Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 826 Computer Service and Repair Help Desk A help desk is a central point of contact that provides technical support to clients. Th e clients may be company employees or customers. Contact is by telephone or e-mail. Examples of organizations that typically provide help desk support are Internet service providers (ISPs), hardware and software manufacturers, corporate businesses, and educational and governmental institutions. Th e help desk is the fi rst level of support used to resolve common computer hardware and software problems. In most instances, a service request and a repair ticket are generated from the fi rst moment of contact with a client. Th e help desk can be a dedicated, single location or part of a larger organization such as a call center, as shown in Figure 24-1. Call Center A call center is typically a large collection of support people located in a common facility equipped with telephones and computer network support. Many call centers provide support for more than one company or product. Th e center may be located anywhere in the world. Call center employees do not necessarily have the technical skills required for repairing computer-related problems. Th ey are more likely trained to read prepared scripts correlated to the most common general problems. If they cannot adequately fi x the problem, the support request is forwarded to the next level of a repair tech- nician. Th is repair technician is usually located at the company who manufactures the equipment or writes the software. For example, a large company such as Cisco could outsource its fi rst level of support to a call center. If the call center cannot im- mediately resolve the problem, the support request is forwarded to the next level of support, which may be a technician located at Cisco who is trained to handle more diffi cult problems requiring intervention by a person with much more expertise. Small Business Service Counter Small businesses are said to be the backbone of the American economy. Over half of all American employment opportunities are in small businesses. You will very likely start your career in a small business environment. You may even start your own small business. In the small business environment, you will meet face-to-face with customers regularly. Good customer relation skills are a key factor in your success. Goodheart-Willcox Publisher Figure 24-1 In the help desk model (A), the help desk is part of the company. In the call center model (B), the help desk is part of a call center, which provides support for many different businesses. Help Desk Model Help desk A Call center Business 3 Business 2 Call Center Model Business 1 B