Transcript Establishing a Service Desk

Establishing a Service Desk
Author unknown
Introduction
 The Help Desk of Before – Circa 1994
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Reactive response to unplanned situations
Tactical fire-fighting
IT has little involvement in strategy definition
Supported, on average, about 20 applications
Average call volume of 20-40 calls/day/agent
Limited asset management control
Limited control of change & configuration management
Outside of simple Level 1, Help Desk is a call-routing
organization
Help Desk of Before
Problems With This Model
 Reactive
– Dependent upon users reporting a problem
 Quality
– Inconsistent delivery
 Key Staff
– Overly dependent upon key staff
 Change Management
– Uncoordinated / unreported changes would take place
 Analysis
– Little information was tracked and analyzed to formulate
management decisions
Fast Forward…
 Globalization and increased competition
 Tightened IT budgets
– Increased scrutiny of expenditures
 100-fold increase in the number of applications
now supported by the Help Desk
 40-70 tickets / day / agent
 Reduction in the number of “easy” tickets due to
the implementation of some automated, selfservice tools
Carrying This Scenario Forward
 Adapting the 1994 model by simply adding
tools and tightening talk times will lead to:
– An ever increasing spiral of calls with
diminishing returns from automation tools
– Application of “band-aids” such as near and offshore outsourcing and/or an increase of Service
Level Agreements (SLAs)
– Continuing user dissatisfaction
Realization Summary
 An IT organization must adapt to survive by becoming
more customer-focused
 Service delivery will become increasingly complex
 Without conscious effort, the number of issues will continue
to increase out of control
 The Help Desk touches the end-user base more often than
any other department
 The Help Desk can serve in front-line issue reduction and
cost avoidance
“Progress is not an accident… but a beneficent necessity” –
Herbert Spencer
How Does One Make Progress?
 End-user perception of the IT department is
often based upon experiences with the Help
Desk
– The IT department is reliant upon other
business units for its capital to insure that the
end-users from those business units receive the
best service possible
Help Desk Creation
Business Goals and Objectives
 Business objectives
– Definition
 Specific deliverables that a company may need; related to cost,
revenue generation, and customer satisfaction
– These goals are typically set once per year and coincide
with the annual corporate budgeting process
– Should provide guidance towards budget approach and
measure call center effectiveness and the organization’s
progress against cost control, revenue generation, and
customer satisfaction; employee satisfaction is also
included as a requirement
– Business objectives are provided by the corporation or
senior management to the support center
Help Desk Creation
Business Goals and Objectives
 Clearly define goals
– Well defined, these goals are the gauge that tell
you about the performance of your support
center
 Current Assessment
– Where are you now?
– Where do you want to be?
– Identify the gaps
Help Desk Creation
Business Goals and Objectives
 Identify IT Priorities
 Service
– Relating to the quality, quantity, and alignment of support and IT
within the business
 Technology
– Hardware, software, and infrastructure acquisition upgrade and
replacement
 Project
– Relating to meeting the needs of another business unit
– For the support center, project priorities present an opportunity to
show how well the support staff understands its customers and the
operations of the business
 Priorities can change frequently in some
businesses, as frequently as by quarter to quarter
Help Desk Creation
Business Goals and Objectives
 Align the support desk with the business
– By understanding the business, support desk
managers can ebb and flow alongside changing
business priorities to meet the business’ needs
– Get input from your customers
 Fundamentally, customers are the reason support
people exist and why businesses exist
Considerations
 Budget
– Identify “budget elements”
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Support desk staffing
Support desk statistics
Support desk service level agreements (SLAs)
Support desk equipment
– I.e., cubicles, desk chairs, workstations
 Support desk location
– Reliable telecommunications
 Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) System
 Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System
 Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) System
– Availability and skill of the workforce
– Overall cost of running the operation at the location
 In an urban setting, there is an increase in available skilled labor and
competition for labor, but wages can also be expected to be higher as a result
 Disaster recovery
 Travel expenses
Considerations
 Budget (cont’d)
– ROI – “Return on Investment”
 Upper management uses ROI to assist with determining what
projects are worthy of funding with their limited capital
 “Is there a way that we can invest one dollar that will save us
fifteen dollars elsewhere?” (Hint, it could be support!)
