Trends such as mobile computing, consumerization (also known
as bring your own device (BYOD), and cloud computing are having a dramatic
impact on the service desk. These trends are prompting many organizations to
evaluate and improve their existing service
management processes, or implement new processes where needed, and to
rethink the role the service desk plays in implementing, executing and
improving these processes.
It would be easy to look at these trends and think of them
only as the deployment of new technologies but there are bigger considerations
at stake. What services are these technologies enabling? What business
processes do these services underpin? How is the business impacted when these
services are interrupted?
An important key performance indicator (KPI) for service catalog
management is whether the service desk has the information that it needs
about those services and their associated interfaces and dependencies. This is
because the service desk plays an important role in informing customers about
the service catalog and how it can be used to request services. The service
desk plays an important role in maintaining the configuration management system
(CMS) that underpins the service catalog as well, by reporting inaccuracies and
by relating incidents, problems and requests to services. The service desk also
actively uses the service catalog to more efficiently and effectively diagnose
incidents and problems and assess the impact of changes.
The service desk must put
in place procedures for handling incidents, problems and requests for these
services and in many cases must set new policies that spell out the types and
levels of support customers are provided. In the case of practices such as
mobile computing, BYOD and cloud computing, these policies must consider the
risks and liabilities to the business and must also spell out when and how the
service desk will escalate issues to external service providers.
These practices often represent significant culture change
for an organization and the service desk acts as an important contact point for
customers’ suggestions, complaints and compliments. The service desk works
closely with the business relationship management and service level management
processes to ensure that services are being delivered according to the agreed
upon service level agreements (SLAs) and that customers are satisfied with
those services. If service desk staff are not fully aware of the services, how
they benefit the business, and the SLAs in place, customers can quickly lose
faith not only in the service desk but in the entire IT organization.
An effective technique in the face of these trends is to evaluate all
aspects of the service desk (people, processes, technology, and
information), benchmark them against best practices and identify improvement
opportunities. You can then put in place a roadmap for making the needed
improvements. As these trends tend to bring about significant culture change, building
an organization change management program into your roadmap addresses the
preparation, communication, motivation, education, and training activities
needed to ensure success.
Comments