White Papers | A Conversation with Dena Rafte about IS Helpdesk
Q: What is IS Helpdesk?
Dena Rafte, president and chief executive officer of Rafte & Company: IS Helpdesk was born from the concept of helping the staff members to be more productive in a cost-effective manner. We have a team here ready to take calls that are specifically oriented to law firm applications.
Q: How is it different from other help desk outsourcing options?
DR: We’re not a generic technology company trying to break into the legal field. We’re a legal technology company that’s been working with law firms for nearly a quarter of a century. IS Helpdesk is a cost-effective option that is designed specifically with law firms in mind.
Q: Can you expand on that?
DR: We know that law firms aren’t using Microsoft Word in the generic sense and they’re using sophisticated financial applications tailored for the law firm environment such as Juris. So we can answer their questions with a clear understanding of how they specifically use the various legal technology applications and an understanding of the law firm environment. There’s real value to that. And since the firm doesn’t have to pay for a full time person sitting in their office and they can share that cost amongst many firms, it makes it financially viable. So far it’s been getting glowing reviews.
Q: When did the service get started?
DR: We created the concept about six months ago and we’ve been in a testing mode, which has been successful. We have it activated with one client and I’ve just spoken with that client because I wanted to see what kind of reference I’d get and she’s ecstatic.
Q: You started offering the service in a beta test earlier in the year and you had one client helping you test it out?
DR: It is important to understand that we’ve always offered a technical support desk as part of our Technology Consulting Service offerings, which we call IS Offsite. This new service, IS Helpdesk is really application-driven, while IS Offsite is more comprehensive, offering help desk assistance for all sorts of technology problems. They are two different offerings, but we’ve had the help desk concept going for more than five years.
Q: What is Technology Consulting Services?
DR: Technology Consulting Services is one of the four core service offerings under Rafte Proxy Services. The others are Legal Process Consulting, Business Operations Consulting and Application Consulting. Technology Consulting Services provide outsourced support for law firm network infrastructure. We typically provide technical support for firm-wide issues, such as when the e-mail server goes down. We structure it as a monthly contract that can encompass everything from the firm that needs just the bare minimum of support at five hours per month up to firm who wants someone onsite full time. In contrast, IS Helpdesk is part of our Application Consulting service offerings and it primarily handles end user issues. The person who would answer the phone on an IS Helpdesk call is an applications person, somebody who knows legal applications inside and out.
Q: I would imagine that most firms have someone who has this responsibility currently. What have you heard from them? Are they worried that you are taking their power away with IS Helpdesk?
DR: One of the things that’s neat about this is that typically the firm administrator – or whoever the go-to person is at the firm – has a big headache in this arena. He or she is the one people are coming to complaining that they can’t get their work done because the technology isn’t working properly. The administrators then have to call a third party or try to fix it themselves. The way this system is designed is the end users call us directly. So administers like it because it frees them from that burden and what we’ve found in testing is that it really doesn’t make any difference whether the person at the helpdesk is sitting in a remote location.
Q: Have you hired people to staff IS Helpdesk?
DR: Yes. We’ve hired three in addition to our existing staff. We always have a senior technical person in the office to answer phone calls. We’ve found that the faster we can expedite the call, the happier the client is. So we never have the office uncovered.
Q: Are the people you have staffing IS Helpdesk certified in these various programs?
DR: Yes they are Microsoft certified, Juris certified, etc. However, while I believe that certification is important, we’ve found that it isn’t nearly as important as experience. The senior technical people that are on IS Helpdesk have been with Rafte & Company for at least five years.
Q: What criteria do you believe are most important for firms to consider when evaluating whether IS Helpdesk would be a good fit for them?
DR: Our experience is an enormous benefit to them. Additionally, our client base is made up of law firms, so we understand the environment. They’ve trained in the law firm environment and have done support work. We also make an ongoing commitment to professional development to ensure our staff’s skills and knowledge remains up to date. The training also informs our people about the best practices for these legal technology applications so we can share them with our clients.
Q: What are the hurdles you’re facing?
DR: Our biggest challenge is to get over the hurdle of firms that are struck by the newness of the concept. We hear a lot of, “We’ve never provided this service for our staff.” In the big firms this level of attention for aiding staff is expected. In the smaller firms it has never been provided, but we expect that to change when they realize the positive impact IS Helpdesk can have on staff productivity.
