tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2010://1 2010-07-15T15:08:02Z Movable Type 3.34 tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2010://1.61 2010-07-15T14:44:15Z 2010-07-15T15:08:02Z

Having a library of meaningful reports is imperative for any good help desk application. Knowing how many calls you have open on your service desk at any given time, which calls are about to breach their SLA, how many calls an operator has closed, which calls were closed within their...

Richard Althorp Having a library of meaningful reports is imperative for any good help desk application. Knowing how many calls you have open on your service desk at any given time, which calls are about to breach their SLA, how many calls an operator has closed, which calls were closed within their SLA threshold, how many calls had related symptoms with other calls. Compare historical information with any previous day, week, month or year; what are the current statuses of your logged calls, what were the top error categories or resolutions categories used? Export your reports through CSV, Excel, PDF, HTML, Rich Text Format and TIFF files. All of this information and more is now available with the very latest Report Portal with Oxygen Help Desk 4.0. tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2010://1.60 2010-06-03T11:13:49Z 2010-06-03T13:11:13Z

Virgin Holidays re-route virtually all of their Service Requests with Oxygen's Self Service Portal. "90% of our service requests are now logged via the Self service Portal" Sarah Francillia, IT Service Delivery Manager Click here to read the full Case Study...

Richard Althorp Click here to read the full Case Study]]> tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2010://1.58 2010-04-29T15:04:06Z 2010-04-29T15:07:03Z

If you would like to see Oxygen in action or take a peep at some of the screen shots then click here...

Richard Althorp click here]]> tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2010://1.57 2010-02-05T16:01:02Z 2010-02-05T16:24:44Z

Forestcare is Bracknell Council’s Emergency Response Service operating from their purpose-built control centre at Bracknell Depot. Forestcare monitor Lifeline alarms in the community and in sheltered housing and provide out-of-hours calls, handling services to Bracknell and other authorities. Oxygen Enterprise has been chosen as the new support tool to help...

Richard Althorp Forestcare is Bracknell Council’s Emergency Response Service operating from their purpose-built control centre at Bracknell Depot. Forestcare monitor Lifeline alarms in the community and in sheltered housing and provide out-of-hours calls, handling services to Bracknell and other authorities. Oxygen Enterprise has been chosen as the new support tool to help Forestcare offer a better service to to Bracknell Forest Council and other authorities who are supported by the Team. tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2010://1.56 2010-01-29T15:58:37Z 2010-01-29T16:03:17Z

"Having looked at the latest tool-sets available, including Hornbill Support Works, Landesk and Remedy, the only option which suitability met our needs was from a company called e-Warehouse and their product Oxygen SaaS Enterprise." Julian Vincent, Service Manager, Communities and Local Government Click her to read case study...

Richard Althorp Click her to read case study]]> tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2010://1.55 2010-01-11T13:52:43Z 2010-02-05T10:56:28Z

Before choosing e-Warehouse as its eventual supplier of their new Service Desk for handling both IT Service Customer Service requests, Tim Cawley IS Manager at Domino's Pizza Group explains why they decided to go with Oxygen Service Desk. Click here to read case study....

Richard Althorp Click here to read case study.]]> tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2009://1.52 2009-11-04T11:38:56Z 2009-12-08T16:44:56Z

2008 – 2009 witnessed the most severe economic recession in generations, and the IT industry suffered an even greater decline than it did during 2001, following the dot-com bubble. Yet all recessions come to an end, and this one will, too. It is now—as the recession gives way to growth—that...

Richard Althorp Click here to view the Gartner Perspective: IT Spending 2010]]> tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2009://1.51 2009-10-28T15:01:53Z 2009-12-08T16:44:56Z

Did you know It's five times more expensive to gain a new customer than it is to keep one. In a recession, it is critical for your business to both retain every customer and maximise their lifetime value. Acquiring new customers requires an investment of precious time and resource so...