 3 Influences:
– Track record of success
– The business’ need for what you are proposing
 Learn how to tap into other budgets by working with other
departments with common goals; learn what can be
capitalized and what cannot
– Positive feeling that the return on investment is real and of
reasonable time for the cost
Considerations
How to calculate ROI
 Determine the Average Cost per Technician
 Determine the Number of Annual Incidents
 Determine the Average Incident Resolution Time
in minutes
 Determine the Average Cost per Incident
 Determine your Annual Support Cost
 Determine Savings
 Determine New Annual Support Cost
Considerations
How to calculate ROI (cont’d)
 Determine the Average Cost per Technician
– Average Technician Salary x Overhead Percentage =
Average Cost per Technician
– Divide this number by the number of annual working
hours (40 hours x 52 weeks per year)
– Divide the resulting number by 60 minutes to get a
dollars per minute count
– i.e.
 $45,000 x 20% = $54,000
 $54,000 / 2,800 hours = $26 per hour
 $26 per working hour / 60 minutes = $ 0.43 per minute average
cost per technician
Considerations
How to calculate ROI (cont’d)
 Determine the Number of Annual Incidents
– Multiply the number of new incidents per day by
the number of support days per year
– i.e.
 When estimating new incidents per day, consider
those received via e-mail, telephone, and in-person
 50 new incidents per day x 250 days per year =
12,500 annual incidents
Considerations
How to calculate ROI (cont’d)
 Determine the Average Incident Resolution
Time in minutes
– If possible, incorporate escalation percentages
for the different support levels
– May also rely upon data from any support desk
tools available
– i.e.
 Average incident resolution time = 24 minutes
Considerations
How to calculate ROI (cont’d)
 Determine the Average Cost per Incident
– Multiply the Average Incident Length by the
Average Cost per Technician
– i.e.
 24 minutes average incident resolution time x $0.43
minute average cost per technician = $10.17 average
cost per incident
Considerations
How to calculate ROI (cont’d)
 Determine your Annual Support Cost
– Multiply the Average Cost per Incident by the
Number of Incidents
– i.e.
 $10.17 average cost per incident x 12,500 annual
incidents = $127,125 annual support cost
Considerations
How to calculate ROI (cont’d)
 Determine Savings
– Goal is to save time on incidents and to reduce incident counts
– Estimate the number of minutes that will be saved per incident and
use that number to come up with a New Average Cost Per Incident
– (Average Incident Resolution Time – Minutes Saved Per Incident) x
(Per Minute Average Cost Per Technician) = New Average Cost
Per Incident
– i.e.
 (24 minute average incident resolution time – 2 minutes saved) x $0.43
per minute average cost per technician = $9.46 new cost per incident
Considerations
How to calculate ROI (cont’d)
 Determine New Annual Support Cost
– Estimate a percentage decrease in reported incidents
– New Cost Per Incident x (1 – % decrease in Reported Incidents) x
Total Annual Calls = New Annual Support Cost
– i.e., 10% decrease
 $9.46 new cost per incident x (1 - .10 decrease) x 12,500 annual
incidents = $106,425 new annual support cost
– Annual savings is determined by subtracting the New Annual
Support Cost from the Current Annual Support Cost
 $127,125 annual support cost = $106,425 new annual support cost =
$20,700 annual savings
– This information can be used towards setting goals or purchasing a
new application
Considerations
Staffing
 What will be the support desk’s size?
– It is always good practice to make sure that
your staff is the right size no matter what
department you are in; running a cost-effective
efficient department goes a long way towards
making certain you are respected and seen as a
credible and good manager
Considerations
Staffing (cont’d)
 Employees
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Initially calculate:
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Also Off-Call Time
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Salaries
Benefits
Overtime
Vacation Time
Sick Time
Training Time
Call Follow-Up Time
Data-Entry Time
Email / Fax / Walk-Up Request Management Time
Project Time
Many IT Departments fail to consider the amount of time spent by support desk staff
doing other necessary tasks besides answering inbound customer phone calls; this is
one of the key reasons why many service desks are understaffed
Considerations
Staffing (cont’d)
 Statistics
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# of Supported End-Users
Projected Call Volume
Projected Call Delay
Cost Per Call
 Note: There is no standard way to calculate Cost Per Call
because the definition of cost varies from one organization to
the next
 Cost Per Call calculations can include the following factors:
employee salaries, building facilities / utilities, IT capital
equipment costs, etc.
