Owned by the media conglomerate News Corporation, 20th Century Fox produces and distributes films, TV programs, DVDs and other visual content. 20th Century Fox has two subsidiaries in Japan operating under the parent company in the US, 20th Century Fox Film Japan and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Japan. Additionally, the global organization 20th Century Fox International also resides in Japan

The Asia Pacific Region IT team, which is based in Tokyo and Sydney handles all the IT help desk support for all of the Fox companies throughout Asia Pacific, including infrastructure, applications, and any IT troubles users may have.

The team started using Zendesk in September 2011. Katsumi Inouchi, Senior Manager of the Asia Pacific Region IT team for 20th Century Fox International, and Junichi Miyamoto, IT help desk agent on the Asia Pacific Region IT team for 20th Century Fox International, shared how they came to use Zendesk.

Using Excel was not good enough

Before the adoption of Zendesk, the Asia Pacific Region IT team was relying on Microsoft Excel to manage their help desk operations. “The team in Japan was somehow able to handle the operations with Excel, but there was no standard way to manage things in Australia. Since there is only one help desk staff member there, she was doing all the operation and management in her own way,” explains Inouchi. “This sometimes caused delays, and some tasks slipped through the cracks.”

The team realized they needed a better approach to managing their support operations. Initially, they considered adopting the system utilized by 20th Century Fox headquarters in the United States. However, they found that system too difficult to use. The team also considered using the help desk portal associated with the collaboration platform already in use, but “that platform’s interface was not very user friendly, and there were not enough of the required features. So, we decided to develop the portal on our own,” says Inouchi.

The team needed a simple and flexible system, so they chose Zendesk instead. “Because it is a cloud-based system, we could start using it immediately. We also liked its intuitive interface,” Inouchi says.

Realizing the benefits of Zendesk instantly

The Asia Pacific Region IT team decided to try Zendesk for a trial period of one month. The plan was to use both Excel and Zendesk during that period, and then to review the results. However, “when we started using Zendesk, we almost immediately stopped using Excel. In just a few days, we realized Zendesk was very easy to use and that we wouldn’t need Excel any longer,” recalls Miyamoto.

“With Zendesk, we can easily see what has to be done for each ticket, and we’re also able to check on and report on its status much more easily,” Miyamoto remarks.

Miyamoto also says Zendesk has helped improve agents’ productivity. “When we were using Excel, we weren’t able to input all the information during the day, and often had to work overtime to do so. As a result, nobody knew what was happening in the IT help desk team until the end of the day, when the spreadsheet was updated. With Zendesk, the ticket information is always up-to-date, and we’re all aware of current activities and statuses. Zendesk also supports a variety of devices including the iPhone, so we’re able to update tickets even when we are away from the office.”

“It was such a hassle to build reports with Excel, but now all the data is automatically exported to the dashboard, so I can check everything in real-time. We also use Zendesk’s advanced reporting and analytics, including the dashboards,” Inouchi adds.

Less work hours, and free from stress

Zendesk has made agents’ tasks much easier and faster. Miyamoto, who had to work an extra half hour everyday just to input data to Excel, can now go home earlier. “The data entry task itself was very stressful, so I’m happy to leave that behind,” says Miyamoto.

Inouchi says he still hopes to improve the operational efficiency of his IT support team, and plans to use Zendesk for all inquiries, including those sent via email.

“In the future, we plan to have tickets automatically created when emails arrive, and have agents assigned to them automatically. That way, we’ll save time by not having to create tickets or assign them to agents ourselves. We would also like to further utilize the reporting features, and hope to find trends, resulting in fewer problems for our users,” Inouchi says.