Why The Service Desk Needs A "Customer-Savvy Approach"

How is your service operation seen within the business? Good? Magic? Brilliant? Or perhaps meek? How your service operation is viewed within the business depends on many factors: communication, resolution, innovation etc., and all these factors are linked. Having previously helped NTT DATA to the title of SDI Service Desk of the Year, Damian Bowen says you must start by understanding how you are perceived. Then, it’s about telling the right story to build your reputation for delivering value and linking your service operation to the strategy and vision of your business.

About the speaker:

Damian has worked in the IT Industry for over 25 years, including the last 8 years as Director of IT & Service Delivery in the UK for one of the largest global SI’s (the $13bn turnover NTT DATA). Damian has transformed the Service Operations of NTT DATA and a number of other leading organisations.

IT organizations have struggled for years to move beyond monitoring of technology components and measure the performance of business processes, services and end user experiences. Operational Technology (OT) and the Internet of Things (IoT) provide a unique opportunity for service management professionals to embed sensors, collectors and instrumentation capabilities directly into the interactions between users and IT Systems. This webinar will provide an overview of the use of OT and IoT in the IT monitoring context, some management considerations and a look forward at how these capabilities are expected to evolve over the next 2-3 years.

Many organizations struggle with defining metrics for business and IT value. Metrics are disconnected from real value in such that after they are defined, no one either pays attentions to them or can make a decision relative to the metrics being reported on. In this session Anthony will discuss how to tie metrics to business and IT value for improved decision making. Including how metrics relate to IT projects and operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Great managers understand the value of numbers. But for many of us they are a safety net to defend what we do, not a catapult to corporate success.

Numbers tell a story, and in this session James Finister will tell you how we can use numbers to articulate and communicate the value of IT at a corporate level whilst avoiding common pitfalls

James will put to to rest the myth of lies, damned lies and statistics whilst promoting a mantra of measure what matters.

The business and IT landscape is changing in significant ways...

- Business are demanding continuous delivery of new and improved application functionality, as well as performance

-To help meet this demand, new emerging best-practices such as Agile and DevOps have arrived on the scene, delivering continuous software changes into the live environment

-The trend toward self-service continues, enabling end users to handle most of the simple issues themselves - engaging the service desk only when complex issues arise

-Support issues are becoming increasing complex, driving the need for collaboration, and knowledge sharing across IT functional groups (many of which remain "siloed")

-Customer and user expectations are rising in terms of higher uptime, and faster resolution to any issues

Nevertheless, many IT organizations and support center continue to implement the traditional "tiered support model" in their service desk and support centers, composed of ...

Tier 1 - the front line support team of generalists that tries to resolve most issues

Tier 2 - a second line of specialists that tries to resolve the rest

Tier 3 - a third line of very specialized developers, technicians, and
supplier that deal with the most complex issues

As a result of the dynamics in the changing business and IT environment, the tiered support model - although it has worked and been very popular over the past 30 years - is now coming up short. Many issues end up backlogged in ticket queues, resolution times drag out, costs continue to rise due to the magnitude of escalations, and customer/user satisfaction suffers.

Ah, the Service Catalog. Every organization needs one, but few have one they truly love. It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Create a menu of IT services, then communicate said menu to your customers. Done!

Sadly, the above scenario is a rare one. While most of our organizations have some semblance of a Service Catalog, it’s often a bit of mess, hasn’t been updated in a while, or lives in a perpetual state of almost done. If any of this sounds painfully familiar to you – or if you fall into the camp of not having a Service Catalog at all – be not afraid!

Why not? Because the BEYOND20 Catalog Doctors are here to help (trust us, *we’re doctors)! We’ve seen it all, and have helped strategize, design, and build countless Service Catalogs over the years. Our panel of catalog experts (or **doctors) will be sharing their knowledge, recommendations, and practical advice on how to quickly build a Service Catalog both you and your customers will love - with as little pain as is humanly possible.

*This is patently false. It couldn’t possibly be less true.

**Not doctors. Can’t stress it enough.

Modernize IT by taking a business centric approach to improve current business processes that support organizational objectives. This panel will discuss best practices for building a digital business model, and how IT modernization will impact IT service management

- Matt Hooper
Digital Transformation expert, author, podcaster, blogger, & Twitter addict, Matt Hooper is an engaging international speaker on agile business management, leadership, technology, & customer service. His 20+year career has taken him from help desk analyst to CIO. An active member of the ITSM, DevOps, & Agile communities @Vigilantguy

- Tom Catalini
Tom Catalini is an author, blogger, and speaker who teaches lessons on professional development and leadership based on his real-world experience as an IT Leader in nearly every type of business environment. He has written 2 books on communication skills for IT professionals (available on Amazon) and blogs at www.tomcatalini.com and on www.CIO.com.

- Carlos Casanova
Speaker and co-author of “The CMDB Imperative.” Carlos Casanova is a trusted advisor to Fortune 500 companies, a mentor and coach – someone who strives to do more than simply fix ITSM issues. His decades of experience in a wide range of industries, across large and small organizations enables him to listen and provide sound advice that enable positive business outcomes. Carlos is a blogger at http://carloscasanova.com/blog/ He is also a guest writer for TechTarget and a contributor to Global Podcasts at “All Things ITSM” www.CarlosCasanova.com

- Marcel Shaw
IT blogger at who focuses on IT service management, asset management, and endpoint management. Marcel has worked as a technical consultant for over 25 years, and has also consulted as a legal expert witness for a top Washington DC law firm. Marcel works extensively with United States federal government agencies building IT solutions. Twitter - @marcelshaw www.marcelshaw.com

In an effort to become easier-to-do-business-with, many IT organizations have stood up a “Service Catalog” within their ITSM tool. And frankly, it’s a very consumer-friendly and effective way to capture and manage requests - without the consumer having to contact the service desk.
But if that “Service Catalog” reads like a drive-thru menu at a fast food restaurant, you may not be helping your company leverage one of its most strategic assets – its IT capability. In fact, you may be sending a message to your company that you are not intending. What is that message? “Welcome to IT. May I take your order please?”
Shouldn’t IT be more than just an “order taker”? Shouldn’t a Service Catalog reflect the results of strategic investments and decisions made by the business about its use of IT, and not read like a drive-thru window menu?
Join Doug Tedder for what may be an eye-opening look at how your Service Catalog may be sending the wrong message to your company – and what you can do to change that – and still provide that easy, friendly way to interact with your consumers.

Not everything that can be counted matters. Not everything that matters can be counted. We tend to overestimate probability of success, inflate the impact of any success and assume understanding of what made it successful. But we often forget that measures are merely reflections of reality. When you establish KPI and CSF goals you generally get what you are measuring. We end up distorting the system, distorting the data and only sometime actually improving the system to meet those metrics and often end up degrading the systems while improving the metrics.

Learn about improving your metrics so reality improves as well as the measures.