I’ve had the privilege to serve and support church and ministry IT needs for more than 25 years. In that time, I’ve read tens of thousands of help desk tickets, text messages and email pleas for help, and I’ve listened to countless voicemails expressing concern that “something is wrong.”
As resources wane, it becomes harder for churches and ministries to afford IT support and technology resources. Fortunately, there are ways you can be more efficient with the IT support resources you have now.
President @ MBS, Inc.
Director of Technology @ Faith Ministries
When I refer to the “help desk,” that can be a formal support and ticketing system, or just whoever you contact when you need tech support.
Our suggestion is to avoid bombarding a single person’s email or texts with all your church’s support needs. That creates bottlenecks and isn’t sustainable as support needs grow. It can also overwhelm the person, especially if he or she is a volunteer.
Instead, there are many free help desk management systems out there to help you better manage your support requests and ensure continuance of operations if that person ever decides to stop supporting you.
Help me help you
As you submit your requests for support, here are some suggestions to help your help desk be as efficient as possible so your support process can respond quickly.
Don’t say too little. A request that just reads, “My computer isn’t working” will significantly slow resolution times; now, a lot of back-and-forth communication is required to find out what isn’t working.
Granted, the reason you’re submitting the request is because you don’t know what’s wrong. Still, try to give the details of what happened that caused you to conclude that your computer isn’t working. What were you doing and clicking on when the problem happened?
Don’t say too much. What? I know … but stick with me.
Some support requests can take longer to read than to resolve. While you want to give more details than “It’s broken,” you don’t want to get overly emotional. If you find yourself justifying your support request or explaining how the world will stop orbiting the sun if your support request doesn’t get resolved in the next five minutes, then you might be saying too much.
Stick to the facts of the issue and the details you know. If you feel you must convince IT support that you and your request matter, then you have another issue to resolve with leadership regarding your role and the role of IT support.
Don’t stop responding. A lot of efficiency is lost when a request turns into a cold case. If the issue is worth submitting as best you can, please continue communicating if questions must be answered for clarification.
If your needs change, update the request so your IT support doesn’t spend time chasing issues that have changed or no longer matter. Everyone’s time is valuable, and this is a great way to work together.
Otherwise, our suggestion is this: if a request goes cold, for IT support to close it — and if the urgency arises again — the user can inquire again.
Don’t deviate from the process. If your organization has a help desk, don’t text the IT staff when the websites go down. Use the existing process. Deviation can slow down response time and, ultimately, resolution.
If an issue is widespread, trust that your IT support knows about it. If your website is down, is it efficient for IT to get 20 tickets all saying the same thing?
EFFICIENCY GOES BOTH WAYS
While these suggestions can help your IT support be more efficient, there are also some things your IT support should be doing.
Show empathy. While users might say too little or too much, a dash of empathy can go a long way. If you’re assuming the worst, IT support might not be for you.
Respond. All requests should get a response. If your IT support system is a black hole, you should correct that as soon as possible.
Use your process. If users aren’t using the process, work with leadership on a solution. If there is a major issue, send a staff-wide email or notice so everyone knows you’re aware and are involved. This helps users not feel alone in the dark.
Ultimately, accountability to your organization’s IT support policies falls to leadership. They should hold IT accountable to be responsive and communicate well. They should also help users help IT be as efficient as possible. If users don’t trust IT, that should be addressed before any policy changes are implemented.
IT support is a two-way street; your organization’s leadership should be managing that traffic. They should help determine how much communication versus working requests IT does. They should help set user expectations and ensure the support traffic is flowing. They should be regularly listening to both sides to ensure technology is not viewed as a necessary evil, but a valued tool for greater ministry effectiveness.
Jonathan Smith is the President of MBS, Inc. and the Director of Technology at Faith Ministries in Lafayette, Ind. He is an author and frequent conference speaker. Follow him on X @JonathanESmith.
