Success Story:
Dallas County, Texas
The Situation
With 2.4 million people, Dallas County is among the ten most populous in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For many years, Dallas County used the same vendor for outsourcing its information technology (IT) helpdesk. It was an expensive contract that no longer fulfilled the county's needs. So, Dallas County decided to change vendors.
The Dallas County helpdesk is a service organization functioning as the link between the county's IT department and various county entities. Those include elected officials, the sheriff's department, the county clerk's office and the department of health.
About 6,500 county officials and employees can call this helpdesk 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They use the helpdesk to resolve technology problems ranging from password resets to system failures. If the county's IT fails, the county jail can't book or release prisoners and couples can't obtain marriage licenses.
The Solution
Dallas County selected Farr Systems to manage the manage the selection of a new helpdesk vendor on its behalf. Farr Systems:
- defined the requirements
- built the request for proposal (RFP) to county regulations and standards
- interviewed and evaluated potential vendors
- managed the final selection process.
Working with the new vendor, and county employees, Farr Consultants oversaw the successful move to a new vendor. Farr Systems also ensured the services were operating when Dallas County went live with the new vendor.
The Result
Farr Systems created an equal playing field for all vendors, then secured a quality vendor to provide this important Dallas County service. Since then, Dallas County has lowered the contract cost by 30 percent. Also, Dallas County officials and employees have experienced better helpdesk service and reduced the time it takes to resolve an issue.
What Dallas County says:
"People don't realize the importance of the IT helpdesk function until things stop working," says Bob Clines, Dallas County's information technology director. "Farr Systems' consultants demonstrated their expertise by choosing a vendor that would provide quality service for a good price. Farr Systems is a firm that I trust to provide better options to solve the complex issues we sometimes face."
