5 Reasons To Urgently Review Your Service Desk Software

Transcription

1 5 Reasons To Urgently Review Your Service Desk Software Part of the Service Desk Best Practice Series from Richmond Systems BEST PRACTICE SERIES 1

2 Introduction Not all service desk tools are equal. The service desk software used by your organisation can have massive budgetary and operational implications, as well as impacting the quality of IT support you deliver. In this guide, we look at why you should review your service desk software, the key things to consider and the business benefits that can result from reviewing and replacing your service desk software. BEST PRACTICE SERIES 2

3 Why reviewing your service desk is essential Anything used by the business - any service, component or tool - must deliver value. Your service desk software is no exception. However, as we ll explain, calculating this value is difficult. Every business has different IT service and support processes and ways of working. Every business uses its service desk for different tasks, and, even if when using established frameworks such as ITIL, each service desk team will have customised the processes to suit their requirements. The service desk tool used will therefore be either adapted to suit these working practices, or the IT support team will have adjusted its approach to fit how the tool allows them to work. The number of variables that means there s no such thing as a standard service desk software installation. And because every installation is different, it s impossible to benchmark your service desk software against other organisations or build a standardised model of what constitutes value. What works for one organisation, probably won t work for your organisation: it s akin to comparing apples to oranges. Therefore, the only way to really understand the value (or lack of value) your service desk brings is to look at five key factors: costs, mobile support, speed, suitability and vendor support. By understanding the enormity of each of these factors, you ll see exactly why your service desk is urgently in need of review. BEST PRACTICE SERIES 3

4 Costs Let s start with the obvious reason to review your service desk: costs. Service desk software pricing varies widely and many vendors make it deliberately difficult to understand the true costs. The problem with understanding the cost equation, is that most purchase decisions are made based on the upfront costs and installation fees. However, this is only part of the story; ascertaining how much the product costs over the lifetime of ownership is the truly important research you must carry out. Most service desk software installations are in place for a minimum of five years. The majority of vendors will charge for upgrades, additional licences and consultancy for any changes you require throughout this lengthy timescale. So, even if it s technically paid for, you need to look at the annual cost of running your service desk software: How much are the annual licensing costs? Are there support contract costs to consider? Do you incur regular upgrade fees? Are you paying for additional modules/functionality, and is this being used? Are there any other hidden costs? Only when you make this calculation, can you begin to understand the true cost of your service desk. In our experience, many service desk managers are surprised when making the calculation, and the potential cost savings are often enough to make them investigate further. The cost equation runs even deeper than merely keeping the lights on. We ve worked with many service desks which have abandoned or delayed improvements to their services because their budget didn t cover the consultancy needed for their vendor to make the required changes. The cost of the product is more than simply the price of keeping it operational. To understand the real cost, you have to also consider the impact of not being able to do certain things because it s prohibitively expensive to do so. There s one area of IT support that illustrates this point very clearly: the challenge of adapting to the mobile workforce. BEST PRACTICE SERIES 4

5 Mobile support Mobile working is ubiquitous in the business world. The days of users working exclusively on desktops is long gone. Service desks must be able to deliver services and IT support to workers irrespective of their location. However, many incumbent service desks are simply not engineered to cope with mobile support. They were coded in the pre-mobile era and, therefore, can t handle the volumes and complexity of a dispersed mobile environment. Here are some key questions you need to ask about your service desk in relation to mobile support: Can you easily add and manage new IT assets? Do you have a support portal that can be accessed and used on mobile devices? Can you easily add support articles relating to mobile devices to your FAQ/support portal? Are modules for adding mobile support included in your incumbent solution without additional cost? Can your IT support staff update the core service desk and customer record database while working remotely? If the answer to one of more of these questions is no, then you need to think about how these factors affect the services you deliver to the business. The main aim of IT support is restoring users to productivity, because a reduction in productivity costs money. If your service desk software isn t able to effectively support the mobile workforce, then you may find that replacing it quickly pays for itself in the short term, and continues to pay dividends over the long term. BEST PRACTICE SERIES 5