Considerations
Staffing (cont’d)
 Service Levels to Provide
– Must consider business goals of satisfying customers,
generating revenue, and managing costs and create a
balance that optimizes support center and corporate
performance
– Service level balances customer tolerances for waiting
to speak with the “next available agent,” the cost of
providing service, and the revenue opportunity cost of
customers who abandong their call and never call again
Considerations
 What scopes of support will the support center deliver (application
support, hardware support, remote support, desk-side support)?
 What types of management support services will the support center
provide (supervisors, trainers, analysts, etc.)?
 What are the skill requirements for agents and management?
 What kinds of services will the support center provide (inbound service,
outbound service)?
 What hours of support will be provided (24 x 7, business hours only)?
 Will this be a standalone support center or part of a network of support
centers?
 What technology is needed to support the services that the support
center will provide?
Considerations
Online Support Desk Calculators
 http://www.ansapoint.com/calculator/
 http://www.cctgroup.com/tools.html/
 http://www.erlang.com/calculator/
– Erlang-C Calculator
 Used to calculate the number of agents required to staff average call
volume and average delay time for a given hour
– Call Center Calculator
 Used to calculate the number of agents required to staff average call
volume and average delay time for an 8-hour day
– Capacity Calculator
 Used to calculate the number of agents required on a monthly basis
 Can be used towards financial forecasting
– Additional calculators are also available to calculate trunk groups,
VOIP bandwidth requirements, etc.
Considerations
Internal versus Outsourced Support Services
 Based upon budget, projected call volume, staffing costs,
support hour requirements, etc., it may be worthwhile to
also consider outsourcing support desk services
– Outsourcing service providers can offer more cost-effective pricing
by having the flexibility to leverage support staff
– Splitting work with an outsourcer is a great way to balance
workload, to benchmark operations, and to provide a level of
disaster recovery
– A good outsourcer will handle call center operations better than
most in-house support centers, as running support centers is an
outsourcer’s sole focus; they are well-versed in managing cost
control, revenue generation, and customer satisfaction
Structure / Processes / Forums
 Pick a methodology or framework that
recommends best practices, but is also
flexible enough to conform to your
company’s individual culture
Structure / Processes / Forums
COBIT
 “Control Objectives for Information and related
Technology”
 http://www.isaca.org/cobit.htm
 COBIT is a framework of best practice approaches for
information (IT) management. COBIT provides managers,
auditors, and IT users with a set of generally accepted
measures, indicators, processes, and best practices to
assist them in maximizing the benefits derived through the
use of information technology and developing the
appropriate IT governance and control in a company
Structure / Processes / Forums
ITIL
 “Information Technology Infrastructure Library”
 http://www.itil.co.uk/
 ITIL is a framework of best practice approaches intended to facilitate the
delivery of high quality information technology (IT) services. ITIL outlines an
extensive set of management procedures that are intended to support
businesses in achieving both quality and value for money in IT operations.
