staff expert.
 
"Receiving a trouble ticket number seems to help a lot of our users feel more confident that their question will be answered in a timely fashion," Durant added.
 
"The simple act of telling them that their question has a ticket number tells them our consultants are accountable to them," she said.
 
"The users are pretty good about it," Linda Decker, IT/Help Center, said. "As we talk, they learn that we are users, too-that we understand their need to find an answer. Then they are happy they have a way that they can track our progress."
 
She said all the consultants have received calls from angry or upset people "who end up thanking us for our help."
 
Decker recalled one freshman's father who called to say, "he was 'appalled' that his daughter was not able to connect to the network and demanded that we fix the problem."

Decker checked the network connections database, found that the student needed to do one more thing to complete the connection, and called the student to tell her exactly what steps to take.
 
The father called back later to say "he was elated that we were able to find the problem and help his daughter fix it so quickly," Decker said.
 
"We've all had users we've turned around like that," Spako said. "It's the reason we come to work-to help people."