In a presentation entitled “Staffing Strategies for the 21stCentury” by Katherine Spencer Lee, Executive Director at Robert Half Technology (September 18, 2008), the following IT staffing metrics were presented:
A Robert Half Technology* survey asked 1,400 CIOs to compare …
Actual versus ideal ratio of internal end-users to technical support employees at their company
- Mean response for Actual was 136:1
- Mean response for Ideal was 82:1
Technical Support Center staffs are 40 percent smaller, on average, than optimal.
Mobile vs Static staffing ratios:
- There is a baseline ratio around 90 customers per analyst.
- Technical and mobile user bases earn a lower ratio due to higher complexity (1:80-110)
- Fewer analysts required for non-technical and static users (1:120-160)
Organizational goals should help set staffing levels:
- Compete at the cutting edge of innovation (25:1 to 50:1)
- Compete on full service and overall value (60:1 t0 100:1)
- Compete on thin cost margin and scalability (125:1 to 200:1)
A complete copy of the Robert Half presentation can be found here.
Purchasing the newest technologies and implementing best practices might not be enough to improve the IT Service Desk – IT efficiency starts from support staff, are they properly skilled and correctly allocated? http://plannetplc.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/mind-the-skill-gap/