Richard Althorp Self Service Web Portal that integrates into your Service Management Solution. Self Service solutions can deliver a 30-50 percent reduction in email volume and a 10 – 30 percent reduction in telephone calls, all while increasing customer satisfaction. As an Independent Software Vendor we are only too well aware of the difficulties associated with the delivery of software products and importantly the ongoing management of customer requests, bug fixes, feature requests and software releases. • Present up to the minute information to your customers via the web based self service portal. • Manage your change process and software releases so the “who has what” is available at your finger tips. • Map your Business Processes directly into the Oxygen Service Desk. • Take total control of information and resources via “roles and views” insuring the right information is available to the right people. • Provide detailed Customer and Management Reporting on line 24/7 For further information on how we can help you as an organisation empower your service department with Oxygen Service Desk and position your company as a service leader as we exit the recession click here. ]]> tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2009://1.50 2009-10-09T15:02:23Z 2009-12-08T16:44:56Z

Dynamic Report Portal lets you give access to both internal and external users of Oxygen. Grant access rights based on Roles or permissions; now managers or external customers can view their own reports using the Report Portal without having to log into the main Oxygen Service Desk. Integrated new Menu...

Richard Althorp Click here to arrange a demo of our new Reports Module.]]> tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2009://1.49 2009-10-01T15:10:43Z 2009-12-08T16:44:56Z

Oxygen Self Service Portal by e-Warehouse is the latest and greatest in the world of on demand service management business solutions. Now you can take advantage of E-Warehouse’s cutting edge service desk solution and have your customer's reap direct benefits as well! Cut through contact centre hold queues, email backlogs...

Richard Althorp Click here for further information.]]> tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2009://1.48 2009-05-12T10:43:49Z 2009-12-08T16:44:56Z

As of Monday May 11th are new contact details can be found on our Contact us page. Please note our New Contact Number 0845 299 7539....

Richard Althorp Contact us page. Please note our New Contact Number 0845 299 7539.]]> tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2009://1.47 2009-04-23T15:15:35Z 2009-12-08T16:44:56Z

We will be exhibiting at the up and coming Service Desk & IT Support Show next week on April 28th & 29th in Earls Court London. Come and see why every one in the industry are talking about Oxygen 4 and see for your self. We will also be giving...

Richard Althorp We will be exhibiting at the up and coming Service Desk & IT Support Show next week on April 28th & 29th in Earls Court London. Come and see why every one in the industry are talking about Oxygen 4 and see for your self. We will also be giving away Oxygen Licenses for free on the stand. So be sure to visit us on stand 206. tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2009://1.46 2009-04-07T15:24:03Z 2009-12-08T16:44:56Z

As we continue to grow our offering and look to expand our client base, we have two opportunities for an experienced Software Sales Consultant ideally with experience delivering IT service management solutions and an internal Telesales / New Business Executive. Software Sales Consultant Your main responsibilities will include presenting to...

Richard Althorp Software Sales Consultant Your main responsibilities will include presenting to clients our software through meetings and on-line webinars including demonstrating the configuration of the application. Full ownership of the sales process through to order and delivery of the solution is required. This is a 100% new business role, with the average sales order being in the region of £10,000.00. Support will be provided from regular advertising and marketing campaigns, which in turn are backed up from the internal sales support. Experience in selling to Director’s level is essential; you will also need to achieve the software sales targets through field sales on a monthly basis, and to meet the quarterly sales targets. You will be a senior salesperson with a minimum of 5 years in software development consulting or professional services. Salary up to £35k DOE (Basic) £70,000.00 OTE plus phone allowance and fuel expenses. Telesales Executive Duties will include, telesales, making agreed number of cold calls and appointments; dealing will enquiries from customers, supporting the field sales representative with admin and providing quotations What we are looking for: Minimum of 2years experience of closing appointments in the B2B market Excellent communication skills/Building rapport/Closing appointments Managing your own database to identify/schedule/generate appointments from Ability to maximize from marketing e-shot campaigns In return we are offering a salary of up to £20,000.00 Basic DOE with an OTE of £30,00.00. Please send your CV to hr@e-warehouse.com ]]> tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2009://1.45 2009-02-03T11:29:38Z 2009-12-08T16:44:57Z

Enable the centralisation of your support and service requests through Oxygen 4.0. With Oxygen 4.0 you can manage different types of requests including ITSM, Facilities Management, Customer Services and any other areas of business that require service requests. A single Central Service desk to support all your service needs. The...

