The Service Desk

BY SUSAN MIERTSCHIN

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IT Service Desk
Most visible of all the functions, activities,
and practices of service operations
First point of contact and, maybe, the only
point of contact for the stakeholder
Service desk personnel must represent the
company using professional etiquette at all
times
The company’s image depends on the service
desk (often)
Critical role with respect to customer
satisfaction where a single troubling
interaction can break a solid foundation built
over years

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Service Desk
A functional unit
Staff responsible for handling
requests for service and
questions about service from
customers and users
Requests, questions are usually
by telephone, web interface, or
automated reporting systems

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Service Desk Practice
ITIL DEFINITION: The practice of capturing demand for incident
resolution and service requests.
ITIL DEFINITION of service desk: The point of communication between
the service provider and all its users.

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ITIL Service Management
Practices
Availability management Release management
Business analysis Service catalogue management
Capacity and performance Service configuration management
management
Service continuity management
Change control
Service design
Incident management
Service desk
IT asset management
Service level management
Monitoring and event
management Service request management
Problem management Service validation and testing

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First Point of Contact vs. Lines
of Support

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Responsibilities of IT Service
Desk
ACT AS A CONDUIT FOR LOGGING ACT AS A SINGLE POINT OF
INCIDENTS AND SERVICE REQUESTS CONTACT (SPOC) FOR USERS
Log incidents, providing a reference Answer questions
number
Provide information – communicate
Handle incidents
Own incidents that are escalated to
other resolution teams
Report problems to appropriate lines of
support
Handle requests for service or change
Monitor performance against SLAs with
respect to incidents and requests
Maintain availability statistics

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Why a Service Desk?

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Benefits from a Good Service
Desk
Customer service focus
Higher customer satisfaction
Easier support process through
SPOC
Incidents get resolved faster
Failures are fewer and less
frequent and have less business
impact
Effective use of IT specialists

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More Benefits from a Good
Service Desk
Improved accessibility to IT
specialists for end users,
customers, suppliers, and other
stakeholders
Optimizes usage of IT resources
Improves customer service and
increases customer excitement
Faster turnaround for service
requests
Optimizes the cost of providing IT
support

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Channels to Reach a Service
Desk
Walk-ins
Telephones
Email
Chat
Messaging
Online web conferencing tools such as MS Teams
Social media

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Three Widely-Used Service
Desk Structures

Local Centralized Virtual

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Local Service Desk Structure

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Centralized Service Desk
Structure

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Virtual Service Desk

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Ways to Create Virtual Service
Desks

FOLLOW-THE-SUN SPECIALIZED

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Service Desk Employee
Qualities
What does it take to be a good service desk
employee?
Good communication skills
Great people skills
Must be able to communicate with a wide range of
people
Technically oriented
Knowledge of business processes
Troubleshooting skills
Ability to probe user for pertinent information
Skill with classifying problems by type
Ability to show empathy for the user

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Automation
and the
Service
Desk

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Service Value Chain Activities

Plan
Deliver
and Engage
Support
Products and
Services

Design & Improve

Transition
Obtain
/Build

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Service Value Chain Activities
where Service Desk Practice
Applies
None
High Plan
Deliver High
and Engage
Support
Products and
Services
Medium Medium
Design & Improve
Transition Low
Obtain
/Build

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The Service Desk
BY SUSAN MIERTSCHIN

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