IT Support Centre phones reopen

19 Jun 2020

IT Support Centre phone lines reopen between 8am and 5pm weekdays, bringing back our 24/7 telephone support service for all staff and students

We are pleased to announce that the IT telephone support service is back up and running after a longer than anticipated suspension.

The decision in March to temporarily suspend the phone lines was not taken lightly, but it was necessary due to the existing legacy telephony technology not being able to support effective remote working.

We recognise that this situation may have felt frustrating at times for staff and students and we would like to thank you for your patience and understanding.

During the suspension the team were operating a call back service, asking staff and students to log requests using the online Support Portal. This was an interim measure while we investigated several options that would enable the reintroduction of the service.

Following the University’s revised procurement process, a preferred solution was identified, and the appropriate licences were purchased. The new telephony system has been integrated with Microsoft Teams (part of Office 365) and allows colleagues to continue working from home safely. It has been tested and appears to be working well.

For anyone unfamiliar, Microsoft Teams is a communication and collaboration application that will be rolled out across the University in the very near future.

With the re-introduction of the phone lines, the IT Support Centre takes on interim responsibility for managing the ‘Help me get online’ student service over the summer months and transition into Semester 1. This was introduced 11 weeks ago for students in need of advice and support with accessing online services as a result of Covid-19, and was expertly managed by colleagues from University of Manchester Worldwide. The previously advertised phone number and email address ( helpmegetonline@manchester.ac.uk ) now routes through to the IT Support Centre.

Our support centre colleagues can be contacted on the usual IT support centre number +44 (0) 161 306 5544 between 8am and 5pm weekdays. The out of hours telephone support service, on the same number, is available at all other times.

You can also access IT support online through the IT Support Portal or visit the IT Services website for more general information.