Richard Althorp The new Routing rule system, allows the creation of conditional rules enabling the management of different types of requests in different ways, at a very granular level. From the “who and how” a request is logged through to the management of the escalation process and communications. Simple rules can be created to minimise human intervention and enable the standardisation of processes, which in turn has the potential to reduce cost associated with the management of requests. • Routing Conditions o Logging method, email, self service portal, User, Automated Alert o Item title content o Item body text content o Action Type o Status o Item (Request) Type o Categories o Service o Priority o Organisational Member/Unit o User/Team • Routing Actions o New Item (Request) Type o New Status o New Owner o New Team o New Category o Send Email o Update Portal The Role System provides a system to manage the rights of users and groups within the different parts of the business, from full rights giving access to all of the system down to a more restricted view only of job queues. Multiple roles can be created ensuring users are provided with rights that enable them to complete their tasks and no more. Multiple Views can be created and assigned to roles enabling access to Items and content that is relevant to that group or user. This ensures that users only have visibility of jobs that are specific to their needs and also enables the sharing of the Oxygen Service Desk by multiple business functions including IT, FM and Accounts or any other area that requires to manage service requests. Personalisation allows for customisation of what kind of information is displayed in the operators console with the ability to choose the type of information within the columns. Thus giving users access to only relevant content. The CMDB (Configuration Management Database) gives complete control over your physical assets. The CMDB provides the tool set required to manage both IT, Facility based assets and any other business relates asset that requires management. These assets can be managed at a very granular level and if required monitored for change, so if an unauthorised change is made the system will alert the required individual or group (depending on configuration) that this event has taken place. Software License Management, allows for complete monitoring of software licenses. License pools are created based upon the number of available licenses, so if the total number of licenses is exceeded an automatic alert will be generated. Action Types can be restricted to both Roles and Status of requests minimising them so only actions that apply at a certain point are available. For example if a problem has been through the internal support team and requires escalating to a third party, this action can be made available only to those authorised individuals and only when the call is at a specific status. SLA & OLA Management, allows the creation of parent/child relationships between services, thus allowing the complete management of incidents when a support service is provided to the business on a particular SLA and the overall resolution is provided by a third party with an additional SLA. Here you can manage both the SLA and OLA. COMs Module, gives complete management of emails and portal updates, all are logged and flagged, so that system operators can be notified that the customer, third party user or end-user has sent an update on a specific request. Categories can be can be restricted to roles, type and status ensuring only the categories required are visible and selectable. By categorising calls correctly greatly improves trend reporting and enables on going service improvements. Email Templates. Multiple email templates can be created and used as required. Within the templates are a large number of database fields that can be referenced, ensuring the required information is communicated. Terminology/Localisation. Be it IT Service Management, Facilities Management or other more general Business Process Management need, Oxygen allows for full customisation of its labelled fields. Multiple Incidences. Run multiple copies of Oxygen with one or more databases allowing for complete separation of service desks. Quick Call Templates includes request type allowing different request types to be selected, for example a Facilities request can be selected and then routed directly to the Facilities Team. Self Service Portal includes request type allowing different request types to be selected, for example a Facilities request can be selected and then routed directly to the Facilities Team. Tweaked Interface making Oxygen simpler to navigate, can now incorporate multiple tabs or windows. ]]> tag:blog.e-warehouse.com,2008://1.44 2008-12-18T16:34:05Z 2009-12-08T16:44:57Z

1 Abstract The traditional IT Help Desk has evolved over years into Service Desk, offering a range of services to offer a more business-focused approach. The Service Desk not only handles incidents, and Service Requests, it also provides a route for customers to interact with all IT processes, including...