These procedures are supplier independent and have been developed to
provide guidance across a breadth of IT infrastructure, development, and
operations
 Originated as a collection of books, each covering a specific “practice” within IT
management; the Service Management set, consisting of both Service Support
and Service Delivery, are the most widely used and published ITIL publications
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HDI Motown is looking to offer an ITIL Foundations training course for 2007
– Please provide your name and contact information to any of the local Motown
Chapter officers if you are interested in participating
Structure / Processes / Forums
ITSMF
 “IT Service Management Forum”
 http://www.itsmf.org/
 Considered to be the only truly independent and
internationally recognized forum for IT Service
Management professionals worldwide. A non-profit
organization, ITSMF provides an accessible network of
industry experts, information sources, and events to enable
IT professionals to address IT service management issues
and to achieve the delivery of high-quality, consistent IT
service internally and externally via best practices
Structure / Processes / Forums
MOF
 “Microsoft Operations Framework”
 http://www.microsoft.com/technet/solutionaccelerators/cits/
mo/mof/default.mspx
 MOF provides operational guidance that helps
organizations to achieve mission-critical system reliability,
availability, supportability, and manageability with Microsoft
products and technologies. MOF was created using ITIL
as its foundation, building on top of ITIL’s best practice for
organizational structure and process ownership, and
modeling critical success factors used by partners,
customers, and Microsoft’s internal Operations and
Technology Group (OTG)
ITIL Service Desk
ITIL, the most quickly growing and widely
accepted framework for support services,
calls for the creation of a Service Desk to
act as a Single Point-of-Contact (SPOC) for
end-users and their issues
Help Desk Vs. Service Desk
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Help Desk
Fixes results of problems
Reactive; demand-driven
Information dead-end
Limited career path
Isolated
Passive; awaiting approaches
Technically-oriented staff
Struggling for resources
A “back room” function
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Service Desk
Focus is productivity
Fixes the causes of problems at
the source
Proactive; strategy-driven
Gathers/disseminates
information
Worthwhile career path
Aggressive; markets itself
Customer-service oriented
ROI; justifies resources
Public face of IT / Customer
Services
Saves money
How a Service Desk Will Save An
Organization…
 Costs due to inefficiency
– Industry studies have shown that the difference between an
effectively run Service Desk and an ineffective one may be as
much as $21.00 per call (Gartner)
 Costs due to lost opportunity
– Inefficiency in any of these: issue identification, escalation, or enduser communication, can quickly increase lost opportunity costs
through mishandling an issue at the first level
 Costs due to staff turnover
– HDI studies have shown that the typical Service Desk staff turnover
averages over 42% every year (AXIOS). This turnover adds to
inefficiency by forcing additional investment in re-training and the
loss of knowledge
Trouble Ticket System
An incident management tool should:
– Assign a unique number to each incident
– Tie-in with a Service Catalog, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and Problem
Management
– Capture necessary information
– Categorize issues by type and by importance
– Incorporate escalation
– Incorporate data reporting
Popular incident tracking systems in use today:
– HEAT
 http://www.frontrange.com/productssolutions/subcategory.aspx?id=35&ccid=6&cp=813
– REMEDY
 http://www.bmc.com/products/products_services_detail/0,,0_0_0_801,00.html
– MAGIC (now known as BMC Service Desk Express Suite)
 http://www.bmc.com/products/products_services_detail/0,2833,19052_19426_24031563,00
.html
Structure / Processes / Forums
KCS
 “Knowledge-Centered Support”
 http://www.serviceinnovation.org/ourwork/kcs.php
 KCS is a methodology and a set of practices that focuses
on knowledge as a key asset of the customer/technical
support organization
 Its goal is to capture, to structure, and to re-use technical
support knowledge
 May be used to enhance ITIL methodology, as ITIL only
introduces concepts of knowledge management (KM), but
not a viable strategy to follow
Customer Service
The support desk serves as both the face of
IT, and in some cases, the company itself
– For the first-time support desk user, it only takes
one experience to shape their view of the
support desk
– A negative first experience can affect the
support of your support organization!
It is important to remember the basics!
Customer Service
The Basics
 Reliability
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Providing dependable and accurate service
Providing consistently accurate answers and doing what you promise
Responsiveness
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The willingness to respond to customer needs
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Assurance
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Providing well-informed, knowledgeable service, performed with competence and confidence
Empathy
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Answering the phone or responding to electronic requests quickly
Being willing to do what it takes to respond effectively to a service request
Providing caring and personal service
Service providers convey sympathy when they listen for the hidden meaning in what a customer
is saying, acknowledging the emotion, and offering caring assistance
Tangibles
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Providing professional looking communication materials, buildings, or service providers
Service Level Establishment
Setting Expectations
Balanced Scorecard Development
 The goal of using a balanced scorecard is to forecast
future costs, gauge the operational performance and
service levels that are based on workload for both internal
and external customers, and to transform the strategic
planning from a paper-generation exercise into an efficient
and cost-effective management tool that is actually used.
