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Standardize the Service Desk

Improve customer service by driving consistency in your support approach and meeting SLAs.

  • Not everyone embraces their role in service support. Specialists would rather work on projects than provide service support.
  • The Service Desk lacks processes and workflows to provide consistent service. Service desk managers struggle to set and meet service-level expectations, which further compromises end-user satisfaction.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Service desk improvement is an exercise in organizational change. Engage specialists across the IT organization in building the solution. Establish a single service-support team across the IT group and enforce it with a cooperative, customer-focused culture.
  • Don’t be fooled by a tool that’s new. A new service desk tool alone won’t solve the problem. Service desk maturity improvements depend on putting in place the right people and processes to support the technology.

Impact and Result

  • Create a consistent customer service experience for service desk patrons, and increase efficiency, first-call resolution, and end-user satisfaction with the Service Desk.
  • Decrease time and cost to resolve service desk tickets.
  • Understand and address reporting needs to address root causes and measure success and build a solid foundation for future IT service improvements.

Standardize the Service Desk Research & Tools

1. Standardize the Service Desk Research – A step-by-step document that helps you improve customer service by driving consistency in your support approach and meet SLAs.

Use this blueprint to standardize your service desk by assessing your current capability and laying the foundations for your service desk, design an effective incident management workflow, design a request fulfillment process, and apply the discussions and activities to make an actionable plan for improving your service desk.

Standardize the Service Desk – Phases 1-4

2. Service Desk Maturity Assessment – An assessment tool to help guide process improvement efforts and track progress.

This tool is designed to assess your service desk process maturity, identify gaps, guide improvement efforts, and measure your progress.

This brief assessment will evaluate your process maturity across key areas of the service desk, including service desk structure, end-user feedback, ticket intake and handling procedures, incident management, service request fulfillment, ticket categories and priorities, documentation and workflows, knowledgebase, and self-service. The results will allow you to prioritize process improvement initiatives.

Service Desk Maturity Assessment

3. Service Desk Project Summary – A template to help you organize process improvement initiatives using examples.

Use this template to organize information about the service desk challenges that the organization is facing, make the case to build a right-sized service desk to address those challenges, and outline the recommended process changes.

Service Desk Project Summary

4. Service Desk Roles and Responsibilities Guide – An analysis tool to determine the right roles and build ownership.

Use the RACI template to determine roles for your service desk initiatives and to build ownership around them. Use the template and replace it with your organization's information.

Service Desk Roles and Responsibilities Guide

5. Incident Management and Service Desk Standard Operating Procedure – A template designed to help service managers kick-start the standardization of service desk processes.

The template will help you identify service desk roles and responsibilities, build ticket management processes, put in place sustainable knowledgebase practices, document ticket prioritization scheme and SLO, and document ticket workflows.

Incident Management and Service Desk SOP

6. Ticket and Call Quality Assessment Tool – An assessment tool to check in on ticket and call quality quarterly and improve the quality of service desk data.

Use this tool to help review the quality of tickets handled by agents and discuss each technician's technical capabilities to handle tickets.

Ticket and Call Quality Assessment Tool

7. Workflow Library – A repository of typical workflows.

The Workflow Library provides examples of typical workflows that make up the bulk of the incident management and request fulfillment processes at the service desk.

Incident Management and Service Desk Workflows

8. Service Desk Ticket Categorization Schemes – A repository of ticket categories.

The Ticket Categorization Schemes provide examples of ticket categories to organize the data in the service desk tool and produce reports that help managers manage the service desk and meet business requirements.

Service Desk Ticket Categorization Schemes

9. Knowledge Manager – A job description template that includes a detailed explication of the responsibilities and expectations of a Knowledge Manager role.

The Knowledge Manager's role is to collect, synthesize, organize, and manage corporate information in support of business units across the enterprise.

Knowledge Manager

10. Knowledgebase Article Template – A comprehensive record of the incident management process.

An accurate and comprehensive record of the incident management process, including a description of the incident, any workarounds identified, the root cause (if available), and the profile of the incident's source, will improve incident resolution time.

Knowledgebase Article Template

11. Sample Communication Plan – A sample template to guide your communications around the integration and implementation of your overall service desk improvement initiatives.

Use this template to develop a communication plan that outlines what stakeholders can expect as the process improvements recommended in the Standardize the Service Desk blueprint are implemented.

