Five employees will lose their jobs when Kent State contracts its Helpdesk services to an outside company that specializes in higher education. The desk provides support for Flashline, Vista and general computer problems. The changes are expected to take affect by the end of 2009.

The employees will have the opportunity to seek employment elsewhere within the university or take advantage of the university’s recent separation incentive package.

Christa Skiles, editorial communications manager for Information Services, said the transition will help lower costs and provide a better support structure for call management, incident management and knowledge management. An external provider will also improve the analysis of the root causes of problems, leading to reduced call volume.

“Once a vendor is selected, the proposal process will move into a period of contract negotiation. It is not until that time that we’ll know the amount of potential savings,” Skiles said.

Many companies that provide outsourcing services are able to do the work for less money because they may not provide benefits to their workers or they have fewer overhead expenses to worry about.

Information Services is in the process of investigating potential vendors, however, one has not been selected and no contract has been awarded.

The employees were notified in April of the transition and will continue to work until Dec. 31.

Contact principal reporter Kristyn Soltis at [email protected]