Survey Results: Customers Talk, OIT Listens

Posted: 4/7/08

The OIT’s annual customer satisfaction survey provides important information about campus needs and attitudes toward technology.  Analysis of the results is a crucial part of the OIT’s effort to measure its performance and continually improve amid today’s rapid changes in technology.

The OIT conducted the survey from Oct. 29 through Nov. 2, 2007, and invited responses from the entire faculty, staff, and student population. The latest survey asked key customer groups—faculty, students, and staff—a wide variety of questions about Notre Dame’s technology needs and how well the OIT is helping meet its organizational goals.

• About 7% of the students completed the survey.
• About 21% of the faculty completed the survey.
• About 8% of the staff completed the survey.
• Of those responding to the survey, 11% of students, 36% of faculty, and 20% of staff provided additional written comments, a much larger number than in any previous survey.

The survey covered a wide range of systems and services—from the human touch of the Help Desk to the automatic filtering of spam to different choices for Internet connectivity, cellular phone service, and computer operating systems

Specific questions probed groups’ general perceptions about the kinds of services deemed most important, how well the OIT provided those services, and new opportunities for the OIT to build customer relationships based on expertise and responsiveness.

These survey results are invaluable in helping the OIT better meet the information technology needs of the Notre Dame community, be it in support of teaching and learning, research, administration or providing commodity IT services across the campus.

Here are some highlights from the most recent survey:

• About half of the faculty and staff and a quarter of Notre Dame students would recommend the OIT to a friend.  Faculty and staff listed the OIT Help Desk as their top source for IT information, while students more often turn to friends and family.  The OIT is taking actions to make the Help Desk more accessible and convenient to use, by increasing Help Desk hours and investigating additional methods of access to consulting.
• More than 80% of faculty, staff and students feel that e-mail is the OIT’s most important service, and the majority of them are highly satisfied with that service.
• There is a correlation between the importance placed on a service and the level of satisfaction with the OIT’s provision of that service. For example, faculty say wired network connections are the second most crucial service, but only 31% reported high satisfaction.
• Faculty are highly satisfied with the classroom technology available to them, especially the large screen projectors in many of the University’s technology classrooms.
• Some 80% of students said wireless network connections were important, and 50% said they are highly satisfied with the OIT’s services in this regard.
• Spam filtering was judged a very important service by strong majorities of faculty and staff, and grades of “high satisfaction” came from 48% and 42% of those groups, respectively.
• Among the cellular phone subscribers, the percentage of respondents satisfied with cell phone coverage on campus fell from 77% to 70% in the latest survey.   At the same time, cell phone use increased significantly, from 75% last year to 84% this year.  Residence halls got the lowest marks for students’ perception of cell phone reception.

The written comments, both negative and positive, break down into five main categories that focus on the areas of greatest interest to campus:

• OIT’s Help Desk and support services
• E-mail, spam filtering, course management, and other central services
• Printing and computer labs
• Cell phones and wireless
• Infrastructure (network, central storage, cable TV)

This survey lays the groundwork for more detailed, focused, and customer-centered dialogue that will help the OIT constantly improve its service to students, faculty and staff while supporting the strategic objectives of Notre Dame.

OIT Communications Team