Terceirização de tecnologia da informação no setor público: service desk

Abstract

The expansion of higher education in Brazil, especially in public institutions, has brought administrative challenges, particularly for newly established federal universities, such as the Federal University of Jataí (UFJ). After the emancipation of this institution, the service overload increased, resulting a backlog of tasks and a lack of sufficient professionals to meet the growing demand for Information Technology (IT) solutions. The lack of an efficient Service Center to manage IT calls has compromised the organization of the services provided, impacting efficiency and user experience. Here, our, main objective was to analyze the efficiency of outsourcing the Service Desk as an alternative to optimize the response to IT service requests at the Secretariat of Technology and Information (SeTI) of UFJ. Our research adopted a quantitative and, exploratory approaches. The data were obtained through documentary research and case study. The number of calls handled in the years 2022 and 2023 was surveyed. To calculate the financial costs of the team of permanent and outsourced staff, information was collected from the Pro- Rectorate of Human Resources (PROPESSOAS) and the Pro-Rectorate of Administration and Finance (PROAD). Additionally, quotes regarding the financial costs of implementing the outsourced Service Desk at UFJ were obtained from companies operating in the sector. The service data for 2022 and 2023 was analyzed, highlighting seasonal variations. The current structure of the support team was evaluated and internal costs were compared with outsourcing proposals. The results indicated that outsourcing would increase costs by up to three times, without necessarily ensuring a proportional improvement in outcomes. Considering the analyzed data, we concluded that outsourcing the Service Desk, is not advantageous for UFJ, as increasing costs without an adequate counterpart in terms of productivity could compromise the efficiency of the customer service. We suggest as alternatives the inclusion of investments in internal staff, the use of technologies such as chatbots and automation, improvements in IT governance, and the implementation of an IT Service Catalog to optimize the service flow.