REI Case Study

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REI Case Study

• Climbing to New Heights Within your Help Desk
• with Dave Stockwell
• Help Desk Supervisor
• Recreational Equipment, Inc.
• www.rei.com

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REI Case Study

• Climbing to New Heights Within your Help Desk
• 3 Keys to a successful deployment of your
  workforce management system.
• Reduce your support costs through increased
  back-end operational organization.
• Give customers the ability to provide ongoing
  feedback to help improve business processes.

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REI Case Study

• REI Background
• REI is an outdoor retail co-op dedicated to
  inspiring, educating and offering high-quality
  outdoor gear and clothing to its more than 2
  million active members and the community for a
  lifetime of outdoor adventures.
• Founded in 1938 by a group of Pacific Northwest
  mountaineers seeking quality equipment, REI is
  committed to promoting environmental stewardship
  and increasing access to outdoor recreation
  through volunteerism, gear donations and
  financial contributions.

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REI Case Study

• REIs Help Desk
• Philosophy Proactive problem resolution
  education. Become a true one stop shop.
• Customer Base Approx 7500 employees (depending
  on the season)
• Staff 6 Technicians, 1 Access Administrator and
  1 Lead.
• Supporting Cast Desktop, Server, Network
  Application support.
• Win 2000/2003 AS400 Unix - Mac

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REI Case Study

• Remedy History
• First install in 1998
• 2000 - Upgraded to V4.
• 2001 - Implemented ARWeb.
• 2002 - Added Custom HR call center app.
• 2003 Upgraded to V5 added custom facilities
  call center app.
• 2005 Upgrade to V6 and ITIL versions of Help
  Desk and Change Management.

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REI Case Study

• 3 Keys to Success
• The Support Center owns the product used to track
  your work.
• Share the wealth and responsibility
• Develop your implementation plan with the whole
  package in mind.

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REI Case Study

• 1.
• The Support Center owns the product used to track
  your work.
• The experts (Help Desk Staff) oversee the use of
  the process. They open more tickets than anyone
  else and know the workflow.
• The Help Desk staff understand the whole of the
  Category/Type/Item list.
• Help Desk staff act as coaches as each team
  creates their CTI and Severity matrix list.

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REI Case Study

• 2.
• Share the Wealth and Responsibility
• Dont just keep the tracking tool to yourselves.
  Get all service centers online. Examples HR,
  Facilities, Telecomm.
• Tie participation to the individuals and
  departments reviews. Make them responsible for
  their use of the system.
• Plan for regular reviews of the system to
  accommodate corporate changes.

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REI Case Study

• 3.
• Develop your implementation plan with the whole
  package in mind.
• Future costs to re-engineer will be avoided if
  you plan for upgrades now.
• Create a steering committee and have a full plan
  before you start using the tool.
• Set an upgrade schedule to predict costs and
  impacts. This will help in determining when best
  to install additional functionality.

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REI Case Study

• Reduce Support Costs Through Increased Back-End
  Operational Organization.
• (I swear I didnt come up with this title)
• AKA
• Work Smarter, Not Harder.
• Metrics.
• Change Management.
• Integration leads to Automation.

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REI Case Study

• Metrics
• Step 1 Determine what measurements you want to
  use with the new system.
• Step 2 Start your measurement immediately to
  create historic records.
• Step 3 Continue to review your numbers
  throughout the installation and training.
• Step 4 Report your progress to the whole company.

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REI Case Study

• Implement Change Management sooner than later.
• Track ALL changes.
• Track ALL changes.
• Yes, you even have to track those changes too!
• The power of change management to reduce the
  impact to your customer and eliminate the cost of
  duplicate efforts is the single most powerful
  piece of information here today. It is also to
  most difficult to implement.

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REI Case Study

• Integration leads to Automation
• Examples
• Automated Password Reset led to Automated Account
  Provisioning
• Remedy email service became fully automated
  ticket generation when tied to server monitoring
  tools.

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REI Case Study

• Give Customers the ability to provide ongoing
  feedback through surveys for improved business
  processes.
• Automatic surveys tied to the call tracking
  system allows support staff to proactively
  respond to the customers needs.
• You quickly identify and eliminate repetitive
  issues.
• You gain a clear understanding of where to focus
  your efforts by comparing perceived hot spots
  with statistical data.

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REI Case Study

• Summary
• Your Support Structure owns the product.
• Have a fully developed plan in place before you
  put any product into action.
• Use the tools to integrate the efforts of the IS
  division.
• Listen to your customers and report your work.
• It all ties to ITIL
• (See George Spaldings ITIL presentation today at
  230)

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REI Case Study

• ?
• (Questions)