
3 Best Practices for Service Desk Support of the Customer
Marketing SuganoShare
The key to long-term success in the technology services industry is to continually engage and satisfy customers so that they trust and rely on you for every new technology need. A critical component of nurturing sticky customers relies on having an effective, responsive Service Desk.
Do You Need a Service Desk and a Help Desk?
Have you heard the terms ‘Service Desk’ and ‘Help Desk’ used interchangeably? Or perhaps you think of them as equivalent yourself. However, both a service desk and a help desk are vital to your company’s success as a technology services business. So what’s the difference? According to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL):- The service desk is a key component of managing the overall process from a strategic ‘big picture’ cross-organizational perspective. It reviews the overall IT processes and functionality.
- The help desk feeds into the service desk with a tactical, day-to-day role in responding to end-user needs. The help desk is a component of the overall service desk. The help desk’s mission is to be the single point of first contact for your customers when it comes to problem resolution.
What Are the Functions of an Effective Service Desk?
The service desk functions as the first point of contact within your business for all IT questions. Service desk personnel are focused on processes and company strategy, and should include a Service Desk Manager, Service Desk Supervisor, and Service Desk Analyst. Some of the functions fulfilled by an ITIL service desk include:- Incident management
- Problem management
- Configuration management
- Change management
- Release management
- SLA management
- Availability management
- Capacity management
- IT service continuity management
- Security management
3 Best Practices for Service Desk Support of the Customer
The responsibilities of the service desk are enormous. Books can be written about what it takes to run a really effective service desk, but let’s start with some basics. Establish these three critical service desk best practices up front, before moving on to finer points of service desk optimization.-
Establish an Effective Onboarding Process
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Train Your Team and the Customer Before Go-Live
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Leverage the Value of Automation