Is your business growing or changing? Or do you feel that you could be better utilising the resources and headcount that you are currently operating with? Productivity is a real buzzword in the workplace, but it’s easier said than done. Unlocking real and ongoing productive working often involves conscious effort and investment. Organisations on the lookout for ways to optimise their output will be interested to learn how service desks fit into achieving better productivity in the workplace.
What is a service desk?
A service desk is the point of contact between a service provider and its users, whether they be customers, clients or colleagues. There are usually elements of a help desk within an overall service desk, which responds to immediate issues and problems. However, the overarching service desk function is more strategic. It works to meet the needs of the business first and foremost. For this reason, the service desk will focus on strategy and process in a way that benefits business performance. This is the reason that a service desk can be so influential over developing better productivity in the workplace.
What are the benefits of a service desk?
When so many businesses rely on their IT systems to perform well, overall productivity can be directly influenced by service desk products and features. In this way, a productive service desk means a productive organisation. So which benefits lead to productivity within a service desk?
Costs
Whether outsourcing or setting up a dedicated service desk team, this feature enables cost savings. Smaller businesses can avoid the permanent headcount of salaried employees performing this role. Larger organisations benefit from the ongoing service desk support which prevents IT change and problems from impacting on business productivity.
Scalability
For growing businesses, the requirements of a service desk may rapidly change. With the right service desk software, your service procedures are able to perform flexibly to grow with, and support the business.
Efficiency
The integral impact that technology has in business means that efficiency within IT systems often filters through the rest of the organisation. By centralising IT support and process within a service desk, this side of operations should perform more efficiently.
Support
This part of the organisation essentially serves the business, so speed and performance are key. A service desk should therefore be accessible, and allow all sides of the business to feel supported.
Productivity and Focus
We are all more productive when our situation allows us to focus. So how does a service desk help to provide the right environment for focus throughout an organisation?
Peer Support
A service desk with help desk functionality prevents peer support from infringing the productivity of your workforce. Peer support happens whether you have a service desk or not, but the key is minimising it. A service desk allows you to reduce the need for peer support and release colleagues to focus on their professional priorities.
Specialised Teams
With distinct areas like incident resolution, strategic development and network maintenance to manage, a service desk should have specialist teams. This focus within your service desk means that support will be faster and more informed, and therefore more productive.
Productivity and Flexibility
Standard ways of working have changed over the last couple of years. With a huge increase in remote and flexible working, organisations know that their workforce can maintain and even improve their productivity when working flexibly. A good service desk is central in enabling this shift. So which service desk features optimise productivity for flexible working?
Portals
Portals enable your service desk processes to be more streamlined as they facilitate communication in an intuitive way. Different departments will benefit because their individual priorities can be reflected through focussed portals.
Self-service
A key way that portals are great practice within your service desk is how they enable self-service with greater clarity. In addition, utilise told like FAQ management and document libraries to optimise self-service. This empowers both customers and users and eases workflow.
Productivity and Service
For successful IT service delivery, a team needs the right practices, as well as the right tools. In this way, management, organisation and focus in the team is crucial. With training and an intuitive service desk system, a service desk can be instrumental in the growth of an organisation. Bearing all this in mind, then, what are the key tools for a productive Service Desk? With so many systems and features out there, how do you ensure you have the correct range for your business? These key attributes apply in varying extents to most circumstances.
Incident or Service Request
This is a central feature of the help function within a service desk. It facilitates communication and tracking of incidents or problems through the organisation.
Change Management
Vital for strategic change that is set by the business. Through change management tools, your IT provision can manage its planning, tasks, workflow and costings that impact throughout the organisation.
Customer Service Management
Tools should enable both direct communication and portals or other methods of self service. A key element of good customer service is in monitoring feedback to the service. Implement communication tools that assess customer satisfaction, and so help to ensure that business needs are met.
SLA Management
Smart management of SLA’s will ensure the efficient working of your service teams. This doesn’t mean punitive targets and should be constructive guidelines which ensure quality of work.
Asset Management
It’s easy to neglect keeping track of assets. So integrated management of assets within service desk software is a key part of the service desk of any size organisation.
Reporting and Alerts
Both cross-team and in-team communication relies on reporting, and so your service desk reporting and alert features should be comprehensive and intuitive.
Conclusion
Business relies on efficient IT to perform productively. In this way a service desk is instrumental in the balance between business and technology. The key decisions for individual organisations lie in selecting the correct software and tools for your service desk. Within IT processes, service and support there is a web of productivity. It’s this productivity that your service desk solution must work to enable. So, with the right tools, IT and business can combine to build a productive and growing organisation.