Helpdesk SLA

In my experience, there is not such a beast as an average helpdesk.

It's all according to what type of helpdesk you are operating.

There are two main types in I.T. Call logging where the helpdesk operative just takes the details and then passes them on. I can't see this sort of call lasting longer than five minutes at most. For this type of helpdesk, all you need is a reasonably bright person who can take details accurately (eg, makes sure the phone number and location of the user is correct). The 2nd type of helpdesk is where the operator has to resolve as many as possible, maybe using remote access software, these calls can take anything up to half an hour, and then there are all the helpdesks which are a mix of the two.

Personally, I think that having more technical people on first line with remote access, is better that just having call loggers. It gives a more professional appearance to the end users or customers. However, the problem here is that most techies do not always have the phone skills or patience required for first line support.

The worst helpdesks are where they employ call loggers with no experience and then expect them to resolve the calls at first line. A big no, no in my opinion.

Hope you can get some useful information out of this.

It sounds like you are talking about the length of the call vs. time to resolve the problem. Is this correct?

There are really too many unknowns to arrive at an "industry average."

The first issue is that there is no "average" helpdesk. The functions a helpdesk performs will vary from organization to organization. The average call length for a helpdesk whose only function is to log trouble tickets for resolution by technicians is going to be totally different from the average call length for a helpdesk whose functions include trying to resolve all but the most serious problems.

Some other unknowns:

Technical expertise of help desk personnel;
Ability of helpdesk personnel to communicate in language a non-technical user canunderstand;
Technical ability of user placing call;
Ability to control "chattiness" of both helpdesk personnel and users calling the helpdesk;
Complexity of the problem to be resolved;
and much more.

Based on the question title, it looks likeyou are looking for a time to put in your helpdesk's SLA. The best you can probably hope to accomplish is to look at your current operations and personnel, and derive an average from there. There is no use "promising" a specific length just because of a supposed "industry average". If your helpdesk doesn't provide the exact same functions, that "average" will mean nothing to you.

Hope this helps.