#198: Saint Mary's Student-Run Help Desk + SolarWinds' 3X ROI Higher Ed Solutions [EDUCAUSE 2024]
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Featuring:
Kathy Hausmann, Director of Digital Infrastructure and Support Services at Saint Mary's College
Tyler Horning, Senior Account Manager, Central Region, Public Sector, SolarWinds
What You’ll Learn:
Saint Mary's Student-Run IT Support Evolution
Discover how Saint Mary's College transformed from post-it note tracking to a sophisticated Web Help Desk system that resolves nearly 50% of tickets within one day
Explore their innovative two-tier support model: ResNet (student tech support) and Help Desk (faculty/staff support), both primarily staffed by students
Learn how this IT experience creates a powerful talent pipeline, with former student workers landing positions at Google, JPMorgan Chase, and other major companies
Comprehensive Student Training and Support Operations
Inside Saint Mary's multi-phase training program: 3½ days of focused instruction followed by immersive orientation weekend experience that covers "everything they'll see in an academic year"
How the FAQ feature creates invisible success stories by helping students solve problems independently without completing ticket submissions
The critical philosophy of teaching student staff it's "okay to say 'I don't know'" and escalate issues to supervisors
SolarWinds Partnership and Customized Solutions
How Web Help Desk's customization enables Saint Mary's to tailor experiences for different campus populations (including the "three strikes" system for students vs. automated reminders for faculty/staff)
Impressive ROI metrics across higher education: 51% of institutions report 1-2x investment return with 17% seeing 3x return, and some seeing value within just 5 days of implementation
The power of automated workflows, escalations, and knowledge base development in creating efficient support operations
Looking Beyond Technology
Why Kathy recommends IT support jobs for students across ALL disciplines: "Nursing majors learn troubleshooting, education majors gain classroom-relevant skills, philosophy majors can thrive"
Tyler's advice to students: "Absorb as much as you can, understand the broader organizational flow, and learn how to solve others' problems"
How Saint Mary's exemplifies higher education's common challenges (understaffing, budget constraints) while creating innovative solutions through student empowerment
Timestamps
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:00:58) Meet the innovators: SolarWinds and Sa
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