IT Service Desk

Where did IT Service Desks Come From?

The IT helpdesk function was born in the late 1980s as a support capability to fix IT issues. It was a highly technical function focused on the technology rather than the end users. Early IT helpdesks didn’t have the concept of SLAs or time-based targets for resolving issues. It wasn’t until ITIL came onto the scene in the 1990s, capturing IT Service Management best practices, that the concept of the user-centric IT service desk began to emerge. The service desk was seen as an essential part of “managing IT like a service”.
 

In the mid-1990s, research by Iain Middleton of Robert Gordon University found that value was derived not only from a reactive response to user issues, but also from the help desk's unique position of communicating daily with numerous customers or employees. Information gained about technical problems, user preferences, and what satisfies users can be valuable for the planning and development work of IT services.
 

With the publishing of ITIL v2 in 2001, the Service Desk function and its role in incident and request management became one of the core components of IT service operations in many organizations. As the decade continued, globalization along with increasing pressures to reduce IT operational costs led many organizations to centralize IT Service Desk functions with many engaging 3rd party support partners to staff them. Outsourcing of IT service desk functions led to further standardization of processes and a growth in the market for of help desk ticketing software.
 

Modern technology trends including cloud-services, the widespread use of 3rd party components in the IT ecosystem and advancements in discovery and monitoring capabilities have led to the integration of stand-alone helpdesk ticketing systems into more comprehensive ITSM platforms that serve as the hub of operations not just for the IT service desk, but the entire IT function. As companies seek to further modernize and pursue Digital Transformation initiatives, the IT Service Desk is evolving again to become more business centric, with greater awareness of business processes and data – in many cases becoming an integrated part of companies’ business operations.

What Does an IT Service Desk do?

The primary role of an IT service desk is to serve as the primary point of contact for monitoring / owning incidents, addressing user requests/questions and providing a communications channel between other service management functions and the user community. In addition to these core functions, the service desk often plays an active role in capturing change requests, maintaining 3rd party support contracts, managing software licenses and assisting with problem management.
 

In some organizations, the service desk is integrated into other business processes such as:

• Employee Onboarding

• Acquisition Integration

• Data Access Management

• Supplier/Partner Onboarding and Off-boarding

• Reporting and Metrics management

• Business Continuity Management

• Infrastructure/Service Monitoring

IT Service Desk Best Practices

Companies have been operating IT service desks for many years and out of those operations some best practices have emerged.

Customer Engagement

• Examine customers behavior and expectations to make sure you understand their needs
• Provide an end-user Self-help portal accessible 24 hrs/day (even when your service desk is closed)
• Use SLAs and priority/severity classification to differentiate requests so you can address the most critical ones first
• Try to resolve issues at the first point of engagement and avoid hand-offs, escalations and the need for call-backs
• Perform customer satisfaction surveys on a regular basis to understand how your clients feel about the services they are receiving

Service Desk Management & Reporting

• Use real-time helpdesk reports, dashboards and analytics to monitor operations and initiate corrective actions before issues become problems
• Ensure escalation and handoff processes are clear and well understood to avoid missed SLAs
• Leverage analytics capabilities from your ITSM system to reduce the time/effort to generate reports
• Ensure management experiences your service desk operations first hand to gain an appreciation for what service desk staff do and the challenges they face
• Treat service desk staff as professional communicators and problem-solvers, giving them the tools they need to be successful

Using technology to support the IT Service Desk

• Implement service request workflow capabilities in your helpdesk software to help orchestrate escalations and hand-offs
• Provide automation capabilities for common user requests (access, password reset, etc)
• Use your service desk software to facilitate and record communications between agents and requestors
• Integrate your Service Desk systems into your broader ITSM to provide agents greater access to information about the IT environment

Knowledge Management

• Implement a knowledge management system to capture knowledge in a place it can be accessed by multiple people
• Provide answers to Frequently Asked Questions directly to end-users - avoiding the need for agent contact
• Keep your knowledge records current and accurate by reviewing and purging knowledge records frequently