Start your day the EUEM way and keep your IT support worries away
It’s always “the little things” – end-user PC hangs and crashes, long start-up times, etc. – that keep sysadmins tied up with support tickets and away from higher priority work. End User Experience Management (EUEM) tools give IT teams what they need to proactively reduce those frustrations and keep end-users productive and happy.
In short
- Getting a cup of coffee can be a great way to start the workday -- but not when you’re getting one because your PC takes forever to boot up.
- Painfully slow PCs and flaky network connections are more than a little annoying when you have a ton of work or when people are waiting for you to start a presentation or a call.
- It’s “the little things” that can make the difference between being productive and being stressed out.
- End User Experience Management tools give IT teams the info and insights needed to spot and solve – or even prevent – endpoint device problems early. It also helps keep users happy and frees sysadmins to focus on more important stuff.
As a product manager, I often go from meeting to meeting. I depend on a reliable notebook battery, so I don’t have to hunt for a close-enough power outlet in every room. Recently, my
laptop battery performance plummeted, with urgent low-power notifications and even shutdowns before I could plug in. The sudden failures were both inexplicable and
maddening. Then IT department analyzed historical data from my laptop and determined exactly when the defect first became a problem.
Of course, I'm not the only one with such device problems that lead to frustration and reduced productivity. The good news is that many common problems are either
predictable or even avoidable when IT teams use tools for End
User Experience Management. Let me share four typical examples.
1. Slow start-up times
PC start-up times are one of the first things that IT staff can proactively include in EUEM monitoring. Ideally, users should not feel like they have time to get or drink
their first cup of morning tea or coffee while their systems boot up.
Generally speaking, IT admins can start by analyzing:
- What is the average start time?
- Are individual endpoints or types or groups of endpoints especially slow?
- Are there certain periods when start-up takes an unusually long time?
- Which software and hardware components are in the affected devices?
- Do certain start-up steps or processes, e.g., software/antivirus update checks, cloud syncing, etc., hold things up?
This and other information can be captured with EUEM solutions and enable IT admins to proactively eliminate the problems through software updates, hardware replacements or other steps. Beyond the typical issues, EUEM data can also help IT teams analyze and find solutions for other idiosyncratic or transient start-up behaviors.
2. Program crashes
It is not uncommon for different program versions to cause problems. Excel is a good example. In the past, Microsoft made repeated changes to the range of functions in different versions,
resulting in things like macros that no longer worked or calculations that were wrong. But it was not always obvious why an Excel file was fine in one version but not in another.
That’s why it makes sense for IT teams to use EUEM to regularly check which applications or versions of an application crash more often and which are more reliable.
3. Battery performance over time
The batteries in laptops and other devices naturally lose capacity over time and have to be charged more often. Performance degradation usually occurs slowly over time but
may not be apparent to users. To reduce the number of charging cycles and prolong battery life, employees should conserve their devices when able by ensuring that they only
have applications open that are currently in use.
Users often do not notice reduced battery performance or realize the true extent. After a repeated instances of insufficient battery capacity, frustration sets in. That’s
when the user submits a support ticket and waits impatiently for it to be processed.
IT teams can address this annoyance early with appropriate EUEM software. It can help admins proactively recognize the problem, order a new battery, and invite the employee
to a quick pit stop for a battery swap BEFORE they get frustrated.
4. Loss of speed
High memory usage and the associated loss of speed are also a nuisance in everyday work. A frequent cause is the heavy use of browsers and/or applications which use browser
technology.
When a computer runs low on available memory, it uses its hard drive as a virtual RAM swap space. This is an additional CPU and energy hog – which translates into a
significant loss of performance, especially in older devices that do have an SSD.
At the same time, computers generally tend to get slower over time. This is usually due to new software with new background processes, drivers and other accessories. In addition, OS updates
typically require more processor and memory resources than their predecessors.
Slowdowns sometimes can be reduced or eliminated by "cleaning up" the registry, removing old software, or similar measures. Ultimately, reinstallation often helps everything run faster
until the computer requires upgrading or replacement. EUEM can alert IT admins to these factors early on so they can be addressed before performance suffers too much.
Stamping out sparks before they become fires
These four simple examples show how EUEM can help to improve employee satisfaction. On top of that, a proactive approach can also significantly improve productivity
and reduce the number of open tickets in the ticketing system. According to the “Global IT Experience Benchmark H2/2022”, users lose an average of 4h 31m per month due to IT
problems.
Regular maintenance using EUEM tools like the baramundi module Argus Experience and proactive evaluation of
collected data can reduce or prevent declines in productivity. It also saves everyone’s time and nerves. Then the morning coffee has its original function restored: namely
enjoyment. In my next blog article, I will take a look at the value of EUEM from a business perspective.
Proactive and productive
If you want to know more about how to ensure a better working atmosphere and increase productivity, I recommend looking at our baramundi Management Suite product brochure. The breadth and depth of its modular capabilities alone will help you think about how to take a comprehensive approach to improving both sysadmin and end-user experiences and efficiency.
Download here
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