Sample Communication Plan

12. Service Desk Roadmap – A structured roadmap tool to help build your service desk initiatives timeline.

The Service Desk Roadmap helps track outstanding implementation activities from your service desk standardization project. Use the roadmap tool to define service desk project tasks, their owners, priorities, and timeline.

Service Desk Roadmap

Member Testimonials

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.

9.6/10

Overall Impact

$28,811

Average $ Saved

25

Average Days Saved

Client

Experience

Impact

$ Saved

Days Saved

Parks Canada

Guided Implementation

10/10

$300K

50

As the Project Lead and National IT Manager, Service Management, standardizing our service desk is a very important priority for the Digital Servic... Read More

Cameron County, TX

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

50

Ms. Sugerman was patient and explained the processes in great detail. Her personality made her a great consultant to work with.

The City of Daytona Beach

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

N/A

I put N/A for the time and financial impact because without this engagement this would not have been done! I expect the benefits will be more stre... Read More

Field Law

Guided Implementation

8/10

$2,000

2

Pascua Yaqui Tribe

Guided Implementation

9/10

$2,469

5

Working with Frank has been an excellent experience since I'm a first-time manager. I have learned a lot and have gained new tools. The worst part ... Read More

Municipality of Chatham-Kent

Guided Implementation

8/10

N/A

N/A

The best part of the experience was getting to speak with David, Frank and Darrin. They provided excellent strategies and resource material. Ther... Read More

STgenetics

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

N/A

I want to thank Frank Trovato for this his expertise in help us with Standardization of Service Desk process. Best: Knowledge and expertise, un... Read More

DP World Australia Limited

Workshop

10/10

$42,999

10

What a fantastic facilitator Benjamin is. Best workshop. Knowledgeable and easy to work with and know how to get the best out of the participants. ... Read More

Erie 1 Board of Co-op Education Services

Workshop

10/10

$5,199

12

Jeremy was a good listener and worked to understand our process. It’s much different from other service desks and he took the time to listen and a... Read More

Highlands County Clerk of Courts

Guided Implementation

10/10

$6,499

2

Sun River Health

Guided Implementation

10/10

$12,999

20

Sandi is a great consultant. I like very much to work with Sandi.

City and County of Broomfield

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

N/A

Emily was extremely helpful and was able to provide tangible action items for me to take to my team.

Pima County Community College District

Guided Implementation

10/10

$22,749

120

Ben is simply the best! To make the most out of our service desk transformation, we needed the expert advice of an outsider. Ben filled the role ... Read More

The St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital

Workshop

9/10

$50,000

35

BEST: - Knowledge acquired from the workshop - The workshop facilitator did an excellent job (knowledgable, prompted appropriately, gave relevant... Read More

Alcoholic Beverage Control

Workshop

10/10

$64,999

20

The best part was motivating the team to start envisioning what the Service Desk can be and laying out the roadmap for the journey.

Repligen Corporation

Guided Implementation

9/10

$32,499

20

Scott is a very knowledgeable service delivery professional. His advice and counsel on the topic has helped us to better understand the intricacies... Read More

Rosemont Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

20

Emily's knowledge was excellent and she explained everything clearly and concisely

City Of Chesapeake

Workshop

10/10

$64,999

20

Dave did a fantastic job of highlighting salient points within our current environment that impact our ability to deliver exceptional customer serv... Read More

WSECU

Workshop

10/10

$38,999

12

Joes is a highly engaged partner and helped bring additional insights to our team. No worst parts.

Oregon Military Department

Guided Implementation

10/10

$64,999

50

Natalie is an excellent advisor and SME.

First Command Financial Services

Workshop

10/10

N/A

N/A

Best - Agenda layout Jeremy's facilitation style Jeremy's knowledge and experience around the subject Style of workshop was interactive - not ... Read More

Justice Institute of British Columbia

Guided Implementation

10/10

$50,000

20

Working with Mahmood was a pleasure, and very informative. Financial impact estimate was based on IT savings, but um sure impact to our customers... Read More

Washtenaw County, MI

Workshop

8/10

$12,999

10

I really appreciated Sumit's experience and knowledge. He really helped to facilitate valuable discussions among our team members. I would like t... Read More

Public Employees Benefits Agency

Guided Implementation

8/10

$10,000

10

Coherus Biosciences

Guided Implementation

8/10

N/A

N/A

The best part is the ability to get from you a blend of best practices plus what works best for our situation.

