The close partnership between the University of Helsinki’s IT Centre (Tike) and Unigrafia has been ongoing since 2016. IT Manager Mari Nurmi shares how the collaboration with Unigrafia has worked in practice and what kind of impact it has had on the daily operations of the IT Centre.
Mari Nurmi works as an IT Manager in Tike’s customer support. The IT Centre’s support unit includes the Helpdesk and on-site support teams across the university’s campuses, and it is also responsible for IT procurement. As the unit’s supervisor and head of operations, Mari has a full plate. So how did it all begin?
“We started working with Unigrafia when we needed more agility and speed in Helpdesk recruitment. Turnover in the Helpdesk has traditionally been quite high, and recruiting new staff takes a lot of time – time that is naturally taken away from other tasks. We wanted to free up our internal resources for development work and learning,” Nurmi explains.
Initially, Unigrafia helped recruit a few new Helpdesk employees in cooperation with the Helpdesk’s team leads. Soon after, a new team lead from Unigrafia joined the effort, allowing the partnership to grow even stronger. Regular, informal contact between Unigrafia and the client quickly boosted the efficiency of development work.
“Unigrafia’s staff now handle the majority of the Helpdesk’s core tasks. The response rate for support requests and overall customer satisfaction are excellent. This frees up our own staff to focus on developing their specialist skills and taking on new responsibilities.
The biggest benefit of our collaboration with Unigrafia has been the speed and ease of recruitment. When someone leaves the Helpdesk, we can bring in a new colleague with the right skills quickly,” Nurmi says.
On-site support “front” role sorts requests with efficiency
Tike has also introduced a new role within its on-site support teams – the “Front” support role. Staffed by Unigrafia, this person handles incoming quick-fix support tickets centrally. The Unigrafia technician either resolves these urgent issues directly or routes them to the appropriate specialist.
This structure has given Tike more breathing room to focus on complex issues and core responsibilities. The front support role was piloted for a year at the Viikki and Helsinki City Centre campuses, with excellent results. The model has now been permanently adopted in both teams.
A super team built on a streamlined recruitment process
Unigrafia’s supervisor works closely with the team, tracking service development and identifying any evolving resourcing needs. Thanks to this successful collaboration model, Unigrafia’s Helpdesk and on-site support recruits integrate smoothly into the existing Tike teams.
Managers from both Tike and Unigrafia work hand in hand, which positively impacts team cohesion and atmosphere. Everyone feels part of the same group, and this great internal dynamic is noticeable to the end users of IT services:
“The support was professional and friendly. You must have a great work atmosphere there.”
Mari Nurmi agrees:
“Our collaboration with Unigrafia has gone smoothly from the beginning. We’ve been able to speak openly and honestly throughout. Our needs have been heard, and we’ve developed the operations together. The efficient recruitment process designed by Unigrafia has also had a positive effect, allowing us at Tike to focus on more demanding specialist tasks.”
The strong partnership continues, and both parties remain actively engaged in improving their processes. In recent years, special attention has been paid to customer satisfaction. One Unigrafia team member now even serves as a Customer Experience Coordinator. Others work as queue managers, chatbot trainers, and quality assurance specialists – a real dream team of colleagues!
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