 Metrics should be used to monitor and to improve
departmental performance within the context of a flexible,
well-defined management system that is aligned with the
needs of the corporate environment
Balanced Scorecard Development
The support center balanced scorecard
should consist of four main elements:
 Customer satisfaction goals
 Employee satisfaction goals
 Cost / productivity goals
 Organizational maturity goals
Balanced Scorecard Development
 Customer Satisfaction Goals
– Usually measured by customer satisfaction
surveys
– Ideally surveys should be administered semiannually by a vendor to minimize bias and even
the suggestion of manipulation
– Use of transaction or incident surveys to
monitor daily support activities
Balanced Scorecard Development
 Employee Satisfaction Goals
– It takes desire and commitment to make a support center an
interesting, professional, and rewarding place to work
– Support professionals expect to be paid a fair market wage and to
be treated with respect
– Provide a chance for advancement, recognition, and training
– Provide a work environment that is disciplined, organized, and wellmanaged by mature leaders
– An organization’s failure to plan for and to deliver these elements of
employee satisfaction will not only create mediocrity in their support
centers, but they will ultimately fail in their goal to serve their
customers and create an environment where high staff attrition is
the norm
Balanced Scorecard Development
 Cost / Productivity Goals
– Although support desks do gather many metrics in general, just gathering
cost and productivity data does not necessarily provide the cost and
productivity information needed; truly valuable data about our support
center can become obscured by standard metrics
– Good questions one should ask to ascertain their costs and productivity:
 Is our operation cost-effective and customer-centric?
 Are we spending too little on support infrastructure and too much on labor?
– If the reverse is true, have the expected returns on investment (ROI) been realized?
 Has a methodology been developed to measure returns on investment (ROI)?
 How much would be saved by developing multi-channel contact avenues (i.e.,
telephone, e-mail, self-service, etc.)?
 Does the support center closely measure its operational costs by cost per
contact channel?
 On a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis, is the support center meeting
its goals?
Balanced Scorecard Development
 Organizational Maturity Goals
– “Assessing organization maturity is a great deal like
judging art; you knokw maturity when you see it in an
organization.”
– Financial success does not necessarily equate to
maturity
– By linking financial and operations management of a
support center to an integrated balanced scorecard
service model, it is possible to identify key performance
indicators (KPI) that will allow the support manager to
assess current operations, and also past performance
and trends
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
 KPIs are metrics used to quantify objectives
to reflect strategic performance of an
organization; to measure progress towards
an organizational goal
 Frequently KPIs are used to “value” difficult
to measure activities such as benefits of
leadership development, engagement,
service, and satisfaction
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
 Identifying KPIs
– Have a pre-defined business process
– Have clear goals defined for the business
processes
– Have a quantitative / qualitative measurement
of the results and compare with set goals
– Investigation of variances and tweaking
processes or resources to achieve short-term
goals
DOs
 Do communicate with your peers on a routine
basis!
– It is worthwhile to join and to participate within a
professional support / service delivery focused
organization
– Use the knowledge of the organization’s community to
assist with foreseeing and overcoming industry-related
issues
HDI
 http://www.thinkhdi.com/
 http://www.hdimotown.com/
DOs
 Do read professional literature related to
technical support and customer service!
DOs
 Do get certified as a support desk manager!
DOs
 Do stay close to your people and thank
them often!
DOs
 Do stay close to your boss!
DOs
 Do plan for the future of your help desk!
DOs
 Do practice and upgrade your writing, your
presentation, your research, your planning,
your project management, and your industry
skills!
DOs
 Do remember that everything that you do,
and that your support desk does, is about
helping and serving your customers!
DON’T
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Don’t be afraid of problems!
Don’t ignore your metrics program!
Don’t ignore your people!
Don’t ignore the growing trends in support desk management and the
support industry
Don’t ignore what your customers think
Don’t ingnore cultural diversity in your support desk and among your
customers
Don’t ignore the lessons of failure
Don’t ignore the changes in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Don’t forget to manage your stress and that of your staff
Don’t forget your role as a leader
Remember
Build credibility through small successes
before tackling big jobs.
DO NOT try to improve everything at once.
Thank you!!
Open Discussion