Richard Althorp 1 Abstract The traditional IT Help Desk has evolved over years into Service Desk, offering a range of services to offer a more business-focused approach. The Service Desk not only handles incidents, and Service Requests, it also provides a route for customers to interact with all IT processes, including change requests, procurement, service level management, and sometime extend beyond traditional IT Services. The overall value proposition of Service Desk has changed from simply responding to the needs of IT end-users, to realizing higher Value & helping organizations get a better ROI on ICT Investments. This paper gives a roadmap and key considerations for setting up an efficient Service Desk encompassing the traditional and evolving expectations from the new age Service Desk. The paper shall enable the Service Desk managers either planning to set up a Service Desk or managing a Service Desk to consider the implications for their organizations. 2 Why do you need a Service Desk? Let us first answer the basic question, as what is the need or are the key drivers for setting up a Service Desk. 2.1.1 End User Perception In most organizations, the compelling reason for setting up a Service Desk is to respond to end-users criticism of IT department’s effectiveness to respond to their problems. The Service Desk makes it possible to deliver a predictable and consistent Delivery of IT Service to end-users. The Service Desk also makes it possible to be objective in measuring Customer/User Satisfaction which goes a long way in devising short term and long term plans for the IT Function. 2.1.2 SPOC for growing needs While Service Desks have been a Single Point Of Contact for end users for IT incidents and Service requests, it is now evolving an organization-wide SPOC, many times for non-IT needs as well. Wherever there is a need for control and visibility, Service Desk that uses scalable technology solutions with trained staff who can empathize with callers – provides the best solutions. 2.1.3 Infrastructure Availability Service Desks reduce downtime not only by coordinated and channelized (prioritized) efforts for faster resolution and thus ensuring a speedy resolution, but also by providing proactive/preventive information to users, which can greatly reduce the probability of repetition of such problems. 2.1.4 Higher Productivity and thus lower costs The cost of resolution at second and third level is multiple times the cost of a similar fix at first level. Utilization of staff at second and third levels is therefore a critical driver of overall efficiency. By separating the initial call logging, investigation and information gathering from technical troubleshooting, much higher utilization of second and third line staff can be achieved. The Service Desk is also a tool for objectively measuring the productivity of IT personnel and to determine the workload pattern. This further helps in manpower planning and scheduling for optimal utilization. 2.1.5 Input to key ITSM Processes The Service Desk provides valuable data on every item of hardware, software or professional service. The procurement authorities can use this data to determine the reliability or performance. This data is also useful in planning the Capacity and Availability of various services and provisioning the Infrastructure accordingly. The Service Desk coordinates Changes and Releases as many Service Management Tools integrate the workflow of these processes in the conventional Service Desk tools. As illustrated above, implementing Service Desk becomes imperative for an organization wanting to implement a full suite of ITSM processes. 3 Building a Service Desk Having established that efficient Service Desk is critical to business, it should be set up as a formal business improvement project with all key attributes like Ownership, Goals, and Deliverables etc clearly defined before the start of Project. Let us now discuss key considerations and Management decisions in order to setup a winning Service Desk. 3.1 Key Considerations • Clearly establish and articulate needs in Business term. • Define clear objectives and deliverables from the project • Ensure Management commitment, budget and resources are available before the project starts. • Identify quick wins and communicate to all stakeholders. • Involve Customer/User in the Project Definition and ongoing Reviews specially those who are outspoken and critical of the IT Support. • Adopt a phased approach instead of a Big Bang. However, smaller businesses are better-off going for a big-bang approach. • On-board the staff; take them in confidence, discuss with them the objectives and benefits. • Educate and Train the staff o To be customer focused, o To be a team player, Service Desk is all about teamwork and will miserably fail in the absence of it. o Active listening, showing empathy with users, o Professionalism; not to be adhoc with users/customers, as they will come with unreasonable demands. • Advertise, Sell & educate the new services and usage to users and Customers. • Identify key measurement matrices in customer understandable terms- e.g. Customer pickup response time, they must be advertised and demonstrated consistently for winning users trust. • Standardize the user Interaction for a professional experience – e.g., have a standard welcome message 3.2 Key Management Decisions 3.2.1 Structure of Service Desk The term ‘Service Desk’ was originally conceived for IT support, however, it is now used to describe any Customer Support Center or part of a Support Center, which handles complex problem solving and associated processes. They are deployed in a wide variety of ways. The Service Desk Manager must decide a structure based on merits and the organizational needs. 