Getting IT's Attention - News Briefs - Column

by Lincoln Spector

How to keep your technology needs from falling between the cracks

MARCIA TINGLEY, A TELEWORKER WITH the Hartford Financial Services Group in Hartford, Conn., had a pounding headache--the kind you get from battling a stubborn PC. Exasperated after spending hours trying to launch the company's new accounting software, Tingley called Hartford's information technology (IT) department for help.

For another few hours, she and her IT administrator worked together trying to fix the problem over the phone. Just before hanging up, defeated, the technician thought to ask Tingley if she had adjusted one simple setting.

The problem was resolved, but only after Tingley had lost a day of productivity. "If IT was able to work on my computer in person rather than over the phone, the problem would have been fixed much sooner," she laments.

One of the pluses to working in a corporate office is that there's always a support technician within earshot when your PC refuses to boot or Microsoft Outlook disappears from your desktop. When you're working alone, it's just you and the phone. While many teleworkers learn to troubleshoot most of their problems themselves, there are times when you just need to call IT. Here are some no-nonsense ways to build a lasting and friendly relationship with your corporate tech staff.

Request Training It's best to speak up about training issues before you start teleworking, says George M. Piskurich, Chapel Hill, N.C.-based author of An Organizational Guide to Telecommuting ($26; American Society for Training & Development). "If there are no training procedures for teleworkers, be assertive and ask for them," he says.

Companies are now using distance learning programs to teach teleworkers about their equipment. Hartford Financial Services Group, for example, uses Lotus LearningSpace 4.0 ($36 to $50 per user; 800-346-6409, www.lotus.com), a Web-based program, to create live, virtual classrooms for training far-flung teleworkers. Tingley says the program saved her from having to attend lengthy on-site IT training sessions.

Ask for a Company PC Although you can use a personal computer for business, your IT department can better support a PC that is equipped with hardware and software applications that are similar to your company's standard issue. For instance, Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich., supplies teleworkers with notebooks that can easily be shipped back to the company for repairs. "It makes more sense than issuing a desktop computer since teleworkers can bring the equipment back to the office themselves," explains Cher Lindenmuth, a teleworking data analyst at Ford.

Learn the Ropes Before trouble strikes, take the time to learn how your IT department works. Maybe your IT workers prefer to receive only one voice-mail message --not two or three. Then again, some support technicians welcome consistent reminders to respond to your call.

Is there a specific protocol for company telecommuters? Some firms with formal telework programs --such as Lexis-Nexis in Dayton--have a special hotline for home-based workers in need of technical troubleshooting. But if you have access only to a general IT department phone number, make sure to immediately identify yourself as a teleworker so the technician can look up your file.

Check the Connection You don't want a reputation of being the ditsy teleworker who cried wolf. Before calling for help, check common culprits. Is there a loose connection from your mouse to your keyboard that's making the cursor freeze? Or maybe your computer is temporarily acting dumb, something that pushing the reset button twice might fix.

"One of the most common problems we hear about is the lack of a dial tone for the modem," says Alfred Aboulsaad, a Burbank, Calif.-based help desk analyst who bails out technology-challenged teleworkers for Warner Music Group. "When that happens, 99 percent of the time it's because there's something wrong between the wall and the computer--perhaps a loose plug or a worn, twisted phone cord."

Dial-up connections can cause chaos for teleworkers, warns Aboulsaad. He remembers one Warner employee calling to complain that he couldn't change his password while logged on to the company's system. "When I directed him on how to fix the problem, I heard the phone clicking," he says. "I didn't realize until that point that this was a teleworker dialing in to the help desk. Our security system won't let you change your password while dialing in from outside."

Be Prepared Before you call, have written setup information handy so IT can get to work on your problem even if you can't access the network or read your hard disk. "Always keep your dial-up number, networking information, and setup guide in your laptop case," suggests Aboulsaad. In addition, write down--word for word any error messages that pop up on your screen. Also expect to relate what programs you were running when your problems started.

Stay Calm and Cool Take a deep breath before you pick up the phone. Frantic teleworkers make IT technicians cranky. "The nicer you are, the better support you'll receive," says Deidra Alexander, a manager of flexible work environments for Lexis-Nexis who teleworks from her home office in Maryland.

When all else fails, your IT department may deploy someone to your house to correct the problem. According to LeeAnn Kuster, an AT&T district manager who supervises employees in New Jersey from her home in Phoenix, AT&T's support team does just that. "When I'm in technical distress, AT&T simply dispatches someone [a technical specialist] in my area to my home office rather than having me travel to the corporate office," she says.

Work Smart IT experts recommend working on documents locally to avoid a computer crash. "Don't edit a file while on the company network from your home machine, especially if you have a dial-up connection," urges Alexander. "To preserve and safeguard your work, download what you need, get offline, work on it, then go back online and upload it again"

Back Up Data Dairy Get into the best habit that's sure to circumvent severe disasters: Back up your hard disk. It generally takes only one or two incidents of lost files before people get serious about backing up work, says Aboulsaad.

Keep Your System Current Software upgrades are a fact of corporate life, but teleworkers are often the last in line to get them. Says Piskurich: "Ask your boss to let IT know you feel left out of the loop, and ask that they update you sooner next time."

However diligent you are at keeping track of upgrades, you may miss a beat. "I needed to upgrade my calendar program," says Tingley. "But IT didn't realize I had an older version of the software than everyone else had, so the instructions didn't work." Now she keeps a list and knows to always tell IT first what version software she has installed on her computer.

Don't forget about keeping your anti-virus software current, too. Though your computer likely has a preinstalled version, it's up to you to make sure you keep up to date with IT's upgrades.

Suggest Outsourcing Finally, if you find that your IT department is too busy with in-house requests to give you proper attention, suggest your company hire an outsource service, like CenterBeam Inc. (www.centerbeam.com), to service its remote employees.