Dollar General

Guided Implementation

9/10

$12,599

10

Champaign Residential Services Inc

Guided Implementation

10/10

$16,379

5

Working with Ben is by far the best part! His experience with other companies helped us to think about different ways to approach issues. InfoTech'... Read More

Ashley Industrial Molding, Inc.

Guided Implementation

9/10

$12,599

75

Darin was absolutely awesome!. He's knowledge and experience is surpassed only by his presentation and comedic relief. I will truly miss talking wi... Read More

BF&M (Canada) Limited

Workshop

10/10

$5,000

10

the overall experience was great , thank you

iFIT

Guided Implementation

9/10

$10,000

N/A

The information and timing was spot on for the transformational project that I am undertaking.

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Service Desk

Strengthen your service desk to build a strong foundation for ITSM maturity.
This course makes up part of the Infrastructure & Operations Certificate.

Now Playing:
Academy: Service Desk | Executive Brief

An active membership is required to access Info-Tech Academy
  • Course Modules: 5
  • Estimated Completion Time: 2-2.5 hours
  • Featured Analysts:
  • Mahmoud Ramin, Research Analyst, Infrastructure Practice
  • Allison Kinnaird, Research Lead, Infrastructure Practice

Workshop: Standardize the Service Desk

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

Module 1: Lay Service Desk Foundations

The Purpose

Discover your challenges and understand what roles, metrics, and ticket handling procedures are needed to tackle the challenges.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Set a clear understanding about the importance of service desk to your organization and service desk best practices.

Activities

Outputs

1.1

Assess current state of the service desk.

  • Current state assessment
1.2

Review service desk and shift-left strategy.

  • Shift-left strategy and implications
1.3

Identify service desk metrics and reports.

  • Service desk metrics and reports
1.4

Identify ticket handling procedures

  • Ticket handling procedures

Module 2: Design Incident Management

The Purpose

  • Build workflows for incident and critical incident tickets.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Distinguish incidents from service requests.
  • Ticket categorization facilitates ticket. routing and reporting.
  • Develop an SLA for your service desk team for a consistent service delivery.

Activities

Outputs

2.1

Build incident and critical incident management workflows.

  • Incident and critical incident management workflows
2.2

Design ticket categorization scheme and proper ticket handling guidelines.

  • Ticket categorization scheme
2.3

Design incident escalation and prioritization guidelines.

  • Ticket escalation and prioritization guidelines

Module 3: Design Request Fulfilment

The Purpose

  • Build service request workflows and prepare self-service portal.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Standardize request fulfilment processes.
  • Prepare for better knowledge management and leverage self-service portal to facilitate shift-left strategy.

Activities

Outputs

3.1

Build service request workflows.

  • Distinguishing criteria for requests and projects
  • Service request workflows and SLAs
3.2

Build a targeted knowledgebase.

  • Knowledgebase article template, processes, and workflows
3.3

Prepare for a self-serve portal project.

Module 4: Build Project Implementation Plan

The Purpose

  • Now that you have laid the foundation of your service desk, put all the initiatives into an action plan.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Discuss priorities, set timeline, and identify effort for your service desk.
  • Identify the benefits and impacts of communicating service desk initiatives to stakeholders and define channels to communicate service desk changes.

Activities

Outputs

4.1

Build an implementation roadmap.

  • Project implementation and task list with associated owners
4.2

Build a communication plan

  • Project communication plan and workshop summary presentation
Unlock This Blueprint

Standardize the Service Desk

Improve customer service by driving consistency in your support approach and meeting SLAs.

Analyst Perspective

"Customer service issues are rarely based on personality but are almost always a symptom of poor and inconsistent process. When service desk managers are looking to hire to resolve customer service issues and executives are pushing back, it’s time to look at improving process and the support strategy to make the best use of technicians’ time, tools, and knowledge sharing. Once improvements have been made, it’s easier to make the case to add people or introduce automation.

Replacing service desk solutions will also highlight issues around poor process. Without fixing the baseline services, the new solution will simply wrap your issues in a prettier package.

Ultimately, the service desk needs to be the entry point for users to get help and the rest of IT needs to provide the appropriate support to ensure the first line of interaction has the knowledge and tools they need to resolve quickly and preferably on first contact. If your plans include optimization to self-serve or automation, you’ll have a hard time getting there without standardizing first."

Sandi Conrad

Principal Research Director, Infrastructure & Operations Practice

Info-Tech Research Group

A method for getting your service desk out of firefighter mode

This Research Is Designed For:

  • The CIO and senior IT management who need to increase service desk effectiveness and timeliness and improve end-user satisfaction.
  • The service desk manager who wants to lead the team from firefighting mode to providing consistent and proactive support.