3.2.1.1 Local Service Desk: Departmental Service Desks specializing in the support of certain types of internal or external customers and focused on very specific business objectives. Key considerations are: • Provide customized support for specific location-based groups or staff. • Staff can develop a deeper level of expertise specific to the location. • Providing support in multiple languages is easier if the Service Desk supporting each language group can be staffed from local native speakers of that language. • Each Service Desk provides backup to other Service Desks in the event that one should become unavailable (disaster, and so on). • Distributing the Service Desks creates a broader labor pool to draw from. 3.2.1.2 Centralised Service Desk: Dedicated corporate Service Desks consolidating expertise in handling internal and/or external customers and using advanced Service Desk tools with knowledge and asset management capabilities. Key considerations are: • Users know where to call for support. • Fewer staff may be required, which reduces training, equipment, and facility costs. • Consolidated management overview. 3.2.1.3 Virtual Service Desk: Large, linked networks of multi-tier support centers spanning geographies and businesses, and supported by expensive, integrated software to meet business requirements. Virtual Service Desk is increasing becoming a choice for globally spread Organization and the key considerations are: • This structure allows a “follow the sun” approach, where 24-hour coverage can be provided, with each Service Desk working only during the normal workday for its location. • As each Service Desk finishes work for the day, the calls are then routed to another Service Desk in a different time zone where the staff is just starting their workday. 3.2.1.4 Outsourced Service Desk: • Large support centers (or a network of centers) built as generic facilities to provide Service Desk services for a wide range of clients who have chosen to outsource. In the main they focus on IT support and use expensive system solutions, although these have less functionality customization but more commercial options. 3.2.2 Communication Method, tools and technologies The Service Desk provides a communication interface between users and the IT department. The selection of technologies and methods of communication is thus a key consideration for Service Desk. 3.2.2.1 Telephone The most common, and often the easiest method of communicating with the Service Desk remains the telephone. Opportunities for clearer definition and explanation of an issue exist when the customer reporting the issue is interacting directly with the Service Desk analyst. The sporadic development of applications such as IVR, ACD, CLI, CTI etc., has revolutionized the Service Desk. While the tools go a long way in improving service efficiency and agent productivity, an improper implementation may prove to be counter productive for user perception for over-complex options and messages repeated too often. Managers must carefully evaluate the technology options while implementing them, so as not to irritate the users. 3.2.2.2 Self-service and Web-Based forms A Web-based ticketing system enables employees to initiate support requests and monitor ticket status without calling the Service Desk. This feature can result in improved productivity by minimizing call workload with self-service options for end users, ultimately saving Service Desk support staff valuable time. The advantages includes greater Customer Satisfaction by allowing users better transaction control, low cost compared to the Service Desk manpower costs; it works beyond office hours - 24X7; and it can service a very large number of users simultaneously. The Service Desk Manager must work for following attributes for a successful self-service Web • Customer should be able to determines entry, exit and navigation to Service Desk • Communication and Awareness among users • Excellent FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) so that users can be assured of a high hit-rate for the most likely issues. • Look and feel that is compatible with other facilities made available to the user. • Avoidance of unnecessary technical jargon. • Metrics for usage and improvements • Robust methods of keeping the information on the self-service site live and updated 3.2.2.3 Email E-mail is an increasingly common method of communicating with a Service Desk. Email makes it easy for customers to submit calls to the Service Desk; however, this method can be used only for less urgent calls. If all broadcast emails originating from the IT department are routed through the helpdesk it provides a consistent interface for users, and add to positive perception. For Service Desks which work at capacity or near-capacity at peak times, the encouragement of e-mail can be useful in helping to stagger the load and enable questions to be addressed during the lean hours of the day. However, the ability to respond well to email requires different set of skills. The biggest drawback is that it is essentially free-format; therefore, an e-mailed call may not provide a structured report of all the symptoms of an issue or the details of a request. However,e-mail forms can be developed for users to use to document all the relevant information. Large-scale call centers are now investing in mass e-mail-handling software to perform auto-response, auto-categorization and auto-forwarding tasks. 