We interact with and help build the user experience for numerous departments across the University. Lillian: We touch every HUIT managed asset and help students with personally owned devices. The University has done an amazing job at creating resources in many different areas, from testing to compliance, and safety, and we want to ensure callers get the information they need to alleviate stress around COVID-related concerns. We have this line set up to deal directly with concerns surrounding COVID. Everyone knows we help when their computer doesn’t work, but we do much more than that-the COVID Connector Hotline is an example of this. What don’t people know about you and what your team does?Ĭhris: Many people don’t understand the depth and variety of the calls we receive. We deliver support and guidance to our community via phone, email, and chat. Jose Neto: As one of the supervisors for the Harvard University IT Service Desk, I help manage a team of technicians who are the “first line of defense” when it comes to IT issues and questions in our community. We have also had over 4,000 assets that have shipped across the United States. For the last year, we have focused on enabling remote teaching and learning and transitioning Harvard staff to a complete work from home environment. We manage 3,000 refreshed machines a year and support approximately 10,000 endpoints. Our team procures, provisions and supports all devices for faculty, staff, and students. We are located at the Science Center building and are a part of the Field Support Team. Lillian Castro: I am a manager at the Walk-In Support Center. Our goal is to make technology easier and reduce downtime and frustration related to IT. We also answer the Harvard University general number and recently started the COVID Connector line. What do you do and what is your team's biggest contribution?Ĭhris Nadeau: My team provides IT support for all faculty, staff, and students in CADM, FAS, multiple graduate schools, and other departments/programs. Lillian Castro, Walk-In Support Center Manager, Chris Nadeau, Assistant Director for HUIT Service Desk, and Jose Neto, Supervisor, IT Partner Support, talk about supporting the University during this uniquely challenging time. In addition to supporting this massive effort, they simultaneously took on the important role of connecting callers world-wide to Harvard-based COVID information and resources via the COVID Connector Hotline. The HUIT Service Desk and Field Team, a source of front-line technical support for the University, has been busier than ever since last March’s transition to remote work and learning. Image from left to right: Lillian Castro, Chris Nadeau, and Jose Neto.