This Research Will Also Assist:

  • Service desk teams who want to increase their own effectiveness and move from a help desk to a service desk.
  • Infrastructure and applications managers who want to decrease reactive support activities and increase strategic project productivity by shifting repetitive and low-value work left.

This Research Will Help You:

  • Create a consistent customer service experience for service desk patrons.
  • Increase efficiency, first-call resolution, and end-user satisfaction with the Service Desk.
  • Decrease time and cost to resolve service desk tickets.
  • Understand and address reporting needs to address root causes and measure success.
  • Build a solid foundation for future IT service improvements.

Executive Summary

Situation

  • The CIO and senior IT management who need to increase service desk effectiveness and timeliness and improve end-user satisfaction.
  • If only the phone could stop ringing, the Service Desk could become proactive, address service levels, and improve end-user IT satisfaction.

Complication

  • Not everyone embraces their role in service support. Specialists would rather work on projects than provide service support.
  • The Service Desk lacks processes and workflows to provide consistent service. Service desk managers struggle to set and meet service-level expectations, which further compromises end-user satisfaction.

Resolution

  • Go beyond the blind adoption of best-practice frameworks. No simple formula exists for improving service desk maturity. Use diagnostic tools to assess the current state of the Service Desk. Identify service support challenges and draw on best-practice frameworks intelligently to build a structured response to those challenges.
  • An effective service desk must be built on the right foundations. Understand how:
    • Service desk structure affects cost and ticket volume capacity.
    • Incident management workflows can improve ticket handling, prioritization, and escalation.
    • Request fulfillment processes create opportunities for streamlining and automating services.
    • Knowledge sharing supports the processes and workflows essential to effective service support.

Info-Tech Insight

Service desk improvement is an exercise in organizational change. Engage specialists across the IT organization in building the solution. Establish a single service-support team across the IT group and enforce it with a cooperative, customer-focused culture. Don’t be fooled by a tool that’s new. A new service desk tool alone won’t solve the problem. Service desk maturity improvements depend on putting in place the right people and processes to support the technology

Directors and executives understand the importance of the service desk and believe IT can do better

A double bar graph is depicted. The blue bars represent Effectiveness and the green bars represent Importance in terms of service desk at different seniority levels, which include frontline, manager, director, and executive.

Source: Info-Tech, 2019 Responses (N=189 organizations)

Service Desk Importance Scores

    No Importance: 1.0-6.9
    Limited Importance: 7.0-7.9
    Significant Importance: 8.0-8.9
    Critical Importance: 9.0-10.0

Service Desk Effectiveness Scores

    Not in Place: N/A
    Not Effective: 0.0-4.9
    Somewhat Ineffective: 5.0-5.9
    Somewhat Effective: 6.0-6.9
    Very Effective: 7.0-10.0

Info-Tech Research Group’s IT Management and Governance Diagnostic (MGD) program assesses the importance and effectiveness of core IT processes. Since its inception, the MGD has consistently identified the service desk as an area to leverage.

Business stakeholders consistently rank the service desk as one of the top five most important services that IT provides

Since 2013, Info-Tech has surveyed over 40,000 business stakeholders as part of our CIO Business Vision program.

Business stakeholders ranked the following 12 core IT services in terms of importance:

Learn more about the CIO Business Vision Program.
*Note: IT Security was added to CIO Business Vision 2.0 in 2019

Top IT Services for Business Stakeholders

  1. Network Infrastructure
  2. IT Security*
  3. Data Quality
  4. Service Desk
  5. Business Applications
  6. Devices
  7. Client-Facing Technology
  8. Analytical Capability
  9. IT Innovation Leadership
  10. Projects
  11. Work Orders
  12. IT Policies
  13. Requirements Gathering
Source: Info-Tech Research Group, 2019 (N=224 organizations)

Having an effective and timely service desk correlates with higher end-user satisfaction with all other IT services

A double bar graph is depicted. The blue bar represents dissatisfied ender user, and the green bar represents satisfied end user. The bars show the average of dissatisfied and satisfied end users for service desk effectiveness and service desk timeliness.

On average, organizations that were satisfied with service desk effectiveness rated all other IT processes 46% higher than dissatisfied end users.

