Service Operation
Service Desk
Introduction
A Service Desk
established by the IT service
provider serves as a single point of contact between the user and all IT service operations.
Service Desk is one of the four functions within Service Operation.
Purpose
Service Desk is not a
process, it is a
functional unit. It is the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for the IT organization and handles
various types of calls. It handles all types of calls, which may be either reported
by a user or automatically generated by a tool.
The Service Desk
uses the Configuration
Management
System (CMS) for logging and tracking calls. The CMS is a set of tools that supports
IT Service Management.
The purpose of Service Desk is to support the agreed upon IT service provision by ensuring the accessibility
and availability of the IT organization and
by performing various supporting activities.
Role and Objectives
• Provides a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) on a day-to-day basis dealing with calls made by end users
• Restore the normal services as quickly
as possible
• Logging, resolving and escalating Incidents appropriately
• Communicate with end users about service status
• Updating the CMS
Organizational Structure
There are several types of Organizational Structures for a service desk.
• Local Service Desk
ƒ Located within or physically close to the user community
ƒ Advantages: Aids communication,
physically and
visibly present amongst the user population
ƒ Disadvantages: Inefficient and expensive
• Centralized Service Desk
ƒ Located at one physical location
for multiple business locations.
ƒ Advantages:
More efficient and cost-effective
ƒ Disadvantages: Lack local presence due to the distance from users
• Virtual Service
Desk
ƒ Multiple Service Desk
locations, which
can
be
contacted through a single point of entry (e.g. one phone number). End users will not know to which location they will be connected.
ƒ When this
structure
is
used
to
provide
24/7
support
using different timezones, it is called ‘Follow the Sun’
ƒ Advantages:
More efficient and cost effective
ƒ Disadvantages: Having to safeguard common
processes, common tools, shared database information and culture
Companies with a global presence may apply
a “Follow-the-Sun”
approach.
This allows
24-hour coverage at a relatively low cost. However, aspects such as common processes,
tools, shared knowledge base, etc., must be taken into account before establishing this approach.
Staffing
Skilled individuals are an important
factor in the Service Desk.
5 areas of concern:
• Staffing Levels: Correct number of staff to match demand
• Skill Levels: Ensure appropriate skills are available
• Training: Staff should be adequately
trained
• Staff
Retention: Ensure
staff are recognized and work in a motivating
environment
• Required
Skills: Communications and
Soft Skills are pre-requisite
skills
for
Service Desk staff
Metrics
Performance of the Service
Desk
should
be
regularly
evaluated
using
metrics. Metrics are used to assess the performance
and quality
of a service, in order to detect weaknesses
and plan for improvement.
There two types of Metrics
in Service Desk:
• Hard Metrics
ƒ Measures that involve numbers and statistics (fact-based)
ƒ Derived by assessing the health,
maturity, efficiency, effectiveness and any opportunities to improve Service
Desk Operations, leading
to the following eight points:
¾ Call handling statistics
¾ The first-line resolution rate
¾ Average time to resolve
an Incident
¾ Average time to escalate an Incident
¾ Average Service Desk cost of handling
an Incident
¾ Percentage
of customer or user updates
¾ Average time to review and close a resolved call
¾ The number of calls broken down by the time of day and day of the week
• Soft Metrics
ƒ Measures that involve personal approach, perception-based
ƒ The following aspects are commonly found through surveys:
¾ How effectively customers feel their calls have been answered
¾ If the Service Desk agent was courteous and professional
¾ If the Service Desk agent instilled confidence in the user
ƒ Types of surveys
include
after-call survey, telephone, email, online,
personal or group interview.
ITIL, ITIL Foundation Course, ITIL V3, ITIL Course, ITIL - Course, online itil, itil certification, online material for itil course
ITIL, ITIL Foundation Course, ITIL V3, ITIL Course, ITIL - Course, online itil, itil certification, online material for itil course
