Skip to main content

Making the Case for Self-Help

Image
By
HDI (formerly Help Desk Institute) recently released its 2009 Practices and Salary survey and reports that an incident resolved via the telephone costs $22, while an incident resolved via self-help costs $12. Furthermore, 11 percent of the organizations surveyed report that self-help tools are prompting a decrease in the number of incidents reported to the Service Desk. Having said that, these organizations also report that only three percent of incidents are resolved via self-help.

With the Baby Boomers retiring and technically savvy Gen Y joining the workforce – and, oh yeah, the economy – the time has come to get serious about self-help as a support channel.

Many think the solution lies in finding and installing the right technology; however, new technology projects often fail from a lack of preparation and management. Here’s where the four Ps come in to play. Introduced in the ITIL Service Design publication, the four Ps – in the context of self-help – include:

People – How can you incent people to capture and share their knowledge and to use self-help and Knowledge Management Systems?

Processes – How can you take a more formal approach to processes such as Request Fulfillment, Problem Management, and Knowledge Management?

Products – What tools can you use and how can you integrate those tools with existing technologies such as Incident Management Systems and web-based systems?

Partners – How can you convert partners’ knowledge and expertise into a capability?

In our busy society, people have become accustomed to using self-help and self-services. Our customers appreciate services that enhance their self-sufficiency and enable them to accomplish tasks at their own pace. Self-help can be as simple as a list of FAQs. Or, self-help services can provide customers the ability to search an online knowledge base, reset a password, or download approved software.

To make the most effective use of the four Ps when deploying self-help, you should first determine the roles of processes such as Request Fulfillment and Incident, Problem, and Knowledge Management. Then, determine the roles of the people who are stakeholders in those processes, including your customers. You can then determine your requirements, evaluate and implement the products required to automate those processes and enable people to fulfill their roles. Be sure you make the best possible use of partner (vendor, consultant, and contractor) resources along the way, whether by utilizing their self-help resources, or by adopting and adapting the experience and best practices offered by their staff.

Will all of your customers use self-help? No, and not always. You still need a great Service Desk on the front line. However, a well-trained Service Desk can encourage the use of self-help in a positive way, and promote its benefits. Benefits that go not only to your customers, but to your entire support organization as well.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Four Service Characteristics

By
Recently I came across several articles by researchers and experts that laid out definitions and characteristics of services. ITIL provides us with a definition that can help drive the creation of value-laden services: A means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks. An area that ITIL is not so clear is in terms of service characteristics. Several researchers and experts put forth that services have four basic characteristics (IHIP): Intangibility—Services are the results of actions not things. They have no physical presence and represent a logical set of elements. One way to think of service is “work done for others.”  Heterogeneity—Also known as “variability”; services are unique items because of the mechanisms used to deliver services, which is people. Because the people element adds variability, the service is variable. This holds true, especially for the value proposition—not eve...
Post a Comment
Read more

What Is A Service Offering?

By
The ITIL 4 Best Practice Guidance defines a “Service Offering” as a description of one or more services designed to address the needs of a target customer or group.   As a service provider, we can’t stop there!   We must know what the contracts of our service offering are and be able to put them into context as required by the customer.     Let’s explore the three elements that comprise a Service Offering. A “Service Offering” may include:     Goods, Access to Resources, and Service Actions 1. Goods – When we think of “Goods” within a service offering these are the items where ownership is transferred to the consumer and the consumer takes responsibility for the future use of these goods.   Example of goods that are being provided in the offering – If this is a hotel service then toiletries or chocolates are yours to take with you.   You the consumer own these and they are yours to take with you.      ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is the difference between Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner?

By
This article was originally published in 2015. With the Introduction of ITIL 4, some of this best practice has changed. See  ITIL 4 and the Evolving Role of Roles . Updated Definitions in ITIL 4: Process Owner: In ITIL 4, the concept of 'processes' has expanded into broader 'practices.' Consequently, the Process Owner is now often referred to as the 'Practice Owner.' This individual is accountable for the overall design, performance, integration, and improvement of a specific practice within the organization. They ensure that the practice achieves its intended outcomes and aligns with the organization's objectives. Process Manager: Now commonly known as the 'Practice Manager' in ITIL 4, this role is responsible for the day-to-day management of the practice. The Practice Manager ensures that activities are carried out as intended, manages resources assigned to the practice, and oversees the practitioners performing the work. Process Practit...
Post a Comment
Read more