Organizations that were satisfied with service desk timeliness rated all other IT processes 37% higher than dissatisfied end users.
“Satisfied” organizations had average scores =8.“Dissatisfied" organizations had average scores “Dissatisfied" organizations had average scores =6. Source: Info-Tech Research Group, 2019 (N=18,500+ respondents from 75 organizations)

Standardize the service desk the Info-Tech way to get measurable results

More than one hundred organizations engaged with Info-Tech, through advisory calls and workshops, for their service desk projects in 2016. Their goal was either to improve an existing service desk or build one from scratch.

Organizations that estimate the business impact of each project phase help us shed light on the average measured value of the engagements.

"The analysts are an amazing resource for this project. Their approach is very methodical, and they have the ability to fill in the big picture with detailed, actionable steps. There is a real opportunity for us to get off the treadmill and make real IT service management improvements"

- Rod Gula, IT Director

American Realty Advisors

Three circles are depicted. The top circle shows the sum of measured value dollar impact which is US$1,659,493.37. The middle circle shows the average measured value dollar impact which is US$19,755.87. The bottom circle shows the average measured value time saved which is 27 days.

Info-Tech’s approach to service desk standardization focuses on building service management essentials

This image depicts all of the phases and steps in this blueprint.

Info-Tech draws on the COBIT framework, which focuses on consistent delivery of IT services across the organization

This image depicts research that can be used to improve IT processes. Service Desk is circled to demonstrate which research is being used.

The service desk is the foundation of all other service management processes.

The image shows how the service desk is a foundation for other service management processes.

Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

DIY Toolkit

“Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.”

Guided Implementation

“Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.”

Workshop

“We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.”

Consulting

“Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

Standardize the Service Desk – project overview

This image shows the project overview of this blueprint.

Info-Tech delivers: Use our tools and templates to accelerate your project to completion

Project Summary

Image of template.

Service Desk Standard Operating Procedures

Image of tool.

Service Desk Maturity Assessment Tool

Image of tool.

Service Desk Implementation Roadmap

Image of tool Incident, knowledge, and request management workflows

Incident, knowledge, and request management workflows

The project’s key deliverable is a service desk standard operating procedure

Benefits of documented SOPs:

Improved training and knowledge transfer: Routine tasks can be delegated to junior staff (freeing senior staff to work on higher priority tasks).

IT automation, process optimization, and consistent operations: Defining, documenting, and then optimizing processes enables IT automation to be built on sound processes, so consistent positive results can be achieved.

Compliance: Compliance audits are more manageable because the documentation is already in place.

Transparency: Visually documented processes answer the common business question of “why does that take so long?”

Cost savings: Work solved at first contact or with a minimal number of escalations will result in greater efficiency and more cost-effective support. This will also lead to better customer service.

Impact of undocumented/undefined SOPs:

Tasks will be difficult to delegate, key staff become a bottleneck, knowledge transfer is inconsistent, and there is a longer onboarding process for new staff

IT automation built on poorly defined, unoptimized processes leads to inconsistent results.

Documenting SOPs to prepare for an audit becomes a major time-intensive project.

Other areas of the organization may not understand how IT operates, which can lead to confusion and unrealistic expectations.

Support costs are highest through inefficient processes, and proactive work becomes more difficult to schedule, making the organization vulnerable to costly disruptions.

Workshop Overview

Image depicts workshop overview occurring over four days.

Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.

Phase 1

Lay Service Desk Foundations

Step 1.1:Assess current state

Image shows the steps in phase 1. Highlight is on step 1.1

This step will walk you through the following activities:

  • 1.1.1 Outline service desk challenges
  • 1.1.2 Assess the service desk maturity

This step involves the following participants:

  • Project Sponsor
  • IT Director, CIO
  • IT Managers and Service Desk Manager(s)
  • Representation from tier 2 and tier 3 specialists

Outcomes

Alignment on the challenges that the service desk faces, an assessment of the current state of service desk processes and technologies, and baseline metrics against which to measure improvements.

Deliverables

  • Service Desk Maturity Assessment

Standardizing the service desk benefits the whole business

The image depicts 3 circles to represent the service desk foundations.

Embrace standardization

  • Standardization prevents wasted energy on reinventing solutions to recurring issues.
  • Standardized processes are scalable so that process maturity increases with the size of your organization.

Increase business satisfaction

  • Improve confidence that the service desk can meet service levels.
  • Create a single point of contact for incidents and requests and escalate quickly.
  • Analyze trends to forecast and meet shifting business requirements.