3.2.2.4 Mobile devices The use of mobile devices and personal digital assistants will, in some cases offer remote workers even more choices in the means of accessing help. Broadcasts of planned maintenance,service interruptions or other messages can be done thru mobile devices. Modern Service management tools use the mobile devices for auto forwarding and auto escalation of tickets to the relevant support group/personnel. 3.3 Define the Scope and Service Levels for the Service Desk Define and agree on the scope of Service Desk with Customer and users. The scope of Service Window should be in line with the SLA agreed with the customer. The Scope must be widely available to the users so that they are aware of what to expect (and what not to expect) from the Service Desk. Some of the key considerations while defining the scope are: • Define the Service Desk Coverage Window • Days and Hours Covered (Weekdays, Business Hours etc.) • Type of Non-Business hours support (No support or only web/phone support) • Time zone etc • Supported Business Locations, Geographies and Languages • Product/Platform and services – clearly define all facilities covered, e.g. Office Automation equipments like Fax machine covered/not covered. • Clearly define types of contacts supported • Standard contacts for incident Calls, Service Requests etc. • Others e.g. consumable replenishment in printers etc. The SLA must clearly document the expected Service Level from the Service Desk. In case the SLA does not specifically mention the service levels applicable for Service Desk, the Manager must agree with customer on parameters like Call Hold, Incident Response etc. and must widely publicize them among the users. Along with the Service levels, the Service Desk Manager must also decide and agree with customer on Charges - Per Call, T&M, Service Contracts, free service etc. 3.4 Plan the staffing of Service Desk A Service Desk is only as good as the employees staffing the Service Desk are. The Service Manager has to balance the cost and Delivery from the Service Desk and as the staffing is one of the primary cost component, planning the headcount and profile of people manning the Service Desk becomes a key consideration. Accordingly, the Service Desk Manager must decide on the Skill Set, Roles and Headcount for Service Desk considering the following factors as input: • Scope of Service Desk • Communication Methods – Phone, email etc. • Structure of Service Desk • Customer Expectations and SLA signed with customer on Call hold, Incident response and resolution targets etc. • Projected Call volume for Voice, emails tool alerts etc. Projects the call volume by hours, weekdays etc., to determine load pattern and thus the shift roster needs. • Budget and resources • Complexity of IT Infra The staffing once arrived must be constantly reviewed and realigned by doing trend analysis on SLA achievements, Customer feedback, work load pattern, call hold, total answer time etc. 4 The Winning Prescription Once all the key decisions listed above are taken, the Service Desk Manager must now focus on gaining the edge and make a winning Service Desk 4.1 Manage customer expectations Customer satisfaction is the state of mind that customers have about a Service or a Product, when their expectations have been met or exceeded over the time. Hence it is paramount to manage the Customer expectations actively, in order to achieve Customer Satisfaction. Achieving Customer Satisfaction is thus a three-step process – identify customer, understand and set the expectations and meet or exceed the expectations. 4.1.1 Identify the “Customer” and User expectations The Service Desk Manager must clearly identify who are the customers and users and their needs from the Service Desk and IT. For Customer is someone who has responsibility for the funding of the service and hence will be more focused on Value for money. Users who actually uses the Services from Service Desk on a day to day basis will be not be concerned on value for money against high availability and Service Levels. Among user community also different users will have different needs. An IT department running a conventional IT support desk in a BPO Organization has to satisfy the Business Head who runs a Line of Business, a Process Manager who is responsible for an operational line unit and the team leaders. In addition, there may be hundreds of agents as well as a clutch of senior lead users, and supervisory staff. Every one of these different roles has a slightly different requirement of a Service Desk. 4.1.2 Set Expectations Managers need to be clear about whom they want to satisfy and to what extent. Trade-offs are inevitable and need to be considered carefully. Such Trade-offs must be proactively identified to the extent possible and must be signed-off with Customer. The SLA must ideally reflect such trade-offs (e.g. different category of users having different service priorities and having different Service levels) and must be publicized among users. However, despite care, not all business priorities can be reflected in the SLA and hence the Service Desk agents must understand the Business context and be sensitized for such exceptions. 