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In-House Support for Mobile Device Services

The UIT Service Desk provides a higher level of service and support at a lower cost
Wednesday, June 1, 2016

If your cellphone or mobile device is provided by Stanford, the University IT Service Desk is your source for expert mobile device support. 

On March 1, the University IT Service Desk began providing in-house support for Stanford-owned mobile devices, replacing an outside vendor.

And that’s no small challenge. There are nearly 10,000 Stanford-owned mobile devices, including phones, iPads, and data cards.

In the three months since bringing Mobile Device Services (MDS) support in house, client satisfaction has improved, said Mellani Miller, manager of MDS. The UIT Service Desk is handling an average of 760 mobile device calls each month.

“We continue to receive positive feedback about this change from our clients,” Miller said. “The consensus is that working with the UIT Service Desk is much easier.”


Mellani Miller, University IT

Cost increases and service growth prompted decision

Prior to March, MDS was using an off-campus vendor to provide activation and troubleshooting support. With the contract coming up for renewal, the team was faced with a significant cost increase and concern that the vendor wasn’t meeting clients’ service expectations. What’s more, the service had grown from supporting 4,000 devices at the start of the contract to more than double in just eight years.

“We are always looking for opportunities to provide better service, increase efficiency, and save money,” Miller said.

To meet those goals, the team turned to the UIT Service Desk, which was already providing troubleshooting support for the unique requirements of using mobile devices at Stanford, such as complying with the university’s security standards.

The advantages to bringing all of the support in house were clear:

  • New automation delivered by the phone carriers, such as AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, meant activation support was becoming less burdensome.
  • Support delivery through the UIT Service Desk resulted in efficiency and consistency.
  • The change promised a higher level of service and support at a lower cost.

Preparing for change, realizing success

To prepare for the switch, the MDS team created an extensive knowledgebase full of processes, useful account information, and easy-to-use email templates. They worked with the UIT Service Desk to add new staff with extensive mobile device experience.

Since making the change, the MDS team experienced other benefits it had not anticipated.

“We are able to identify service outages sooner, allowing for us to resolve carrier issues for our clients faster,” Miller said. “We are more proactive and less reactive in creating new processes and efficiencies.”

Learn more

For more information about UIT Mobile Device Services, visit the Mobile Device Services website.

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