Help Desk First Responders
On an average weekday the Information Services Help Desk receives 120 tickets—that is 120 requests for technology assistance. Some are service requests such as a request for a cable or a request for access to a computer system. Others are incidents: people reporting problems with technology. The Help Desk accepts all technology support calls, helping students, faculty and staff.
Four Help Desk team members make up the front line of support for the university community. They are the ones who first receive a request for support. Jay Einck and Taylor Lowrey answer the phones and respond to requests that come in via email or through the IS portal, SpiderTechNet. Earl Lewis and Chris Woods provide support at the walk-in Help Desk.
On a typical day, Jay logs into the support system before the workday begins, checking every message in the Help Desk mailbox that has come in overnight, watching for any high-priority incidents or requests. At 8:30 he starts answering calls that come in. While he handles portal tickets, phone calls, and email messages, he updates and creates Knowledge Base articles on SpiderTechNet. Taylor comes in later in the morning. She is on hand to answer calls and help with tickets until the Help Desk closes at 7:30 p.m.
Earl opens up the physical Help Desk every morning at 8:30. Typical issues that come in include password resets, computer screen repairs, and problems with hard drives. Mid-morning Chris arrives. He keeps the Help Desk open until 7:30 weeknights. In addition to assisting walk-in needs, Chris works on computer replacements, printers, and he also works on technology support for events and conferences.
While 88% of incident tickets are closed on the first call and most walk-up tickets are resolved in 10 minutes, sometimes an issue requires additional support. Other members from the Help Desk are brought in to aid in the resolution of those tickets (an article on the rest of the Help Desk team is coming in March 2026). Every now and then an unusual support request comes in. An undergraduate student came in last summer saying her computer was filled with ants. Sure enough, when Earl opened the system up, ants were crawling everywhere. With patience and a can of compressed air, he was able to clear the literal bugs from her system.
In the end, helping students, faculty, and staff resolve their technology support issues is rewarding to everyone on the team. Earl’s favorite moments come with things like recovering someone’s files that had been lost. Chris has enjoyed getting to know everyone on campus. Taylor has on more than one occasion been someone’s "hero." And Jay describes a "quiet satisfaction" knowing that his experience and skills have prevented a bigger issue or just made someone’s day easier. It is good work at the IS Help Desk, and the first responders appreciate the chance to help everyone at Richmond.