It bears mentioning that I type this whilst on my very first Amtrak ride from CT to Philly. Heading to see a creative demo and my coworkers are fortunate I’m not wearing a play conductors hat I’m so excited about this ‘first’. Anyway, the actual and proverbial trains have left the station – both BRP as well as our help desk physical relocation.

The feedback I’ve received over the course of the past four months has been very diverse, but includes a lack or perceived lack of service in our tech help desk area. We’ve made some changes to address the concerns, not least of all a relocation from the nearly most remote area of campus to the very center itself – the library.

My surprise at being offered such prime real estate within our beautiful library was only outweighed by my surprise at the source of the sole complaining about the move – a handful within my very own department.

“It’ll never work.”
“Well now what on earth will do? Isn’t this their job?”

Um. No. We are the IT department. It’s our job to support technology on our campus. Hmm so the new location isn’t quite as convenient as the current location? Well that makes sense seeing as how WE’RE NOT THE CUSTOMER. Is this feedback really happening? Yes. And apparently it’s common, per this article:

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/byod-and-get-walk-service

So we’re in the construction phase. Move to new location sometime over the summer. A strong testament to the importance of a big-picture strategic vision for improvement in technology service with a realization of, ‘If it will never work, it’s not because it’s the wrong direction, it’s because people are afraid of change.’ You can’t fear change and work with technology.

So coming soon, Summer 2013, our train arrives and a tangible response to a need on campus will be heard as we open our help desk in the midst of the masses. Even more exciting than Amtrak!