A Re-Distributed Knowledge Management Framework in Help Desk

Background: Development Of Knowledge Management Techniques In Help Desk

The emphasis and popularity of business information systems in organizations have increased the complexity of the IT infrastructure as well as the coverage of HD on software, hardware, network and other IT related areas. It is not unusual for a single HD to cover hundreds of thousands of IT related products. In addition, downsizing and business process reengineering has led to the shrinkage of the size of HD due to overall budget has been reduced. This has not only reduced a significant number of experienced HD staffs, but has also led to the loss of priceless knowledge which is considered crucial for daily operation within the HD boundary (Leung & Lau 2005). When HD is expected to provide more service with less staff, the outcome is quite obvious: on the one hand, users have to wait comparatively longer before the first level operator is available to pick up the call. On the other hand, HD staff is no longer available for high level and proactive support activity or training. The above situation has been confirmed by several researches. For example, Broome and Streitwiieser (2002) and Leung and Lau (2007) report that the average call volume of HD industry has been increasing constantly. Van Velsen et al. (2007) points out that waiting time is one of the major factors that determines the service quality in HDs. Hence, the development of a mechanism that can control the overwhelming enquires from user is necessary.