6 Speed Speed is vital to service desks. Being able to efficiently action requests and resolve incidents, has clear cost implications. Nevertheless, the speed is also a crucial factor in customer satisfaction and getting users back to work. Finally, the speed of your service desk is also a contributing factor to staff satisfaction; agents get frustrated navigating poorly designed and sluggish systems, which damaging their well-being and in turn damaging the service delivered. There are many factors that influence the speed of the service desk. The quality of the code, the speed of the network (especially important for web-based service desks), reliance on integration with other systems etc., all alter how quickly the software responds to clicks and is able to process data. But it s not just the literal speed of software that s important. You must also think about how intelligently the service desk software is configured: is everything the agent needs to process the call accessible and logically laid out? This can have a huge impact, especially for service desk agents new to the role. What about the workflow of each interaction? Does the design smoothly guide the agent through the process, or are they forced to flick between screens and access separate systems to resolve tasks? The best way to understand how crucial speed is to the service desk, is observe. Monitor some calls and consider how much the service desk affects the speed at which agents are able to service and reach resolution. We ve seen customer examples of the striking impact of slow service desk software. Performing an identical task can take several minutes longer than using our software. If you multiply this wasted time over multiple calls, the costs and damage to service levels are obvious to see. You may find having completed this exercise that tweaking the processes and workflow can boost the speed, but if the software itself is slow, and it s difficult to reconfigure and improve, then you should seriously consider replacing your service desk. BEST PRACTICE SERIES 6

7 Suitability for current and future challenges Business technology is changing at a furious rate. The old command-andcontrol ethos of service desks and IT management is antiquated. Organisations demand new services, more flexibility and innovation, rather than an IT department that says no because their requests are impossible to execute. Concepts designed to help deliver speed and flexibility, such as DevOps, Agile and Lean, demand that service desks work differently. Service desks in these environments can t be fixed siloed, closed entities: they need to be changed and adjusted depending on the business requirements. Because change has happened so rapidly in the technology space, service desks more than a few years old are unlikely to be able to cope with this approach. The big problem will be customisation and the ability (or inability) to add or amend services. For most service desk tools, customisation is expensive, cumbersome and highly specialised. If your service desk vendor requires you to book consultancy sessions just to make simple changes, you should seriously consider looking elsewhere. There are more advanced tools available that allow you to make alterations with either minimal intervention or without any need to contact the vendor. Business IT is changing and will never return to the days of closed networks and tightly controlled in-house procurement. To prepare for this reality and the future, it s essential that your service desk software is a help rather than a hindrance. BEST PRACTICE SERIES 7

8 Vendor support Every vendor says it offers exceptional support to customers, but as with any product or service, the reality often fails to live up to the marketing hype. As service desks know all-to-well, offering quality customer support is expensive and this is why many providers cut corners. Yes, they are extremely helpful during the procurement and installation stage, but once the bulk of the project is paid for, the picture often looks far less rosy. Does your vendor offer adequate support? Or does it force you to ring an offshore contact centre, or fill in a form which is ignored? Responding to a simple support question is often the acid test where vendors fail, so don t be afraid to test your current provider. Beyond rudimentary support, does your service desk software supplier do anything else for you? Are they helping you tackle your challenges, or are they only interested in supporting the tool so you continue paying for it? One of our biggest selling points is that we re a UK-based company with account managers who have the experience to understand your customer challenges. Many of our customers have been dealing with the same account manager people for years, which offers a level of cohesive understanding that a contact centre can never replicate. Not only does this improve service, it means service desk managers can work together to solve their problems and squeeze every drop of potential out of the product. Quality of support and a personalised relationship with the service desk software vendor, has a massive impact on the value delivered. Yet because it is hard to quantify, its importance is often grossly underestimated. BEST PRACTICE SERIES 8

9 Summary There s much more to buying and using service desk software than ticket prices and functionality. As you ve seen from this guide, you must consider myriad factors to establish something seemingly simple, such as the value of the product. You must consider how well the tools fits your business, how easy it is to use, how simple it is to change, and the relationship you have with the vendor. Choosing service desk software is not a decision to be taken lightly. Try the different tools and test multiple scenarios. Involve your service desk agents and ask their opinions. Test what you currently have, and then ask your vendor tough questions. Similarly, if you are considering a replacement, be tough on the vendors you evaluate. The most important takeaway from his guide, is that your choice of service desk tools has a massive bearing on the quality and type of IT services delivered to the business. There are massive substantial cost differences to consider, and your choice will shape the working lives of your service desk agents and the users they serve. Also, your service desk will ultimately help decide how IT will be delivered and supported in the future. Ready to begin evaluating service desk software? Start by calling us: We can help you ask the right question and we can show you exactly the difference you can enjoy by replacing your incumbent service desk software. BEST PRACTICE SERIES 9