Analyzing performance of a global help desk team operation - Country handoffs, efficiencies and costs

In this paper, we study the characteristics of a global help desk operation using Volvo IT support help desk. We analyze the incidents log produced by the Volvo IT department that gives the full path of an incident and the participating country and worker at each step. Our main goal is to gain a better understanding of the nature of international traffic flows that occur during the resolution of incidents. We find that increasing the number of participating countries negatively affects IT service efficiency metrics. Further, we breakdown international traffic flows (by high- and low-efficiency countries) and examine the country effects and their implications in terms of efficiency and cost in considerable detail. The results and insights gained are discussed at length and can help in optimizing incident resolution workflows from a cost, efficiency and resource allocation perspective.