The Web-based Service Desk Extending the Reach of Service Management

The Web-based Service Desk Extending the Reach of Service Management A discussion paper from Numara Software The Executive Summary Regardless of the demands placed upon your organisation IT has a fundamental role to play - making IT available 24/7. This paper will provide a perspective on the requirements As a public sector organisation, communities and citizens demanded to achieve the increased complexity of service will expect to use on-line services to pay bills or seek advice. management delivery and why organizations and its Private sector organisations will share similar demands for personnel, suppliers and customers can benefit from online services from its customers and suppliers but also deploying of a web service desk. its workforce will be dependent upon access to files and applications as there working hours go beyond 9 to 5. The Web Based Service Desk The reality is transactional e-channels, applications, communications and systems all need to be available 24/7 - Service Desk software and solutions come in all shapes and anytime, anyplace. So why should the IT Service Desk be any sizes. Some are still ‘traditionally’ client/server, others more different? adaptive having adopted the design concepts inherent in application environments such as .Net and JavaScript are To keep pace with the seemingly endless stream of light; infinitely configurable and web-enabled. Many remain support requests, today’s service desks must be agile and in-house while others are hosted; all are defined as on- scalable. They also need to be flexible and versatile (as demand solutions, or should we say in-demand. do the IT support staff) in order to address more complex business requirements. To maintain control and achieve In many respects this class of software could be deemed to optimal performance levels, organizations are embracing be in its 5th Generation as defined as: sophisticated technology solutions in conjunction with industry-based best practices and methodologies such as • 1st Generation were largely LAN-based xBase products the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) framework, COBIT and specific industry sector frameworks • 2nd Generation became Client/Server architectured such as Basel II (Financial Services) and Six Sigma as utilising ODBC for greater scalability in terms of developed by Motorola and in used widely to provide support numbers of transactions and its use across WANs services around the manufacturing process. • 3rd Generation provided a web browser extension with limited functionality for the user and very little for the Another driver changing the role of service desk is the new customer (or end-user). era of IT governance. Across all industries, government regulations and compliance initiatives are driving the need to • 4th Generation moved the browser application into a document policies and procedures, especially publicly-held portal with added functionality such as knowledge base organizations. For instance, the Health Insurance Portability integration allowing equal interaction by a users and and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and customers. Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and through to e-Government have • 5th Generation Service Desk solutions largely reside forced organizations to improve and enforce compliance and on more adaptive frameworks utilising the design risk management, placing added pressure on IT departments environment advantages of .Net and JavaScript to and service and support centers to ensure that systems are radically enhance the user and customer experience. available and their output transparent. Access is web-based while the application itself still retains strong database management capabilities and These factors create more demanding service and support offering increasingly open and varied integration points. environments, new industry standards, IT governance controls, and budgetary pressures and have reinforced the Web-based service desk systems are highly process need to implement technology solutions, giving support and IT defined yet easy-to-use put support managers and departments better tools to serve the needs of their business. analysts in control of their complex and business critical This confluence of factors has redefined the traditional infrastructure. Specifically these service desks have proven help desk into a multi-dimensional service desk, capable to be extremely effective in improving incident management of managing all type of business-critical processes and and problem resolution rates, standardizing numerous applications. business processes, tracking IT governance, and automating customer service across multiple channels. Organizations spanning a range of industries are utilizing service desks to centralize service request activities, incident and problem management as well as other business-critical processes, such as IT change management. C-level IT executives as well as their support managers, agents, and technical personnel that run the service desk are being pressured to operate IT operations more efficiently with reduced staff levels and fewer resources; and extend the reach of service management. 1. How? Well the reality is IT is omni-present in every organization and often an intrinsic part of revenue generation. So downtime of anything from a web page to a CRM application is unacceptable. Whether deployed for the internal help desk or external customer support the web-based In fast and dynamic organizations the needs of users, service desk offers a trusted solution. It’s adaptive nature management, end-users and customers is a simple one, means it is flexible enough to accommodate the changing when issues arise they need to engage with the service desk needs of today’s growing service and support environments, through the web, chat, e-mail and telephony which ever while giving internal and external customers a range of multi- medium is appropriate at any given time. channel access points to engage the help desk or call center with demands for service. Flexible Intelligent Workflow - A web-based service desk solution can help improve customer satisfaction and While there are many different solutions and deployment increase employee productivity. Having a system that will scenarios to choose from, the good news is you do not have automate workflow processes and trigger escalations ensure to spend your entire budget to get one and, significantly, the issues do not fall through the cracks. open and adaptive nature of a web-based solution also means limited investment is needed to realise other service desks. The key however to a web-based service desk is having the capability to modify the workflow to adapt to changing needs. Flexible Scheduling - managing and allocating resource is The Benefits fundamental for a busy IT support manager if workloads and projects are to be satisfied in a timely manner governed by Pragmatism In Design Will Deliver Effective Service Service Level Agreeements (SLAs). Performance visibility, Delivery skills-based escalations are all critical elements of a service desk where accurate allocation will ensure resolution times The benefits provided by a web-based service desk are within the SLA are achieved. largely derived from the flexibility and choices offered to those charged with improving service delivery. Because Flexible Decision Support - access to performance data the objectives and demands placed upon organizations will and trends is a critical part of improving service delivery change so the enabling mechanism for service delivery will as well as providing the justification for investment in need to adapt. Without doubt if the service desk’s inherent human resource and infrastructure. End-to-end service workflow is set-in-stone delivery will eventually fail.