4.1.3 Demonstrate Service Where quantifiable targets have been set, care is needed to ensure that they can be met as sufficiently & frequently, as to be believed by the users – and their managers. Special care has to be taken publishing service targets which users can, in an even partial way, measure for themselves. For example, a promise to answer the telephone within 10 seconds is much better understood by a user than a commitment to resolve 80 percent of problems without external escalation. The caller who waits on-hold for over a minute in three successive calls will simply conclude that the Service Desk’s claims are not credible. Some large-scale call centers, unable to provide a live agent immediately, calculate an estimated queuing time and advise the caller so that he or she can decide whether or not to hold on. Wise suppliers construct the algorithm so as to be most likely to improve upon the estimated delay; excellent expectation management. 4.2 Knowledge Management for Service Desk Data are the individual known details; Data becomes information when structured in a particular way, and knowledge is the outcome when insight, context & experience are added to it. Successful leveraging of knowledge is the combination of the ‘involvement of trained staff with true insight and experience, with the delivery of relevant data and information into their hands, using Modern Service Management Tools. Some on the Knowledge Management aspects that are relevant for the Service Desk Managers are: 4.2.1 User identification The ability of Service Desk to identify the calling user and to retrieve key attributes without having to ask the caller can not only drastically reduce the processing time and improve productivity, but can enable a personalized user response resulting in high Customer Satisfaction. Much of this data is traditional for Service Desks and is now regularly auto-filled through screen popping CTI applications. The challenge however is to keep the information regularly updated. 4.2.2 Configuration Database The Service Management tool must assist the agent to look into the caller’s circumstances without disrupting the customer dialogue. The agent should be able to see what equipment and software is installed, how it is configured and networked to other components and system elements. The key here is to implement Configuration Management Process and the ability of Service Management tools to link the Configuration Items with users. 4.2.3 Transaction History A significant proportion of issues raised by IT users have some relevance to a previous query and hence it is important to keep updating the call diary or the transaction history for the user. The agent should be able to access the caller’s previous calls, or previous calls on a similar problem, or for the same asset. 4.2.4 Customer Needs and Requirements The requirement for IT support are captured in a Service Level Agreement and if it mandates a differential service level for various categories of users, the Service Desk must maintain user information indicating service/priority category. The implications of Service Levels must be stored widely in escalation thresholds and penalty trigger-points all over a Service Desk system. 4.2.5 Known Error Database As the ITIL best practices suggest, IT Service Desk, must have having access to known errors and resolution data. Modern knowledgebase uses navigation methods to find quickly the answer to multi-attribute questions and might even use advanced model-based or case-based retrieval of specially built, and constantly updated archives. It is now possible to buy pre-built third-party problem resolution databases or knowledgebase for widely distributed products. 4.3 Communication within Helpdesk In a multi-Shift Service Desk, disseminating information, knowledge and work instructions to everyone is a tough challenge. The risks of not keeping everyone involved and informed are high, ranging from low morale, to analysts providing inaccurate or obsolete information to users/customers. Though communication within the Service Desk is something that will be largely driven by the specific needs, a few of the critical considerations are: Create a Shift Handover Process – Have a standard agenda and template for Shift Handover Notes. Have a regularly updated Bulletin Board; preferably Web based having some fun content besides having all Service Desk critical updates. Have formal review meetings with a fixed agenda such as: Daily: Exceptions/SLA Breaches, all open incidents Weekly: SLA Reporting, major Incidents, Service Breaches, complaints ]]>