On top of the usual requests for IT assistance, Total’s IT service desk used to receive countless questions about how to use software, but HR Director Filip Van de Vyver says this isn’t the primary purpose of the internal service desk. They turned to Xylos for help and subscribed to OASE, Xylos’ digital knowledge platform with over 1,000 short instructional videos about Microsoft Office 365. Today, employees work on their knowledge autonomously and the amount of questions the service desk receives has dropped drastically.

Pioneering: not a problem

Before he became Total’s HR director, Van de Vyver was their IT manager. Creating their own FAQ wouldn’t have been a viable solution, he says: “Writing and maintaining an FAQ like that would take an incredibly long time, so we preferred the idea of an existing tool that’s updated automatically. Since we’ve worked with Xylos in the past for our class trainings, we requested an OASEdemo. We were convinced immediately and we went for it, even if we knew we’d be the first users.”

Total signed a subscription for 650 users in the Benelux. Total Belgium shares its IT platform with Total Netherlands, where the first employees have started using OASE as well. 350 accounts were created in Belgium, 100 of which are active users and 30 are very active users. Our analysis shows that they’re experienced Microsoft Office users who use our instructional videos to expand their knowledge even further.

No more wasting time with tickets

In the next phase, the HR director wants to improve the interaction between users and increase the number of active users. “I’m hoping for a snowball effect. Xylos sends us a handy update with tips and new videos each month, which we can integrate into our internal newsletters. They also organise monthly webinars about certain topics, which our employees can attend voluntarily. I’d definitely like to make use of that in the future. People tend to relapse into their old habits, so it’s important to keep communicating.”

The feedback Van de Vyver receives from users is very positive. hanks to OASE, they no longer need to submit tickets and their questions are answered immediately. All they need to do is log in and clearly state their question to find the right instructional videos.

Self-teaching course on pivot tables

The analysis shows that most questions are about Excel, with pivot tables and v-lookups at the top of the list. “Our employees want to evolve from standard users to advanced users. They want to get the most out of all applications”, Van de Vyver explains.

Last year, Total upgraded from Microsoft Office 2007 to 2013. OASEproved its worth during this change: “OASE contains information about more than the newest Office version, which is great if you’re still working with older licences. We can use a reliable knowledge platform, which is regularly updated with new content, while innovating at our own pace. Whenever Microsoft adds new options to Windows 10, Office 365 and Microsoft Office, Xylos follows up with new videos – but the available videos are already more than sufficient for us.”

To top it off, Van de Vyver also appreciates the transparent cost model: “We’ve got our subscriptions and that’s it – there’s no extra fee if we use the platform more frequently or when new options are released. This helps us avoid usage peaks, like we experienced when we only used our service desk.”

Combination with flying Office consultants

Total currently combines OASE with Xylos’ ‘flying doctors’, a team of Xylos consultants who regularly stop by to solve individual and more complex questions on site. In time , OASE and the flying doctors will replace some traditional courses.