For IT departments demonstrating value is a constant priority. As a service oriented unit of the organization, IT is appraised on the level of service provided to internal and external clients. Service quality, however, is not easily measured. For example, ITIL-defined KPIs for successful incident management include mean-time incident resolution and total cost per incident. While these are important measurements in evaluating a successful help desk, these metrics are not sufficient in assessing client perceptions of IT services. To improve IT service quality, IT leaders must look beyond technical functionality to the human side of service.
Help Desk Example: IT Service in the Trenches
To view how an organization perceives its IT department, turn to the front lines. The help desk is an area of IT that is in constant contact with the end users. End-user perception of IT service translates directly to how much value end users recognize from IT. Improving service quality therefore improves IT value. Extending Gallup’s premise to the help desk suggests that while help desk ticket backlog may be down and incident turnaround time is low, the true nature of service can only be measured by surveying end users as well as help desk staff, and that these surveys should include questions relating to the emotional perception of the client-IT staff interaction. In other words, it’s not how we performed, but how the client feels about our performance that counts.
