Coming this January: A New and Improved IT Help Desk!

New Help Desk for IT Support Is Just One of Many Technology Enhancements in the Works

Feedback from staff is critical to the process of improving the way we at VNSNY work and the resources we rely on to get our jobs done. At VNSNY Cafés, CHOICE Town Hall meetings and through our Employee Engagement surveys, we heard repeatedly that the difficulty in getting IT support from the Help Desk was frustrating.

Our IT department responded! As of January 16th, when you contact the IT Help Desk by phone or through the Intranet, you’re going to notice a vastly improved service—starting with speedier phone pickups, even when demand is heavy.

The company Unity BPO is taking over the staffing of VNSNY’s IT Help Desk. With this new partner in place, staff members’ calls will be answered more quickly and their IT issues will be resolved faster.

“The result will be less downtime and better productivity,” said Michael Orlando, Director of IT Services, who is overseeing the switch to Unity. The new Help Desk will be available 24/7, and will include a dedicated phone prompt for people to reset their passwords, which will make the password reset process much faster and easier. “Unity, which specializes in health care, has been providing us support for our HomeCare HomeBase platform for well over a year” adds Mike, “so the Help Desk will bring a unique expertise to VNSNY’s issues.”

An interview with Bob Plaszcz on other ways IT is working to make VNSNY a more efficient place to work:

Our IT department listens to what you tell us is impacting your ability to do your work well, and is focused on making improvements to our IT infrastructure and support systems to address areas of concern. Frontline spoke with VNSNY’s Chief Information Officer Bob Plaszcz to learn more about these new efforts.

New laptops and computers for staff. “In 2020, VNSNY will replace our oldest PCs and laptops with brand-new, Windows 10 computers that will be faster and more reliable,” he notes. “We’ll replace about 60% of our devices in the coming year and then we’ll continue replacing the remaining computers each year after that.”

Faster Internet service and computer functioning. “In 2020, we’re putting a new network design in place. We will improve the speed and bandwidth at all of our locations, which means greater network reliability, faster Internet service and computer functioning for staff members, as well as less risk of losing key data.”

More flexibility and security by moving to the cloud. “We’ve moved all of our applications to the cloud, which gives staff more flexibility by making it easier to implement software updates and new systems. It’s also a more secure environment and makes it easier to do work remotely.”

Enhanced call center and office phone platform. The new phone system will have improved capabilities and be less prone to problems. “We’ll be upgrading our Call Center phones first, then eventually we’ll also be putting in new phones across the Enterprise,” reports Bob. “Our IT teams are now in the process of determining exactly what our staff’s needs are, and what platform we’ll need to get there. You’ll be hearing more about this in the coming year!”