Service Desk Quick Facts

I will continue with a series of quick facts of ITSM disciplines here.
A Service Desk is a primary IT capability called for in ITSM as defined by the ITIL. It is intended to provide a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) to meet the communications needs of both Users and IT and to satisfy both Customer and IT Provider objectives.

Objectives

• Providing a SPOC for customers
• Facilitating the restoration of normal operational service with minimal business impact on the customer within agreed SLA levels and business priorities

It is also a focal point for reporting Incidents (disruptions or potential disruptions in service availability or quality) and for users making Service Requests (routine requests for services). The Service Desk handles incidents and service requests, as well as providing an interface to users for other ITSM activities such as:

• Incident Management
• Problem Management
• Change Management
• Configuration Management
• Change Management
• Release Management
• Service Level Management
• Availability Management
• Capacity Management
• Financial Management
• IT Service Continuity Management
• Security Management

Activities

• Receiving calls, first-line customer liaison
• Recording and tracking incidents and complaints
• Keeping customers informed on request status and progress
• Making an initial assessment of requests, attempting to resolve them or refer them to someone who can
• Monitoring and escalation procedures relative to the appropriate SLA Identifying problems
• Closing incidents and confirmation with the customers
• Coordinating second and third line support
• Highlighting Customer education & training needs

Critical success factors
To introduce and maintain a successful Service Desk, it is essential that:

• Business needs are understood
• Customer requirements are understood
• Investment is made in training for Customers, support teams and Service Desk staff
• Service objectives, goals and deliverables are clearly defined
• Service levels are practical, agreed, and regularly reviewed
• The benefits are accepted by the business
  

Benefits

• Improves customer perception and satisfaction
• A prime deliverer of Customer satisfaction with IT
• A Single point of contact allowing improved accessability
• Requests solved faster and better
• Improved teamwork and communication
• Facilitation of proactive approach
• Reduced business impact of failures
• Improved control and management of infrastructure
• IT resources beter utilised
• Increased business productivity
• Provides meaningful management information