‘Have-a-go heroes’ wreak havoc on technical problems

Research reveals 70 per cent of office workers try to fix IT problems themselves

Over two thirds of UK office workers work out how to fix a computer themselves when faced with a problem, ahead of contacting the IT team, according to research from Richmond Systems.

Richmond Systems, a provider of service desk software, surveyed 250 office workers about how they resolve their daily computer issues. Over half said that they would restart it and hope for the best. This could happen up to five times, before they approach the IT team, in the hope a problem would be solved. 9 per cent would attempt to take the computer apart and try to rebuild it without guidance. A further 13 per cent of UK office workers would flick through a manual. Only 30 per cent would register their concern with the IT team as their first step.

“This research shows a lack of faith in the ability of IT teams to fix computer issues quickly, leaving personnel to have a go at fixing the problem themselves,” said Eric Wright, managing director at Richmond Systems.

“This approach is misguided and impractical. Without the relevant expertise, people could actually make their IT problems worse.”

“IT teams need to regain the confidence of office workers by responding quickly and efficiently to computer issues. However they need backing from the board to support a service desk operation. This will allow personnel to log incidents, issues or support requests and get a response in the time allotted by the office Service Level Agreement,” Wright continued.

“Until office workers have confidence that the IT team have these issues under control, a DIY approach will continue to slow them down.”

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