Reduce recurring issues

  • Create tickets for every task and categorize them accurately.
  • Generate reliable data to support root-cause analysis.

Increase efficiency and lower operating costs

  • Empower end users and technicians with a targeted knowledgebase (KB).
  • Cross-train to improve service consistency.

Case Study: The CIO of Westminster College took stock of existing processes before moving to empower the “helpless desk”

Scott Lowe helped a small staff of eight IT professionals formalize service desk processes and increase the amount of time available for projects.

When he joined Westminster College as CIO in 2006, the department faced several infrastructure challenges, including:

  • An unreliable network
  • Aging server replacements and no replacement plan
  • IT was the “department of no”
  • A help desk known as the “helpless desk”
  • A lack of wireless connectivity
  • Internet connection speed that was much too slow

As the CIO investigated how to address the infrastructure challenges, he realized people cared deeply about how IT spent its time.

The project load of IT staff increased, with new projects coming in every day.

With a long project list, it became increasingly important to improve the transparency of project request and prioritization.

Some weeks, staff spent 80% of their time working on projects. Other weeks, support requirements might leave only 10% for project work.

He addressed the infrastructure challenges in part by analyzing IT’s routine processes.

Internally, IT had inefficient support processes that reduced the amount of time they could spend on projects.

They undertook an internal process analysis effort to identify processes that would have a return on investment if they were improved. The goal was to reduce operational support time so that project time could be increased.

Five years later, they had a better understanding of the organization's operational support time needs and were able to shift workloads to accommodate projects without compromising support.

Common challenges experienced by service desk teams

Unresolved issues

  • Tickets are not created for all incidents.
  • Tickets are lost or escalated to the wrong technicians.
  • Poor data impedes root-cause analysis of incidents.

Lost resources/accountability

  • Lack of cross-training and knowledge sharing.
  • Lack of skills coverage for critical applications and services.
  • Time is wasted troubleshooting recurring issues.
  • Reports unavailable due to lack of data and poor categorization.

High cost to resolve

  • Tier 2/3 resolve issues that should be resolved at tier 1.
  • Tier 2/3 often interrupt projects to focus on service support.

Poor planning

  • Lack of data for effective trend analysis leads to poor demand planning.
  • Lack of data leads to lost opportunities for templating and automation.

Low business satisfaction

  • Users are unable to get assistance with IT services quickly.
  • Users go to their favorite technician instead of using the service desk.

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

MEMBER RATING

9.6/10
Overall Impact

$28,811
Average $ Saved

25
Average Days Saved

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve.

Read what our members are saying

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst

Get the help you need in this 4-phase advisory process. You'll receive 8 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

Guided Implementation 1: Lay service desk foundations
  • Call 1: Conduct current-state assessment. Review shift-left service support strategy.
  • Call 2: Identify operations metrics, and reports. Review ticket handling procedures.

Guided Implementation 2: Design incident management processes
  • Call 1: Map out incident management workflows.
  • Call 2: Design categorization and identify escalation points.
  • Call 3: Design prioritization guidelines and service-level objectives.

Guided Implementation 3: Design request fulfilment processes
  • Call 1: Differentiate between requests and projects, build request workflows, and make a self-service portal plan.
  • Call 2: Design processes and workflows to produce a targeted knowledgebase.

Guided Implementation 4: Plan the implementation of the service desk
  • Call 1: Build a communication plan and implementation roadmap.

Author

Mahmoud Ramin

Contributors

  • Jason Aqui, IT Director, Bellevue College
  • Kevin Sigil, IT Director, Southwest Care Centre
  • Lucas Gutierrez, Service Desk Manager, City of Santa Fe
  • Rama Dhuwaraha, CIO, University of North Texas System
  • Annelie Rugg, CIO, UCLA Humanities
  • Owen McKeith, Manager IT Infrastructure, Canpotex
  • Rod Gula, IT Director, American Realty Association
  • Rosalba Trujillo, Service Desk Manager, Northgate Markets
  • Jason Metcalfe, IT Manager, Mesalabs
  • Bradley Rodgers, IT Manager, SecureTek
  • Daun Costa, IT Manager, Pita Pit
  • Kari Petty, Service Desk Manager, Mansfield Oil
  • Denis Borka, Service Desk Manager, PennTex Midstream
  • Lateef Ashekun, IT Manager, City of Atlanta
  • Ted Zeisner, IT Manager, University of Ottawa Institut de Cardiologie

Related Content: Service Desk

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